OBTAINING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ON THE INTERNET

External information required for strategic decision making originates at multiple sources and its occurrence is not as controllable as inte rnal information. In the light of this, researchers have suggested tha t there is an important role for advanced information technologies in meeting the external information requirements for strategic decision m aking. In this article we suggest that the Internet could play a key r ole in providing external information for strategic decisions. We high light the types of external information required for strategic decisio ns and outline the search modes that firms should use to acquire this information. We then examine the suitability of the Internet utilities for meeting these requirements. Finally we discuss some of the factor s which might lead to changes in the use of the Internet from the appr oach which we are suggesting. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.