A survey of the use of competitive intelligence systems in the Kenyan pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to establish the level of awareness of competitive intelligence systems among Kenyan pharmaceutical suppliers, and to establish whether competitive intelligence or competitive information (CI) is used in formulating competitive strategy. Searches through literature revealed that in western countries, the use of CI in competitive strategy formulation is a common practice. This study attempted to determine the practice among Kenyan firms in the pharmaceutical industry. A questionnaire was used to collect information from pharmaceutical supplier firms who gave information on their understanding and use of competitive strategy formulation and competitive analysis. The results showed that nearly all companies have a competitive strategy and undertake some form of competitive analysis, which is done mostly by the marketing function. Most companies do not have an effective management information system for the collection, analysis and dissemination of competitive information, and where such a system was available, it was limited in capacity. These results should however be interpreted in light of the limitations of the study, chiefly the low response rate of 37%.