The role of ethics in gathering corporate intelligence

This paper analyzes business people's attitudes towards the tactics used for gathering competitive corporate intelligence both within their own and their competitors' corporations. Business people in large corporations are highly motivated to gather such intelligence. Their attitudes towards the ethicality of specific practices, however, are influenced by the corporate culture, their perceived effectiveness of the techniques, and their perception of the competitors' tactics. Interestingly enough, the most popular technique for securing information is socializing with competitors in nonbusiness settings. Business people generally view their competitors negatively, believing that they go to much further lengths than does their own corporation in gathering competitive intelligence. William Cohen is Professor and Chairman of the Marketing Department at California State University, Los Angeles. He has won the Outstanding Professor Award 1982–83 and Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge Medal for Excellence in Economic Education 1985. He is the author of some 15 books in marketing and business of which the most recent is Developing a Winning Marketing Plan.Helena Czepiec is Associate Professor at California State University, Hayward. She is the author of several articles which appeared in various journals on marketing and advertising.