Functional zyxw - Level Competitive Intelligence: Human Resources Management zy Craig S. Fleisher, Gerald zyxwvutsrq A. Schoenfeld, Jr. University of Pittsburgh Coppetitive intelligence (CI) professionals have long recognized the value of assessing and analyzing infor- mation on functional organizational areas. Functional- level CI programs include those CI-based activities which seek to obtain insight and develop competitive implications on essential business organization func- tions such as manufacturing, marketing, or research and development. Functional-level intelligence is an increasingly valuable focus of CI activity since it is often easier to attain advantages at this organizational level and more difficult for competitors to assess them. However, certain functional areas receive more CI attention than others. This article addresses the least frequently used functional-level CI information source, Human Resources Management (HR). It is surprising that CI professionals collect so little human resources information. Over the past decade best sell- ing authors in the popular management press and top managers in annual reports and public speeches have declared that a company’s human resources are its mos valuable and vital assets (Peters & Vaternan, competitive advantages through utilization of human resources is a global imperative for sustained market leadership (Shook, 1988; Pascale, 1990). In light of these statements, it is surprising that 82% of the SCIP members surveyed (Prescott and Fleisher, 1990) did nothing with the HR information they collected. Or they subjected it to simple analyses with few if any implications drawn. Are all the decla- rations regarding the importance of human resources to sustaining competitiveness just meaningless state- ments? The answer to this question is a resounding Jr., zyxwvutsrqp i 1982; Waterman, Jr., 1987). The acquisition of “NO!” zyxwvutsrqp Reasons for under-utilizing HRCI There are several critical reasons why competitive intelligence professionals and organizational decision makers under-utilize intelligence about competitor’s staffing and human resources management practices. We call this type of intelligence Human Resources Competitive Intelligence (HRCI). Competitive intelli- gence professionals: ’ Fail to recognize how to effectively use HRCI. ’ Lack categorization frameworks for analyzing human resources information. ’ Rarely interact on a strategic level with human resources management professionals, thereby gener- ating little interest in pursuing competitive analysis of HR information. Lack the ability to derive actionable and signijicant implications from the sinall amount of information collected. Our objective is to encourage the use of internation- al or global HRCI. HRCI is particularly important from an international perspective due to the high level of uncertainty and management differences in the cre- ation of new foreign subsidiaries, plants, or joint ven- tures. The essence of any meaningful functional-level CI program is linking business plans to function-level planning. In the case of HRCI, intelligence efforts must be related to HR planning and strategy (HR Management) and to other CI efforts. These programs should ultimately be related and linked into the orga- nization’s business planning efforts for maximum strategic effectiveness (Dyer, 1984). This relationship is demonstrated in Figure 1. Levels of HRCI As a preliminary basis for classifying human resources information, the CI or HR practitioner should identify four macro competitor levels of HRCI information: HR information at this level focuses on those firms that compete directly with your firm in providing a specific product or service line. Relevant information covers hiring practices and patterns, culture, key executives, HR programs, and employee philosophy. Direct product market competitors. zy Relationship Between HRCI and Business Planning I COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE Figure I 2 Winter 1992