Business and Competitive Intelligence Maturity Models Enhancing Decision-Making for Entrepreneurs: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Entrepreneurs are essential for the growth of any economy. Hence it is imperative to ensure that sufficient support functions are put into place to support entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial initiatives.  Business intelligence (BI) and Competitive intelligence (CI) enable organisations to convert raw data into meaningful insights, which significantly enhances the quality of strategic and operational decision-making, by doing so contributing to the overall sustainability of an organisation. The importance of applying BI and CI as support functions within the entrepreneurial space can contribute significantly to growth and sustainability. This study aimed to examine existing BI and CI maturity models as presented in academic literature, with the objective of identifying models that could potentially support enhanced decision-making among entrepreneurs. Through a systematic literature review, this study identified existing BI and CI models, and their adaptations, spanning over the years 2010 – 2023. Scopus was used as the database of choice due to its comprehensive coverage of academic journals, and its inclusion of a vast array of disciplines and top-quality peer-reviewed journals. The use of a PRISMA flow diagram and Mendeley ensured that the 75 articles that were identified from an initial search on Scopus, were carefully filtered through using a pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. The 10 articles that complied with all the inclusion criteria for this study were then synthesised using visualisation and textual analysis. The findings of this study contribute to entrepreneurs enhancing their BI and CI capabilities through the application of various maturity models. The findings of this study also contribute to more agile and competitive business decision-making within the entrepreneurial space.