The Impact of Strategic Intelligence on Achieving Competitive Advantage: Applied Study on the Pharmaceutical Companies Sector in Jordan

This study aimed at determining the impact of strategic intelligence on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies in Jordanian context. The study population consists of 321 employees in the top and middle management level of the pharmaceutical companies in Jordan, 195 questionnaires were distributed, and 189 questionnaires were collected. The findings of the study have shown that there is a statistically significant relationship at the level (P ≤ 0.05) for strategic intelligence on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Finally, the study has made a number of recommendations, including developing strategic intelligence tools constantly and evaluating the strategic situation and monitoring the markets.

Ho1-1: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of visioning on achieving a competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Ho1-2: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of foresight on achieving on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Ho1-3: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of partnership on achieving a competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Ho1-4: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of intuition on achieving a competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Ho1-5: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of creativity on achieving a competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.

Study Model:
The following model represents the variables of the study, as shown in Figure (1), the independent variable, the strategic intelligence, and the dependent variable (achieving competitive advantage).

Strategic intelligence
The current business environment is characterized by turbulence, complexity and intense competition as a result of technological advances, continuous changes in customer needs and the use of innovative processes. Strategic intelligence should provide useful knowledge to organizations about their business environment, to adapt to change; design appropriate strategies that create value, and build future growth in new markets. In order to understand the role and nature of strategic intelligence, must know the following key things (McDowell, 2009, p. 26): Strategic intelligence is designed to make long-term policy decisions. Strategic intelligence provides tools to support operational objectives, by predicting future challenges, which can have a direct impact on operational planning.

Dimensions of strategic intelligence:
Foresight: foresight is the ability to understand and recognize the forces that shape the future. The young programmer, Bill Gates, understood this when he understood what the computer could become and what it is meant to get a DOS job for the first IBM PC. He had also shown that he recognized the importance of partnership with an organization that will affect the future, (Macopee, 2011). Visioning: Vision is the process of creating an ideal social work system for a purpose. The leader is not only required to describe the future, but also to transfer workers to him, too, and involve everyone in important decisions. It's a process that happens over time. It is necessary to involve people in understanding the ideal, and to force them to move cooperatively in this direction, (Macbooky, Margolis and Andreik Harvey, 2008). Partnership : Is a logical orientation between companies and organizations that recognize the strategic advantage of joint action. The business partnership is "developing successful and long-term strategic relationships between customers and suppliers, based on best practices and sustainable competitive advantage" (Lehane, 2011). Intuition : Intuitive intelligence is thinking beyond the boundaries of science and analytics. It connects the realms of reality, imagination, mind, instinct, and physical and spiritual dimensions of human existence. Intuitive intelligence is not linear, a key skill for success in the new economy, an economy driven by turmoil and constant chaos. Intuitive Intelligence: lies beyond the boundaries of science and analytics. It bridges the realms of reality and imagination, reason and instinct, material and spiritual dimensions of human existence. Intuitive Intelligence is nonlinear, a key skill for success in the new economy, an economy driven by constant disruption and chaos. Creativity: Creative intelligence is the invention of new tools that enable the organization to enter and stay in the market, and creativity in providing products to customers.

Competitive advantages
In order to understand the concept of competitive advantage, it should first be defined. Clearly, if the definition is more comprehensive and more profound, a better understanding will be achieved. Here are some competitive advantage definitions: Competitive advantage is the ability of an organization to operate in a unique way that competitors cannot imitate (Kotler, 2000). Table 1 Concept of competitive advantage Author Concept of competitive advantage Ghemewat (1986) Competitive advantage can be sustainable depending on the number of cost sources or the advantages of differentiation Kay (1993) Competitive advantage is a deceptively simple idea of assessing a company"s capabilities and market position by how they give it advantage 4 relative to competitors". Competitive advantages are ephemeral and only worth as much as the value that the market places on them. Porter (2000) Competitive advantage relates to the company's performance in competitive markets. It means low costs, a differentiation advantage, or a successful focus strategy. The competitive advantage grows mainly from the value that a company can create for buyers who exceed the cost of creating a company. Barney (1997) The competitive advantage is considered sustainable if those resources are also no imitable (i.e., cannot be easily duplicated by competitors), no substitutable (i.e., other resources cannot perform the same function), and nontransferable (i.e., cannot be acquired in the marketplace). Hunt (2000) Modern business strategy maintains that the strategic imperative of a firm should be sustained, superior financial performance and the belief that this goal can be achieved through a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Saloner, Shepard, Podolny (2001) Most forms of competitive advantage mean either that a firm can produce some service or product that its customers" value than those produced by competitors or that it can produce its service or product at a lower cost than its competitors. Powell (2001) Competitive advantage has generated a large volume of scholarly output, both theoretical and empirical; firms do, by all accounts, attempt to identify, create and leverage competitive advantages; and competitive advantage is universally accepted in strategic management courses and textbooks as an essential concept in strategy. Urbancová (2013) The innovative activity of organizations significantly influences competitiveness which is based on inimitable skills and abilities. Achieving a higher competitiveness by means of innovations means producing less costly products of better quality compared to those manufactured by competitors. Wang (2014) Competitive advantage is obtained when an organization develops or acquires a set of attributes (or executes actions) that allow it to outperform its competitors. The development of theories that help explain competitive advantage has occupied the attention of the management community for the better part of half a century.

