Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Over the past two decades, competitive intelligence (CI) has frown from a small area of
interest into an internationally recognized and practiced discipline. CI is not just market
research [26] or business scanning. CI is a process of knowing what the competition is up
to and staying one step ahead of them, by gathering information about competitors and,
ideally, applying it to short and long-term strategic planning.
Among the newest sources of data is the Internet. It provides access to on-line databases
as well as an exploding set of other resources. As a CI resource, the Internet is both an
additional source of Information and a cost-effective means of disseminating information
to decision-makers[30]. One of the most popular platforms on the Internet is the Google,
it is used to search up for things we need and to look up for more information.
There is no doubt that the access to information has changed tremendously over the past
decade. While it was impossible to come up with answers to questions without consulting
a book or scribbling down own thoughts in the past, search engines such as Google are
the preferred go-to places in the era of smartphones. Like no other generation, today’s
teenagers and students appreciate the convenience of knowledge at their fingertips asking
Google to provide information on any kind of question. But does Google actually support
the learning process or does the overload of information distract the brain in the long run?
Despite the dominance of technology on our everyday life, there is a lack of academic
literature studying how the use of search engines affects our memory and the way we
learn new concepts.
Some researchers use examples from the past to argue that the easy access to information
supports our brain and gives us the chance to concentrate on other skills such as
creativity. Steve Pinker, a Harvard psychology professor, once argued that the Internet
and technological advancement are the only solutions to keep human beings smart. His
article in the New York Times focused on the positive effects of newspapers and
television which were also highly criticized for increasing human stupidity during the
time of their emergence.