Resumen
This article tries to show the importance of the competitive intelligence (CI) andmarket intelligence (MI) function by describing developments in two quite different Swedishmultinational companies. We see how top management can become the problem when thecompany is struggling to compete and how this affects the intelligence function. In the analysiswe compare the intelligence function in private companies with those of state and militaryorganizations and draw historical parallels. Moreover, the cases show what an important rolecompetitive and market intelligence continue to play in the age of information, especially duringthe past decade.