Course detail

Competitive Intelligence

FP-IcinPAcad. year: 2026/2027

The course Competitive Intelligence provides students with the basic knowledge necessary to understand how to correctly and legally obtain the necessary information from a competitive environment, how to evaluate it well in order to add value to this information and thereby gain intelligence when this intelligence is a good basis for strategic decision making. of the top management of the company.
It represents a compendium of knowledge necessary to perform the function of Competitive Intelligence process manager or company managers in general at all levels of management.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

5

Assignment to study programme types

Master's

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Ing. František Bartes, CSc.

Department

Department of Economics (ÚE)

Entry knowledge

business management

theory computer work

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Completion of the course in the presence form:

Credit:

  1. a) presentation of the assigned task (team work)
  2. b) preparation of the semester paper (team work).

Exam:

written form. The student receives two questions, for the answers of which he has a defined time period of 20 minutes. The exam is classified according to the ECTS scale.

 

Completion of the course for students with individual study:

Credit: preparation of the semester paper (individual work), which will be sent to the lecturer.

Exam: written form. The student receives two questions, for the answers of which he has a defined time period of 20 minutes. The exam is classified according to the ECTS scale.

 

Completion of the course in the distance form:

Credit: preparation of the semester paper (individual work), which will be sent to the lecturer..

Exam: test via e-learning. The exam is classified according to the ECTS scale.

Aims

The aim is to enable students to understand the issues of Competitive Intelligence processes needed to obtain information about the competitive environment and to provide students with the knowledge for their legal acquisition with their subsequent evaluation.
Furthermore, students must understand how to approach the issue of the quality of information needed to obtain background information for strategic decisions of top management, including identification and subsequent analysis of misinformation.
Knowledge
Knowledge of modern approaches and methods of legally obtaining information about a competing company, competitive environment, including the creation of added value necessary for intelligence. Basics of intelligence analysis of acquired information. Analysis of competitive hypotheses, check of key assumptions, time analysis, patent analysis. Software tools used in Competitive Intelligence. Basic forms of organization of the Competitive Intelligence process in a company. Knowing the most common causes of Competitive Intelligence failure.
Skills
Ability to correctly analyze the examined problem, propose a thought model of the problem, identify the information gap, perform intelligence analysis of the information obtained. To create a basis for strategic decision-making by predicting probable hypotheses. They will acquire basic approaches to the protection of business secrets of the company.
Competence
The listener will have competencies of the Competitive Intelligence Process Manager

Study aids

Publications: 

BARTES, František. Konkurenční zpravodajství. Tvorba podkladů pro strategické rozhodování podniku. Praha: Grada, 2022. ISBN 978-80-271-3504-2.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

BARTES, František. Konkurenční zpravodajství. Tvorba podkladů pro strategické rozhodování podniku. Praha: Grada, 2022. ISBN 978-80-271-3504-2. (CS)

Recommended reading

FULD, L, M., 1995: The New Competitor Intelligence. The Complete Resource for Finding, Analysing, and Using Information About Your Competitors. 1995. 482 p. ISBN 0-471-58508-4.
KAHANER, L., 1997: Competitive Intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 978-0-684-84404-6.
LIEBOWITZ, J. Strategic Intelligence. New York: Auerbach Publications, 2006. 223p. ISBN 978-0-8493-9868-1.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme MGR-IM Master's 1 year of study, summer semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hours, optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. František Bartes, CSc.

Syllabus

Introduction, basic concepts
CI basics
CI intelligence process
Disinformation - detection, identification
Disinformation - analysis
Company trade secrets
Basic CCI intelligence process
Time analysis
ACH (1st - 4th step)
ACH (5th - 8th step)
Check key assumptions
Patent analysis
Most common causes of CI failure, AI pitfalls

Exercise

13 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. František Bartes, CSc.

Syllabus

Ethics in Competitive Intelligence – codes of ethics, harm rule, assignment of seminar papers and presentations to teams
Organizational forms of Competitive Intelligence
Audit of the Competitive Intelligence process
Disinformation
Company trade secrets
Time analysis