Japanese business intelligence gathering, electronics, and United States military capability

People have gathered information about business competitors for as long as firms have competed against each other. This process of gathering and analyzing information for business purposes has today become known as business intelligence, also known as competitive intelligence and corporate intelligence. For the purposes of this study, the terms will be used interchangeably. Competitive intelligence can provide a significant advantage to firms which utilize it to outmaneuver their competition (Fuld, 1995 and Herring, 1992).; This study examines the Japanese and American systems for gathering business intelligence and determines the degree of correlation between the change in Japanese business intelligence gathering in the U.S. and the change in each country's market share in the electronics industry from 1956 to 1996. It was hypothesized that an organized effort between government and business to gather business intelligence in a particular industry correlates with an increase in market share in that industry. Michael E. Porter's Diamond of National Advantage Model (Porter, 1990) is used to describe the change in each country's competitive advantage in the electronics industry.; Results show a strong correlation between the existence of an organized government-industry cooperative effort to gather business intelligence and an increase in market share in a targeted industry. The assessment of the change in American national competitive advantage is used to describe the effect of a decrease in electronics production capability on the preparedness of U.S. military forces for conflict in the future. Implications for management and government, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed in the concluding chapter.