Enabling Strategy Formulation by ICT: A Viable Systems Approach

In this chapter the role of ICT for competitive intelligence is approached from the perspective of strategy formulation. The authors hold the view that competitive intelligence can be seen as knowledge necessary for the process of strategy formulation. To determine the role of ICT, it is proposed to examine (1) the process of strategy formulation, (2) the knowledge relevant for the process of strategy formulation and (3) the knowledge processes in which the intelligence relevant for the process of strategy formulation is produced and processed. If these three elements are clear, the role of ICT for competitive intelligence can be reformulated as the support of ICT for the knowledge processes, producing and processing the necessary intelligence for strategy formulation. In the chapter, the process of strategy formulation and the knowledge it requires will be described by using the Viable Systems Model of Stafford Beer. It results in an “ICT-architecture” for supporting the knowledge processes, producing the relevant knowledge for strategy formulation