Strategic scanning and interpretation revisiting: foundations for a software agent support system ‐ Part 2: scanning the business environment with software agents

Executive information systems, or strategic management support systems for senior managers, have traditionally addressed how to satisfy some predefined information needs of managers and how to help them in analyzing or solving predefined problems. They are usually not flexible enough to capture messages and signals from the business world that indicate impending opportunities or problems. In this paper we introduce a software agent approach into scanning support systems. We made a review of software agent fundamentals to understand what an agent is; what it can do and cannot do; what are the components of an agent; and how an agent can be constructed. We then examined its relevance in offering active scanning support to managers. An agent‐based support system is proposed. Useful software agents needed to constitute the system are identified. Tasks of the agent components are analyzed.