Rating: 
Summary: This is a must read
Review: This is the first book I've ever read that truly explains what Competitive Intelligence is about and how to use it. It's practical and hands-on. The examples are top-notch cases about real companies like Kodak, Xerox and Motorola. Every CEO and manager should read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hype and drivel
Review: When a journalist writes a book, you can expect (unfortunately) that the book will be shallow, sensationalistic, at times incompetent. This book is no exception. The author tried really hard to create something out of nothing and then hype it up into a truly revolutionary concept. Wordplay and spin is the basis of this exercise, for example: it's been widely understood that information is processed and analyzed data. Well, one can engage in semantics and say that no, information is data, and the analyzed version thereof is "competitive intelligence." When you want to attach a new cutesy name to something quotidian so that a bunch of aspiring "gurus" may have a field of application, that is a way to go. You may rename salesmen to "floor associates", or you may start calling markeging research "competitive intelligence", but (at least, after reading this work) I can't see any difference between the two. Except that marketing research doesn't sound as sexy, I guess. I can also see no reason for this book to exist, all of this is profusely covered and chewed on in a lot of printed material, although under different (and differing) names.Writing is journalistic too: formulaic and imprecise. Not surprisingly so: when there's no substance it's hard to achieve perfect form. OK, something useful--there are a few references to data sources and databases. The same as would be available in any marketing research guide. Save your time.
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