Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather Analyze and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top [Hardcover]

Larry Kahaner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 1996

From combing the Internet and routine filings with government agencies to employing complex chemical analyzes, competitive intelligence reveals where the market is going, who is leading it, and why. Japanese companies have had competitive intelligence divisions for years, but companies in the rest of the world are far behind in the critical business practice of assembling and converting peripheral data and matters of public record into a market advantage. This text provides a series of case studies which show companies how to establish competitive intelligence units, and how to protect themselves from similar effects by others.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An estimated 7% of large U.S. companies, and many smaller firms, have established competitive intelligence (CI) divisions to spy on the competition, legally and ethically. By accessing government reports, scanning newspapers and the Internet, filing Freedom of Information requests and mining critical information from patents, corporate mission statements and aerial photographs, CI divisions anticipate competitors' actions, learn from their mistakes, find out what equipment they've purchased, identify acquisition targets and keep abreast of regulatory, political and market changes that could affect business. In a conversational, highly accessible style, Kahaner, a private investigator based in Virginia, explains how to set up a CI unit. He profiles intelligence-gathering operations at Motorola, Nutrasweet, AT&T, Corning, Procter & Gamble and Marion-Merrell Dow, as well as sophisticated CI operations in Japan, Sweden and other countries. The smart snooper's bible.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Drawing from his broad experiences as a journalist, author, licensed private investigator, and consultant on intelligence matters for corporate clients, Kahaner gives us a practical guidebook about how many Japanese firms have competitive intelligence divisions as compared with the barely three percent of U.S. companies that practice competitive intelligence. Through illustrative case studies and examples, Kahaner shows Western companies how to establish competitive intelligence units and use them for advantage in the international environment. Kahaner explains what business competitive intelligence is and what it can do for a company; the methods and processes of executing intelligence and comparative facts about the role of competitive business intelligence in other countries, and dicusses pertinent issues such as cost and ethics, opportunities, and the future. A practical book recommended for upper-level business executives and professionals involved in business competitive intelligence; law-enforcement and government officials can also benefit.?Joseph W. Leonard, Miami Univ., Oxford, Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1St Edition edition (August 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684810743
• ISBN-13: 978-0684810744
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an award winning journalist and the author of eight books including "Competitive Intelligence," considered the landmark work on the subject. My books have been translated into six languages and have been chosen as Book-of-the-Month selections. I have written for the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, The European, The Village Voice, Popular Science and many other publications.
I was a Washington staff correspondent for Business Week Magazine and covered military affairs for Knight-Ridder newspapers at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer where my beat was Fort Benning, the infantry training center.
My awards include the 2005 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for a feature on transportation security, the Associated Press Public Service Award for an investigation into unsafe working conditions in Georgia textile mills and the American Society of Business Publication Editors Regional Gold Award for a feature on the dangerous state of U.S. roads.
I have appeared on national TV and radio shows including CNN's Larry King Live!, Evening Magazine, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, G. Gordon Liddy Show, BBC World Service, CBS Evening News and local TV and radio stations in San Francisco, Washington, DC, New York City, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami and other cities.
I am also is a licensed private investigator and founder of KANE Associates International, Inc., a company that specializes in intelligence matters for corporate clients.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book Yet On Competitive Intelligence, August 27, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather Analyze and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top (Hardcover)

This is the best book I have seen in a long time on competitive intelligence. Kahaner does a good job of turning what could be a boring subject into easy reading. The information about existing competitive intelligence plans used by corporations in different countries is very interesting. The flow of the book takes a logical path similar to how a corporate competitive intelligence program should operate. Executives looking for a way to enhance their market share would benefit from this book.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The best secrets of this century!, January 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather Analyze and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top (Hardcover)

This is the best book I read in the last few years (at least the best comic book). And if you are that kind of guy who thinks that knows all, look to the "gems" of the competitive intelligence that I learn from this book.

First, on page 88 the revelation that the European Union has one secret member, which elevates the number of member states to 16. Second, on page 236 you will learn that in Barcelona almost nobody speaks Spanish only Catalan and, for THAT reason, the databases in Spain are not reliable. Finally, on page 238 you will discover that Belgium is a city.

OK, this is all about Europe and you may say "Who cares?", but did you know that the Japan's GDP surpassed the United States GDP in the early 1960s (page 160)? If your answer is "Yes I knew", you are "one of the few Americans that were astute" (page 160).

If, as the author says (page 96) "Good Analysts are born, not made" is true, then there is little hope for Mr. Kahaner.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

Alexandre Conde

Portugal