Explore publications.

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.

This study examines the influence of strategic foresight on the financial performance of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) within the mining sector of South Africa's Eastern Limb. It examines the roles of scenario planning, external environmental assessment, and organisational culture in fostering financial resilience and competitive advantage. The research utilises a quantitative methodology, employing survey data gathered from 310 participants, comprising firm owners, managers, and employees within mining SMEs. The study employs linear regression analysis to evaluate the correlations between strategic foresight activities and financial performance metrics, including revenue growth, profitability, and return on investment (ROI). Reliability was established via Cronbach’s alpha (exceeding 0.9 for all constructs), while validity was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients. The findings demonstrate that all three elements of strategic foresight—scenario planning, external environmental scanning, and organisational culture—exhibit a substantial and favourable correlation with financial success in mining SMEs. The investigation indicates that SMEs with strong strategic foresight systems are more adept at risk mitigation, regulatory adaptation, and maintaining financial growth. The research highlights the essential function of strategic foresight in improving financial resilience and stability in mining-focused SMEs. Companies that actively participate in scenario planning and environmental monitoring while fostering a robust organisational culture are more likely to adeptly manage market uncertainty. The findings provide guidance to SME leaders, policymakers, and researchers on incorporating foresight-driven strategies for enduring sustainability and financial prosperity.