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Competitive intelligence has occupied much attention in the popular press and with key business leaders. Books on intelligence are regularly becoming top sellers and senior executives are lauding the importance of it as a driver for change and increased competitive advantage. This paper examines three empirical studies carried out in Canada, United Kingdom and Europe and draws comparisons on their approach and findings. The authors also note other empirical studies undertaken so far and conclude that not only are they small in number but they do not appear to be advancing knowledge in the field. Neither are they innovative or creative. A sea change in approach is recommended with the goal being to answer the questions as to “how” and “why” rather than “whether” intelligence practice is conducted.

This study aims to broaden existing knowledge with respect to the export behaviour of South African enterprises. After analysing questionnaires received from 163 enterprises, as well as South African export data, it was concluded that South African enterprises exhibited similar export behaviour to that of enterprises in more developed countries. Non-exporters perceived the risks and costs of exporting to be higher than exporters. Exporters perceived the benefits to be greater than did non-exporters. However, the limited scope of South African exports when compared to more developed countries, suggests that South Africa may have some export barriers which are preventing the development of a large cadre of exporters

No matter where you look, governments today are focusing great effort on the enhancement of international trade. on persuading more companies to export ever more goods and services. But how. exactly, do we create a strong and growing cadre of successful exporters? This article proposes a framework which may help all exporters reach their maximum potential and so lay the groundwork for economic growth and prosperity

Since Johanson and Vahlnes' pioneering internationalization study (1977), much research has gone on to assess what differentiates exporters from nonexporters and why some firms aggressively export while others are less involved. To understand this phenomenon, a plethora of studies has been conducted, mainly in developed countries (Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand to name but a few -- see Chetty and Hamilton (1991) and Eshghi (1992) for a comprehensive review of the literature). As a result, much is known about the export behaviors of firms in these developed countries. However, only a handful of studies have been conducted in lesser developed countries such as E1 Salvador, Brazil, and Korea (Eshghi 1992). South Africa is an interesting country to study because it is at the same time a developing and a developed country. Yet little research has focused on South African business behavior. There has been only one study of export behavior which included South African firms (Dichtl, Koeglmayr, and Mueller 1990). Since current theories of internationalization have been tested primarily in developed countries, we cannot be certain whether these theories apply within the South African context

Modes are the institutional arrangements that allow firms to use their product(s) or services in a country change (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975). Mode forms include licence/franchise, indirect export, direct export, sales subsidiary, joint venture, and wholly owned production subsidiary. This dissertation focuses on three aspects of mode change and choice: (1) Change and choice. What causes firms to change their mode of operation? Why do firms choose a particular new mode? (2) Decision making. How do firms choose their mode? Does the decision-making process have performance implications? and (3) Attitudes. To what degree do management attitudes influence the decision to change the mode, the subsequent choice, and international performance?;These issues were investigated by studying 139 mode-change decisions in 38 Canadian-owned, Ontario-based firms with annual sales between {dollar}25 million and \{dollar}200 million at the time of the mode change. All mode change and choice involved activities in developed countries, and all occurred between 1980 and 1990. Interviews and an accompanying questionnaire were administered to executives significantly involved in the mode decision. Archival information on the firm and the mode change was also examined.;The results indicated that mode change and choice are complex, multifaceted phenomena generally requiring the presence of several precipitating factors. In interviews, most executives indicated that mode choice was largely determined by their view regarding potential sales volume in the foreign market, their belief that each mode could generate a certain sales volume, their beliefs regarding mode costs and the existence of such constraints as tight organizational resources. In most cases (82%), mode change was due to a change in one of these factors.;This dissertation also investigated how mode decisions are made. Most decisions (71%) relied to some extent on what executives termed "gut feel." In these cases, executives' attitudes were important determinants of the decision. For 32% of the decisions, however, "gut feel" was supplemented by some form of market investigation.;The effect of both the mode decision-making process and centricity on performance was examined.;A set of recommendations for management was provided. Firms were advised to take steps to develop more geocentric attitudes. It was also recommended that firms study the foreign market and consult individuals with product-market expertise when making mode-change and mode-choice decisions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

How do you create a strong and growing cadre of successful exporters? As will be demonstrated in this article, the current direction towards more open trading policies provides a small part of the solution, but does little to stimulate non‐exporters or develop new exporters. This article proposes a framework which could help all exporters reach their maximum potential and in doing so lay the groundwork for economic growth and prosperity. To ensure that South Africa’s economy reaches its fullest potential requires that the government follow up on the RDP and the DTI White Papers focus on exports with solid action. This would require a concerted effort on the part of the government to develop, manage, execute and evaluate programmes to the different needs of the firms at different stages of export development. By using the proposed framework, programmes can be created to help non‐exporters to become exporters, help new exporters to become committed exporters and eliminate the barriers to achieve more export successes.

The objective of this chapter was to examine the intelligence practices of German MNE's and contrast these to those found in Canadian and U.S. studies. Taking into consideration the caveats involved in the comparison of these results (different size firms, different sectors and different time frame between all the comparative studies), the results indicate that German CI efforts are slightly more advanced in terms of formality when contrasted to both Canadian and American firms, have been around for a longer length of time and suffer from far less problems. However, in terms of the actual process of conducting intelligence projects, few differences are evident. Canadian's and Germans make similar use of primary information sources, seem to spend a similar percentage of time in the different functions of intelligence (planning, collection, analyses, communications, and management).