Looking into the future of competitive intelligence as supported by knowledge management

Background: While competitive intelligence (CI) mostly focuses outwardly, knowledge management (KM) is tasked to draw from external and internal knowledge sources to facilitate the knowledge flow inside the organisation towards innovation and competitive advantage. As a result, KM is perceived to be a key support function for the CI function. As such, it may be worthwhile for KM practitioners to understand key CI resources and plans for the future to offer improved support to CI practitioners. This study thus explores the future research agenda of CI. Objectives: This study aims to map the body of work centred on CI research and to map future research agendas in the CI space. Method: A bibliometric analysis approach was used to identify the latest studies, key sources, authors, keywords and countries that publish work on CI. Results: The research identified the main industries where CI research is done, the focus of the studies, research gaps and the prominent research methodologies in the CI field. Conclusion: Knowledge management practitioners can better support CI practitioners in their functions as they learn where CI is mostly practised and where the field is headed. Contribution: The authors believe that by fulfilling the research aims, CI and KM practitioners would be able to enhance their CI knowledge, tackle pressing CI research needs and reenergise conversations focusing on CI.