Customer Reviews

The WarRoom Guide to Competitive Intelligence

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

When I read the reviews, I saw that there was such a diverse set of reviews, I thought that the book would be a source of controversy. I thought that this meant that there would be thought provoking material. Instead I found that the 1 Star reviews were absolutely correct in their description of this book as an ego trip or advertisement for the authors' services.

I reread the good reviews and found them to follow bad reviews. To me the consistency of the content of the good reviews implies that they were put together by the same people trying to counter the bad reviews. Just a thought. At least this would indicate that the authors do know some basics of disinformation and competitive protection. Maybe they should write a book about that. This book on the otherhand is nothing more than an advertisement for their services.

Let's see what type of review is posted after this one. Let me predict techno-thriller that revolutionizes the field. ;)

Based on the reviews of this book here at Amazon, I bought it and eagerly awaited learning how to improve one aspect of my job...competitive intelligence. However, I was sorely disappointed by what this book contains.

I hate it when a consultant book serves mainly to advertise the services of its writer(s) and their firm. This one openly talks about the firm and vaguely describes the clients they have served, but it is so light in content that I found it a waste of time. I skimmed through the first five chapters saying "where's the beef?" Finally got to what I got would be an interesting one on the "Quarterbacking" technique only to be treated to a high level and nearly useless discussion of this technique that requires the WarRoom consultants to really make function.

I finally gave up after the chapter describing how to use Web-based search engines. If I didn't know how to do that, I never would have found the book in the first place!

To be truly useful to me, this book needed to provide more practical guidance on how to set up and manage a systematic intelligence gathering process, how to present the data to senior management in a way that influences decisions, and how much I should expect to budget for a decent program. In the end, I felt all they were trying to do was sell me time from their own firm.

Caveat Emptor with this one!

I have mixed feeling about these guys, and their book, but the bottom line is that it makes a contribution and must be read. They address, in a manner understandable by the complete layman, the intersection of competitive intelligence, corporate security, and WarRoom operations. They have a number of very useful and thoughtful figures. The book is unquestionably at the head of the class with respect to WarRoom operations and exploiting information technology and basic planning and execution and visualization concepts. Where I have a real problem with this book is in its advocacy of elicitation and other deceptive techniques, no doubt a hang-over from Steven's days as a CIA case officer. There is absolutely no place in U.S. competitive intelligence for such methods, and any discussion in that direction must be forcefully opposed if we are to succeed in creating a legal, ethical, overt network of intelligence professionals able to reinforce each other in providing open source intelligence to businesses as well as non-governmental organizations.

I can't believe a publisher would find this contributed to the body of knowledge on CI -- especially one as respected as McGraw-Hill! Of all the CI books on the market today, this is one of the least in terms of density of value. None of the things written herein were of ANY real use to me, because I'd heard it all before more times than I can recall! This is like going to a bad trade show -- costs a fortune and pretty light on real value. Pick up something from Fuld or Tyson instead if you want the very basics of CI. I really have to rethink my opinion of McGraw Hill after this.

We used the concepts of this book to create a war room, the use of the tools, caves and methodologies around it have helped us on using it effectively not only to review strategic intelligence but also to monitor the evolution of complex projects and business information. The digital war room is definitely a great tool that can help analyze advanced BI, KM, TQM indicators. A great resource to anyone trying to build this combination of decision support room, laboratory and multimedia meeting room.

The book has several chapters that make it worth purchasing. It has a good tradecraft discussion (on elicitation, body language, etc.) and the detailed description of the quarterback technique, denial and deception, and protection of trade secrets are all well done. The detailed analysis report on Aquila and Tacit Rainbow could have been left out without loss. Furthermore, the section on Cyber Collection is likely to be soon outdated, if not so already.

I bought this book based on the smooth and slick packaging and because it appeared, on the surface, to offer a unique contribution to the CI knowledge base. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that most of the material was already in the public domain and some of it was quite stale (example: the poor introductory chapter and Part 3 that was mostly borrowed from others). The field is clearly in trouble if this book represents the best that the self-promoted "world's foremost corporate intelligence experts" can come up with. Hopefully, they will provide us with better material that is likely to come out of subsequent consulting assignments that this book appears to be promoting.

Reading this book was just like living with the author as he proceeded through the world of competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is a rock the world concept not yet advanced in many business cultures but soon to catch on in new democracies around the world. As the Chinese, Russians, and successful Japanese move into technological frontiers not yet fully explored they conquer their competitors before they know what hit them. My compliments to the authors for giving us a much needed business method for success in the 21st Century.

I guess it is understandable that when two co-owners of a business write a book they will position their techniques as being the way to do things. That I can deal with. Unfortunately in the Guide to Competitive Intelligence Shaker and Gembecki go one step further constantly referring to succesful WarRoom inplementations without trying to look objective about things.

OK, so they are trying to look like thought leaders in the CI space but please... just give this overblown advert away on your web site dont make people pay for it.

Excellent description of competitive intelligence: its rationale, nature,tools and techniques. Includes a discussion of how warrooms enhance the competitive intelligence process. There are several useful case studies. The discussion of the Quarterback technique was especially good, along with instructions on how to build a competitive intelligence organization. The detailed bibliography is useful for gathering additional information on the topic.