Battling for Competitive Advantage [Hardcover]

Kenneth Allard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0471468541 | ISBN-13: 978-0471468547 | Edition: 1

Praise for Battling for Competitive Advantage

"[Battling for Competitive Advantage] systematically unravels and explains the complexities of modern business and warfare. This excellent book will prove helpful to business leaders as well as the academic community charged with explaining successful leadership of large organizations."
-General Barry R. McCaffrey, U.S.A. (Ret.), Professor of International Security Studies at West Point and NBC News Commentator

"Colonel Ken Allard doesn't just have supreme military intelligence, his operational brilliance extends to the business world as well. Battling for Competitive Advantage teaches you that business is war and that Ken is the perfect commander-in-chief to follow into your business battles."
-Ron Insana, Coanchor, CNBC's Business Center

"In war, they don't give out medals for second place. In business, as in war, you can't win without first surviving. [This book] offers the hard-won wisdom from one warrior's world to another. Read, laugh, squirm, survive, and win!"
-Scott A. Snook, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior Harvard Business School

"In the post-9/11, post-Enron environment, Ken Allard's Ten Commandments of Military Leadership are directly applicable to today's business CEOs."
-Tom Petrie, Chairman and CEO, Petrie Parkman & Co.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author, a former army colonel currently featured as a military analyst on MSNBC and NBC News, is convinced that corporate America can learn vital lessons from the U.S. military. Business executives, according to Allard (Command, Control and the Common Defense), today function in a chaotic atmosphere dominated by globalization and rapidly changing information technology. He argues that recent corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron as well as the high salaries of CEOs are symptomatic of the lack of leadership in industry, a loss that seriously impedes business success. Drawing on myriad examples from the military, Allard provides a series of war plans that he believes can change the corporate environment. Included is a recommendation to emulate the training followed at West Point to build idealistic managers, to devise overall military-like strategies rather than marketing plans and to be aware of and responsible for security programs to combat electronic terrorism. While Allard's proposals to improve business leadership have merit, many of the military analogies are repetitive and forced. Much of his advice is delivered in an off-putting, hectoring tone that sometimes borders on bragging, and his potshots at former president Clinton feel inappropriate for a business manual.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

The author, a former army colonel currently featured as a military analyst on MSNBC and NBC News, is convinced that corporate America can learn vital lessons from the U.S. military. Business executives, according to Allard (Command, Control and the Common Defense), today function in a chaotic atmosphere dominated by globalization and rapidly changing information technology. He argues that recent corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron as well as the high salaries of CEOs are symptomatic of the lack of leadership in industry, a loss that seriously impedes business success. Drawing on myriad examples from the military, Allard provides a series of war plans that he believes can change the corporate environment. Included is a recommendation to emulate the training followed at West Point to build idealistic managers, to devise overall military-like strategies rather than marketing plans and to be aware of and responsible for security programs to combat electronic terrorism. While Allard’s proposals to improve business leadership have merit, many of the military analogies are repetitive and forced. Much of his advice is delivered in an off-putting, hectoring tone that sometimes borders on bragging, and his potshots at former president Clinton feel inappropriate for a business manual. (Jan.) (Publishers Weekly, January 12, 2004)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471468541
• ISBN-13: 978-0471468547
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,686,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Badly Neglected Subject, March 5, 2004

By 

Paul J. Bracken "critic312" (Ridgefield, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battling for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

Given the large number of business books it's surprising that so few have drawn out the similarities between business and war. Col. Allard's Business As War does an especially good job of making the comparison, and of noting the differences. It will be important for business readers especially because it focuses on the essential constants of war and business.

Paul Bracken
Professor of Management
Yale School of Management

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want prosperity, prepare for paucity..., March 10, 2004

By 

Adam Bruski (Midland, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battling for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

I was a student of Col. Allard at Gerogetown University. In his class, Technology and National Security, one of his most important lessons was the continuing way in which the offense is guaranteed to adapt to whatever defense you can mount. And vice versa... In his new book, Col. Allard takes such lessons, accumulated by milennia of warfare, and applies them to the modern business world. I recommend this book for anyone truly interested in implementing effective leadership and strategy in their organization.

5.0 out of 5 stars This should be required reading for all business executives!, August 30, 2008

By 

John F. Wallace "John The Poet" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Battling for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

This book should be required reading for all executives! If you are a business executive who is tired of being surprised by your competition, or you want to maximize your competitive advantage, read this book!!! Also, if you want some customized help from experts in the field, consider hiring Ken's new firm, Business BattleLab, LLC. You can contact them through [e-mail]. You really can improve your competitive advantage and keep from being surprised!