The design of competitive intelligence, as a process that monitors all elements of the external environment of an organization is still recent. Commercial banks have thus resulted in making use of various competitive intelligence aspects to ensure profitability. The main objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between competitive intelligence practices and performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The specific objectives were to establish how product intelligence practices, markets intelligence practices, technology intelligence practices and strategic intelligence influence performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The research was based on four theories ; theory of strategic balancing, theory of network organization, Ansoff's growth matrix and Porter's generic strategy all explaining the orientation of a firm in the aspects that are strategically related to competitive intelligence strategies adopted by organizations. This research study applied the descriptive research design. The target population composed of the 191 management staff employed at Equity Bank head offices in Nairobi. A sample of 25% was selected from within each group in proportions using stratified random sampling technique. This generated a sample of 48 respondents. The study used a survey questionnaire administered using a ‘drop and pick later’ method. The questionnaire had both open and close-ended questions. Data collected was purely quantitative and it was analysed by descriptive analysis. The descriptive statistical tools such as Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 21.0) and MS Excel were used to extract frequencies, percentages, means and other central tendencies. Tables and figures were used to summarize responses for further analysis and facilitate comparison. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to show the strength of the relationship between the variables. The findings indicated that a majority of the commercial banks in Kenya have embraced Competitive intelligence practices and have a functional CI framework. From the regression involving the independent variable, competitive intelligence practices and the dependent variable, company performance indicates that there is a strong and significant relationship between application of competitive intelligence practices and organizational performance especially among commercial banks in Kenya. The study concludes that adoption of competitive intelligence practices affect the profitability of the banking sector.
