The impact of work experience of small and medium-sized enterprises owners or managers on their competitive intelligence awareness and practices

Abstract

Background: Information technology has assisted in globalisation, which then assisted in making international trade easier. Consequently, businesses no longer compete with local competitors only but also with international ones, leading to intense competition in all business sectors. Businesses will hardly practice what they are not aware of and therefore needs to know about their competitive landscape. Competitive intelligence (CI) gathers information from both the internal and external business environments, and analyses these for use by decision makers. Whilst awareness of the importance of CI is wide, it is not practiced optimally, making the need for creating awareness of the benefits of CI important. Objectives: The objective of this research was to establish the influence of owners’ and managers' working experience of CI practice and awareness in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) environment. Method: This research was quantitative in nature and a questionnaire was used to collect data from SMEs owners and managers in The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Results: This research indicates that SMEs in the study are aware of CI through education and training. Moreover, the study reveals that the working experience of owners and managers has a great influence on awareness and practice of CI and one should implement training programmes in this domain to assist with building competitive advantage. Conclusion: Small and medium-sized enterprises owners or managers’ years of working experience has a greater influence on awareness and practice of CI. Put differently, years of working experience is a great predictor of CI awareness and practice.

Keywords

• Competitive Intelligence
• Strategic Management
• Small and Medium Enterprises
• Competitive Advantage