Harnessing Competitive Intelligence and AI for Corporate Growth and Sustainability

This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) integration enhances competitive intelligence (CI) effectiveness and, in turn, drives corporate growth and sustainability performance in Zimbabwean firms. Employing a mixed methods design, the research combines a quantitative survey of 312 senior managers and strategy professionals from medium and large firms with qualitative data from 28 semi structured interviews across manufacturing, financial services, telecommunications, and retail sectors. Quantitative findings reveal that AI capability significantly predicts CI effectiveness (β = 0.62, p < .001), while CI effectiveness significantly predicts corporate growth (β = 0.51, p < .001) and sustainability performance (β = 0.47, p < .001). Mediation analysis indicates that CI effectiveness partially mediates the relationship between AI capability and both corporate growth and sustainability outcomes. Qualitative analysis using the Gioia methodology further identifies three aggregate dimensions: AI enabled competitive intelligence, strategic decision making and growth, and sustainable value creation, illustrating how AI enhances sensing, analytics, and reporting capabilities, and how these capabilities are embedded into strategic routines. The findings extend the resource based, knowledge based, and dynamic capabilities perspectives by conceptualising CI as a mediating dynamic capability that transforms AI driven data into actionable strategic knowledge. The study contributes to theory and practice by demonstrating that AI delivers strategic value only when integrated into CI processes and organisational routines, enabling firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in volatile emerging economy contexts.