Technology intelligence processes in leading European and North American multinationals

The importance of technology intelligence is widely accepted in theory and practice. However, existing research is contradictory on how this process should be coordinated. Therefore, it is the objective of this contribution to derive insight into the coordination of technology intelligence processes in leading multinational companies. The results of an exploratory case study research in 26 leading European and North American companies in the pharmaceutical, telecommunications equipment and automobile/machinery industry are presented. The results show firstly, that three forms of coordination of technology intelligence processes exist. Secondly, the basic distribution of tasks in the technology intelligence process between the three layers of coordination are presented. Thirdly, the different forms of integration of these three forms of coordination of the technology intelligence process are described. Fourthly, the communication media used in the technology intelligence process is discussed. Finally, the information sources and methods used for the technology intelligence process are shown.