Jay Bloom's Pet Assure,a National Pet Health-Care Provider Network Based

Jay Bloom's Pet Assure,a national pet health-care provider network based in Dover,N.J.,recently took advantage of a rival's naïveté.When a West Coast provider of catastrophic pet coverage "preannounced" the addition of a wellness component (Pet Assure's specialty) in an interview with a tiny community newsweekly six months prior to launching it,Bloom was notified immediately through a web-based news monitoring service.This not only gave him time to add catastrophic benefits to one of his own wellness products,but also enabled him to get his offering to the market first.Jay Bloom relied on __________ to keep him abreast of his competitors' activities.

A) legal environmental scanning
B) economic espionage
C) the use of kickbacks
D) corporate piracy
E) primary market research