Competitive intelligence and records managers.

• Position: In focus: a message from the editors - Editorial

Information can be many things--strategic, timely, critical, accurate or inaccurate, fair or biased. Some of the most critical information an organization can possess is competitive in nature, pertaining to the organization's industry, market, products, and competitors, as well as its past, present, and future. Competitive intelligence (CI) is so critical that it can literally mean the difference between a corporation's success or failure.

In any organization, it is usually up to records management professionals to collect, document, organize, and store information so that it is ready and accessible when the firm's decision-makers need it. So records and information management (RIM) professionals may already be familiar with and able to discern CI from all the other types of information out there. But if they are not familiar with the concept, their organization could be suffering because of it.

This issue of The Information Management Journal examines CI, why it is becoming increasingly integral to organizations everywhere, in every type of business, and its relationship to RIM. Sue Myburgh's article "Competitive Intelligence: Bridging Organizational Boundaries," explains how CI can help an organization manage and reduce risk, make knowledge profitable, avoid information overload, ensure the privacy and security of information, and use corporate information strategically.

In their article, "Competitive Intelligence in Action," John J. McGonagle and Carolyn M. Vella note that CI is increasingly considered an important, if not mandatory, piece of every business' overall strategy and functioning. This article presents two case studies that illustrate real-world examples of how CI was developed and employed in two different firms.

Despite its importance, however, CI is not something that can be learned from a book. Craig S. Fleisher, in "Competitive Intelligence...