Competitive Intelligence is a process which involves retrieving, analyzing and packaging information to offer#R##N##R##N#a final product that responds to the intelligence needs of a particular decision maker or community of decision#R##N##R##N#makers. Internet-based information sources are becoming increasingly important in this process because#R##N##R##N#most of the contents available on the Web are available free of charge. In this work the following research#R##N##R##N#question was addressed: What are the concepts and technologies related to linked data which allow gathering,#R##N##R##N#integration and sharing of information to support competitive intelligence? To answer this question, firstly,#R##N##R##N#the literature was reviewed in order to outline the conceptual framework. Next, some competency questions#R##N##R##N#were defined through a focus group in a study object. Finally, DB4Trading tool was built as a prototype able#R##N##R##N#to validate the conceptual framework. Results point out that adoption of Semantic Web technologies enable to#R##N##R##N#obtain the data needed for the analysis of external environments. Besides that, results indicate that companies#R##N##R##N#use Semantic Web technologies to support its operations despite consider these technologies as complex. This#R##N##R##N#work adds to the decision-making process, specially in the context of competitive intelligence. This work also#R##N##R##N#contributes to reducing costs to obtain information beyond organization boundaries by using Semantic Web#R##N##R##N#technologies.
['Vitor Afonso Pinto', 'Guilherme Sousa Bastos', 'Fabricio Ziviani', 'Fernando Silva Parreiras']
Supporting Competitive Intelligence with Linked Enterprise Data