UNETHICAL PRACTICES IN COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS - PATTERNS, CAUSES AND EFFECTS

Scholars and executives have expressed concern over the growing freque ncy of unethical practices in companies' conduct of competitive analys is - the process by which a firm gathers, analyzes, and interprets dat a about its rivals. This article reports the results of an exploratory study of 137 senior executives' perceptions of unethical competitive analysis practices, their causes, and their potential effect on indust ries, companies and individuals. The article discusses the implication s of the results for developing guidelines to safeguard against ethica l violations in competitive analysis.