Competitive Intelligence supports business decisions and profitability by focussing on customers, suppliers, the market and competitors. It uses traditional business research methods as well as specific business intelligence collection, research and analysis to support company growth and profit. The methods should never include espionage, deception or any illegal activities. The collection of information from open sources excludes deception and does not present any ethical dilemmas. Kahaner further writes that you are entering the world of industrial espionage when you are crossing the line to steal information, tap telephones or break into offices.
Industrial espionage denotes the illegal gathering of business data, information and trade secrets.
Good competitive intelligence is more than just information gathering. In the past few years we have seen a growth in South Africa of companies and investigators offering a variety of business intelligence services. The differences between business intelligence and espionage can be analysed by looking at the sponsors, the degree of deception and whether the services offered are not violating any laws, are legal and ethical. An important condition of membership is that members bind themselves to the ethical and legal conduct associated with all facets of competitive intelligence. Another indication that business intelligence is growing in South Africa is the popularity of training courses presented in the collection of business intelligence and the implementation of business intelligence programmes for companies.