Competitive Intelligence is defined as business intelligence focusing on the external competitive environment."¹ There are several other definitions - all focusing on the same principle. For example "CI is a necessary, ethical business discipline for decision making based on understanding the competitive environment"². Another common definition (from the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals³) is "Competitive intelligence is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing Information about the external Business environment that can affect a company’s plans, decisions, and operations. Although narrower in scope, it is commonly employed as a synonym for Business intelligence."

The key points in these definitions is that 1) Competitive Intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice. (This is important as CI professionals emphasize that the discipline is not the same as industrial espionage which is both unethical and usually illegal). 2) The focus is on the external business environment. 3) It is linked to the concept of business intelligence. It is important to note that this link does not refer to the software data-mining type definition for business intelligence, but rather, the wider concept of the intelligence required for business decision making. 4) There is a process involved in gathering information, converting it into intelligence and then utilizing this in business decision making. CI professionals emphasize