Analysis of the Effect of Competitive Intelligence on Strategic Decision Making in Small and Medium-Sized Food Enterprises

The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between competitive intelligence (CI) and strategic decision-making and its six aspects such as quality, agility, flexibility, integration, effectiveness and efficiency in small and medium-sized food enterprises in Iran. This was an empirical study in which we searched to prove that competitive intelligence elevates the process of managing and making important decisions to a higher level. In this study, a conceptual model was developed to demonstrate the effect of CI on strategic decisions. The statistical population estimated at 90 senior managers from top small and medium-sized food enterprises in Iran, and based on the Cochran formula, the sample of this research included 73 managers of the SMEs in Iran food industry We used factor loading, path analysis, t-value, and Probability value (p-value) to analyze the data. The study's results indicated that CI could help with strategic decisions and significantly affect considered strategic decision's sides. Based on the t-value’s findings, CI had the most impact on the quality, flexibility, and effectiveness of the strategic decision-making, 15.139, 12.868, and 11.641, respectively. Therefore, CI acts as a support system to develop strategic decisions.