Dimensions of achieving Competitive Advantage:
Creativity: Create new and useful ways to accomplish business projects, so creative decision is a solution that involves solutions to a problem in a unique and a new way. Or, the production of ideas, decisions and behaviors that are unconventional but can be dealt with (Urbancova, 2013, 83). Accordingly, it must be emphasized that the human factor generates ideas that may help the organization to gain a competitive advantage that distinguishes it from its competitors over a certain period of time. Flexibility: The company's ability to deliver a variety of products in timely manner, and the company's ability to develop existing products and improve its operations to deliver new products that meet the needs and desires of customers (Chse, Aquilano, Jacobs & Robert, 2001). It is the company's ability to bring about change in operations, both in performance and time product that includes product flexibility, mix, size and delivery (Slack, Chambers, Harland, Harrston& Johnston, 2004). Flexibility is usually associated with different processes in the company that enable it to respond quickly to customer needs and desires (William, 2007), which means that the organization's ability to respond quickly to changes in product design characteristics or changes in the size of customers' requests and changing their desires.
Cost: Cost is one of the important variables in achieving competitive advantage by reducing the cost of production in a percentage that achieves the desires of a wide range of customers by reducing the total cost of service products with the need to realize that the strategic goal of reducing cost is not absolute, but according to the governed conditions and regulations (Wheelen& Hunger, 2010, 67). Therefore, the organization that adopts the least cost should focus on the production process, starting from the suppliers and the ending with the arrival of the product to customers, and control over all products and costs associated with production, and to provide new value-inexpensive services. The company can reach the cost leadership strategy through: (Tugce, 2013, 420) -Improve the activities and create added value.
-The elimination of unnecessary costs. Differentiation: Differentiation represents creating a product or a unique service to offer superior value to customers, and works in the habit to highlight the unique features of the product or service and provide additional value to customers so that the client is willing to pay the higher value for the product or the service (Beckham, 2008, 4).
Organizations seek to provide products or services that are unique and distinguished from other organizations, which give an advantage in different products or services which earns the loyalty of their customers. Therefore, organizations resort to cutting-edge technology in their products or making changes depending on the customer's desire as a kind of discrimination that gives it a competitive advantage and thus achieve the demand which is characterized by growth that leads to profitability (Poolad, 2010). Quality: The ability to offer products and services at the lowest cost and free of defects, and to ensure the achievement of discrimination to the organization under the existing competition in the market and represent the overall attributes and characteristics of the product and the service that meets the needs of customers (Gupta, Garg& Kumar, 2014, 81). Quality is known as one of the most important factors for the survival and growth of the organization and to maintain its competitiveness.   Seen from the table 3a,b,c. The different characteristics of the study sample, which shows that the proportion of males has reached (77%), and also shows that the largest percentage (87%) of the study sample is of the bachelor's holders. In terms of age, it has been shown that the category (30-less than 40 years) is the largest category and reached (45%). Regarding the experience, it has been shown that (59 %) of the sample have the expertise of (10 years and less than 15 years).

