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External environmental changes manifest in erratic economic situations that adversely impact human lives, economies, and SMEs globally. This constitutes a significant global danger to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Small and medium-sized enterprises significantly contribute to the national gross domestic product. Nevertheless, the majority of SMEs have limitations, particularly in terms of resources. SMEs must embrace CI to forecast and make educated decisions regarding the efficient management of existing, often limited resources. Government assistance, in multiple capacities, is equally essential. Moreover, the implementation of Continuous Improvement (CI) by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) may facilitate nations in attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8, which aims for reduced unemployment through sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all. Nonetheless, there exists a paucity of literature regarding CI implementation frameworks that assist SMEs in implementing CI techniques for resource management and the advancement of a sustainable economy. This study seeks to establish a framework for Continuous Improvement (CI) implementation to assist SMEs in adopting CI technologies for resource management and enhancing operational efficiency. A systematic literature review (SRL) methodology is utilised to discern essential elements vital for the implementation of continuous improvement (CI) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study enhances the sparse information on CI in SME contexts by synthesising best practices and significant insights from global literature. It enables SMEs to manoeuvre through economic volatility and assists policymakers in formulating specific actions. The framework ultimately promotes sustainable economic development and enhances the capacity of SMEs to endure external shocks, including IoT and AI analytics, as well as their consequences for business ecosystems.  

The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly transformed the competitive intelligence (CI) landscape across various businesses. The research examines the swift trend of competitive intelligence by bibliometric analysis. A total of 356 documents were picked from the Scopus database, covering the years 2020 to 2024, to delineate the domain of competitive intelligence and its research horizons.  Findings indicate a substantial shift towards digital transformation, improved data analytics, and an increased focus on agility and resilience in competitive intelligence initiatives. These findings illustrate the dynamic influence of CI and delineate the developmental trends, themes, and patterns for academic practitioners and policymakers, who must adopt these emerging trends to enhance, promote, and sustain CI longevity, operational efficiency, and capability within the swiftly evolving business ecosystem. Prevalent topics encompass digital transformation, agility, resilience, collaboration, networking, ethics, and compliance. Geographically, Asia, North America, and Europe dominate research production in CI during and after Covid-19, although emerging economies exhibit interest. Citation analysis identified prominent authors, providing direction for subsequent research. Nonetheless, research deficiencies and obstacles remain, particularly the necessity for additional empirical investigations, the amalgamation of competitive intelligence with big data, comprehensive competitive intelligence frameworks for small enterprises, innovation, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This bibliometric literature study seeks to analyse and synthesise the fast developments in CI during and subsequent to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses major topics, approaches, and changes in CI practices through the examination of several academic articles. The study offers significant insights and underscores the transformative potential of CI techniques.

The defining characteristic of CI practice is the implementation and strict adherence to ethical principles. While there is evidence of ongoing CI practices by corporations, critics argue that there is a dearth of scientific research on the implementation and enforcement of CI ethics. Critics contend that the absence of ethical adoption and enforcement of competitive intelligence (CI) principles has created a nebulous zone that blurs the distinction between CI and industrial espionage. The adoption and implementation of competitive intelligence (CI) ethics guarantees that companies engage in ethical and legal CI practices. It improves the standing of companies and reduces the cost of having to restore a damaged reputation. The aim of this study was to determine the level of acceptance of corporate integrity ethics in the ICT industry in South Africa. Furthermore, the objective is to evaluate the strategies employed for enforcing ethical practices and the various elements that impact the adoption of corporate integrity ethics in the ICT industry in South Africa. The research employed a quantitative approach, utilizing a web-based questionnaire to gather data from professionals working in the South African ICT business. The study discovered that South African ICT companies fully embraced CI ethics. Furthermore, the study identified seven elements that have an impact on the adoption of CI ethics, as well as multiple approaches for enforcing ethical practices. As a result, South African ICT enterprises are able to save money that would otherwise be spent on repairing their reputation after being accused of industrial espionage. Furthermore, companies should enhance and diminish aspects that have a positive and negative impact on the adoption of CI ethics, respectively.