Defines environmental scanning as the acquisition and use of information about an organization's external environment to assist managers in planning. Highlights include a historical review; organizational theories; information needs and uses; managers as information users; and a review of research on environmental scanning. (Contains 124…

Describes a study that investigated how CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) in the Canadian publishing and telecommunications industries acquire and use information about the business environment. Topics discussed include environmental scanning; perceived environmental uncertainty; information sources; information use in decision making; and a…

Presents an overview of issues concerning civilian competitive intelligence (CI). Topics discussed include competitive advantage in academic and research environments; public domain information and libraries; covert and overt competitive intelligence; data diversity; use of the Internet; cooperative intelligence; and implications for library and…

Describes competitive intelligence (CI) literature in terms of its location, quantity, authorship, length, and problems of bibliographic access. Highlights include subject access; competitive intelligence research; espionage and security; monographs; and journals. (21 references) (LRW)

Presents research on the use of external information in the strategic management of retail banks in the United Kingdom. Explores the organizational role of the environmental analysis department, the character of business environment analysis, and the nature of information used in strategic management and its perceived importance. (Author/AEF)

Discussion of corporate library services and the role of the librarian focuses on the recognition and tracking of issues of potential significance to the corporation, or issues management. Topics addressed include environmental scanning of relevant literature, and the use of databases to track issues. (16 references) (LRW)

Reports on a study of how 13 chief executives in the Canadian publishing and telecommunications industries scan their environments for information and use it in decision making. Critical incidents of information use were analyzed according to their environmental sectors, information sources, and their use in decision making. (Contains 27…

The systematic evaluation of the macroenvironment is sometimes referred to as a strategic trend information system. Strategic trend intelligence systems are highly developed, systematic intelligence programs that focus on trends and events in the external environment and provide institutions with knowledge to reduce areas of uncertainty and with…

Reports on a study of the information sources used in environmental scanning by chief executives of the Canadian telecommunications industry that investigated the relationship between perceived source quality and source use and the chief executives' perception and use of the company library and electronic information sources. (Contains 23…

This paper examines the use of environmental scanning for institutions of higher education to achieve the following objectives: (1) provide early warning of changes that will have an impact on education; (2) define potential threats and opportunities to the institution or department; (3) promote a future orientation in faculty; and (4) alert…