Information management, knowledge management and competitive intelligence
Terms such as information, knowledge and intelligence are often used in daily life and media. In fact, information and intelligence are two different things in essence, which are different in subject background, collection method, processing depth, product form, users and uses. Understanding their relationship can lay a solid theoretical foundation for the development of competitive intelligence. The basic attribute of intelligence is not information but knowledge. There is an intermediate between information and intelligence-knowledge. Intelligence is not the original knowledge but the activated state of knowledge, that is, the finished product of knowledge processing. Knowledge activates intelligence, and intelligence reconstructs knowledge. "Intelligence is intelligence, and intellectual activities belong to intellectual activities." "Intelligence is knowledge that can solve problems. Compared with general knowledge, it has a clear purpose and pertinence." Intelligence activities mostly play an intermediary role, transmitting information from place A to place B, and the function of intelligence activities is to capture useful knowledge in information, refine it, provide solutions to specific problems, and play the role of "think tank" and "think tank". "The essential difference between intelligence and other information activities lies in its utility" and "the essential feature of intelligence is its decision-making". From the historical development and the relationship between information management and knowledge management, information management is the foundation of knowledge management, and knowledge management is the extension and development of information management. The historical development of information management can be divided into three stages: the traditional management stage, marked by the traditional library (1900-1950); Technical management stage (1950-1980), marked by electronic information system; In the resource management stage (after 1980), all the elements involved in information activities are included in the management category as elements of information resources, which is a comprehensive and comprehensive integrated management and an advanced form of information management. "Knowledge management has always been regarded as a stage of information management in history. In recent years, due to the needs of economic development and the development of management practice, knowledge management has begun to hatch from information management and is gradually forming a new management field. " As mentioned above, knowledge management is the acquisition, dissemination and utilization of the wisdom and skills of enterprise employees. It requires combining information with work and people, realizing the enjoyment of explicit and implicit knowledge, and using collective wisdom and innovation ability to gain competitive advantage. In this way, the development from information management to knowledge management fully embodies the people-oriented management thought.
We say that information management is the foundation of knowledge management. On the one hand, this means that information management theory is the basis of knowledge management theory; On the other hand, it means that enterprise's information infrastructure, information awareness and information ability are the basis of enterprise knowledge management. According to the job design division of information directors and knowledge directors in developed countries, information directors focus on the development and utilization of information technology and information, while knowledge directors focus on cultivating collective creativity and promoting innovation. Looking around, the successful cases of information management, knowledge management and competitive intelligence are mostly well-known enterprises with leading industries at home and abroad. On the one hand, their success is attributed to the practice of these most advanced management theories. On the other hand, the implementation of these advanced management theories in enterprises can not be separated from their staff quality, information awareness and information management foundation.
The difference from information management and knowledge management is that, as shown in the previous concepts of competitive intelligence and intelligence, flexible use of information and knowledge to solve problems is an important feature of competitive intelligence. As a practical research field, competitive intelligence can also be translated as "originality of competition". It is rooted in information and knowledge, and its unique value lies in providing solutions to specific problems. This paper holds that keeping this in mind is very important for maintaining the distinctive personality of competitive intelligence. A few years ago, many domestic intelligence agencies and universities changed the word "intelligence" into "information", which had some negative effects on the development of information science. When talking about competitive intelligence system, some intelligence researchers emphasize the information exchange function studied by information system, but remain silent about the core function of the above competitive intelligence activities, which is harmful to some extent. In the field of information management, there is a famous saying: the key to the implementation of information system lies in people, followed by data and information technology. The importance of people is so important for information management, especially for competitive intelligence. Before there was a breakthrough in the development of artificial intelligence technology, information technology played the role of information storage, dissemination and limited analysis in competitive intelligence system, and intelligence personnel and users occupied the first place in competitive intelligence system. In view of this, the current competitive intelligence research should focus on "people" and practice and research around people's decision-making. Information technology is the research responsibility of information managers.
There are many similarities between competitive intelligence and knowledge management methods. Many information sources of competitive intelligence are provided by enterprises' knowledge management activities, such as the case of Xerox's internal knowledge base in the field of knowledge management, and it is also a successful case of competitive intelligence that many foreign competitive intelligence experts talk about. Because of the intersection of its concept and practical activities, some people put forward the concept of competitive knowledge management, that is, knowledge management serving competitive intelligence.
Because the implementation of management information system, competitive intelligence and knowledge management is based on the change of enterprise workflow, organizational structure and even management mode, they have many similarities in implementation team and key success factors.
In the application of these management theories, due to the implementation of management information system, many enterprises have been very advanced in obtaining, saving and transforming data into information, but what is not matched with this is that there is still a long way to go in transforming information into knowledge. In order to meet this demand, many large companies have set up chief knowledge managers, chief education managers and chief information managers. They have the same task, that is, to develop, organize, control, use the information inside the company and turn it into knowledge. Their attention is focused on the knowledge cycle of enterprises, that is, the systematization of information collection, analysis and dissemination. This systematization needs the support of information technology.
As mentioned above, many foreign enterprises have established their own competitive intelligence departments. Similar to their domestic counterparts, their competitive intelligence professionals often discuss how to compete for living space within enterprises. Some people think that at present, the functions of enterprises have been excessively divided, and there is no need for another kind of experts to add redundant perspectives and functions to what enterprises do. This paper holds that competitive intelligence, as a knowledge product, must become a universal responsibility within enterprises and should not belong to experts' patents. In this sense, their views are not unreasonable, and enterprises may wish to establish a loose competitive intelligence system. This puts forward requirements for the ability and responsibility of the relevant personnel of enterprise competitive intelligence.
From the above discussion, we can draw the following beneficial enlightenment as our guidance in the construction of enterprise competitive intelligence system.
Information and knowledge exist only in people's minds. As a process, information system, competitive intelligence and knowledge management are only methods and tools, and cannot replace "people". Enterprise employees should have the courage to face the facts revealed by information systems, competitive intelligence and knowledge management and change themselves in time.
Enterprise information system and information management are the basis of competitive intelligence activities and knowledge management. The existence of information system makes it possible for enterprises to fall into the sea of information, but the competitive intelligence and knowledge management carried out by enterprises in order to transform information into knowledge must also be supported by information system.
It is not important to set up competitive intelligence departments in enterprises, because competitive intelligence is the common responsibility of enterprises. When developing competitive intelligence activities, it should be combined with information management and knowledge management.