Testing the Hypothesis
H01: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of strategic intelligence dimensions (Visioning, Foresight, Partnership, Intuition , Creativity) on achieving competitive advantage Applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.  The Model summary Shows that (R Square = 0.635), this means that strategic intelligence has been interpreted to (63.5 %) of the variation in achieving competitive advantage.
The following is a sub-hypothesis test Ho1-1: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Visioning) on achieving competitive advantage Applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. . This indicates the presence of a positive correlation between strategic intelligence (visioning) and achieving competitive advantage. The coefficient of determination (R2) value amounted to (0.365), meaning that strategic intelligence (visioning) has been interpreted the amount (36.5%) of the discrepancy in achieving competitive advantage. As the value of the degree of influence (β = 0.463), and this means that an increase by one unit in the level of strategic intelligence (visioning) leads to an increased level of achieving competitive advantage (46.3%). And confirms the significant value of this effect (F) calculated, which amounted to (33.65), which is statistically significant at the level of (α≤0.05) totaled (T) calculated (6.24), which function at the level. (α≤0.05). Based on the above, the null hypothesis is rejected and accepts the alternative hypothesis, which states: There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Visioning) on achieving competitive advantage Applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan Ho1-2: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Foresight) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.  (7) the impact of strategic intelligence (visioning) in achieving competitive advantage, if the results of statistical analysis showed the presence of a statistically significant effect, since the value of the correlation coefficient (R=0.298). This indicates the presence of a positive correlation between strategic intelligence (Foresight) and achieving competitive advantage. The coefficient of determination (R2) value amounted to (0.342), meaning that strategic intelligence (Foresight) has been interpreted the amount (34.2%) of the discrepancy in achieving competitive advantage. As the value of the degree of influence (β = 0.398), and this means that an increase by one unit in the level of strategic intelligence (Foresight) leads to an increased level of achieving competitive advantage (39.8%). And confirms the significant value of this effect (F) calculated, which amounted to (37.550), which is statistically significant at the level of (α≤0.05) totaled (T) calculated (7.056), which function at the level. (α≤0.05).

Table7: Simple Regression Test For Second sub-Hypothesis
Based on the above, the null hypothesis is rejected and accept the alternative hypothesis, which states: There is statistically significant impact ,(at α≤ 0.05) of (Foresight) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.

Ho1-3:
There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Partnership) on achieving competitive advantage Applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.  R=0.459). This indicates the presence of a positive correlation between strategic intelligence (Partnership) and achieving competitive advantage. The coefficient of determination (R2) value amounted to (0.489), meaning that strategic intelligence (Partnership) has been interpreted the amount (48.9%) of the discrepancy in achieving competitive advantage.
As the value of the degree of influence (β = 0.396), and this means that an increase by one unit in the level of strategic intelligence (Partnership) leads to an increased level of achieving competitive advantage (39.6%). And confirms the significant value of this effect (F) calculated, which amounted to (17.025), which is statistically significant at the level of (α≤0.05) totaled (T) calculated (8.011), which function at the level. (α≤0.05). Based on the above, it is rejected the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis, which states: There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Partnership) on achieving competitive advantage Applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. Ho1-4: There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Intuition) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. From table (9) the impact of strategic intelligence (Intuition) in achieving competitive advantage, if the results of statistical analysis showed the presence of a statistically significant effect, since the value of the correlation coefficient (R=0.321). This indicates the presence of a positive correlation between strategic intelligence (Intuition) and achieving competitive advantage. The coefficient of determination (R2) value amounted to (0.526), meaning that strategic intelligence (Intuition) has been interpreted the amount (52.6%) of the discrepancy in achieving competitive advantage. As the value of the degree of influence (β = 0.276), and this means that an increase by one unit in the level of strategic intelligence (visioning) leads to an increased level of achieving competitive advantage (27.6%). And confirms the significant value of this effect (F) calculated, which amounted to (21.542), which is statistically significant at the level of (α≤0.05) totaled (T) calculated (4.156), which function at the level. (α≤0.05). Based on the above, it is rejected the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis, which states: There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Intuition) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.

Ho1-5:
There is no statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Creativity) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. . This indicates the presence of a positive correlation between strategic intelligence (Creativity) and achieving competitive advantage. The coefficient of determination (R2) value amounted to (0.468), meaning that strategic intelligence (Creativity) has been interpreted the amount (46.8%) of the discrepancy in achieving competitive advantage. As the value of the degree of influence (β = 0.428), and this means that an increase by one unit in the level of strategic intelligence (visioning) leads to an increased level of achieving competitive advantage (42.8 %). And confirms the significant value of this effect (F) calculated, which amounted to (11.86), which is statistically significant at the level of (α≤0.05) totaled (T) calculated (5.29), which function at the level. (α≤0.05). Based on the above, it is rejected the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis, which states: There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Creativity) on achieving competitive advantage applied study on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.

Finding
-There is a statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of strategic intelligence dimensions (Visioning, Foresight, Partnership, Intuition, and Creativity) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. -There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Visioning) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan -There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Foresight) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. -There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Partnership) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. -There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Intuition) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan. -There is statistically significant impact, (at α≤ 0.05) of (Creativity) on achieving competitive advantage on the pharmaceutical companies sector in Jordan.

Recommendations
-Develop strategic intelligence tools constantly.
-Evaluating the strategic situation and monitoring the markets.
-Developing the abilities of employees through learning and training.
-Pay attention to scarce company resources.