What people are saying about Competitive Intelligence by Larry Kahaner

Business and Political Leaders

"Politicians on both sides of the aisle have long used competitive intelligence as a key to winning elections. Now, Larry Kahaner has provided business leaders with a primer on how to use the same techniques. Competitive Intelligence is a book no 'war room' should be without."

--Howard Paster
Chairman and CEO, Hill and Knowlton
Former Assistant to President Clinton

"You need to know what competitors know and what they know you know. You need to know what's in Competitive Intelligence."

--Barry Nalebuff
Milton Steinbach Professor of Strategy
Yale School of Management and author of Co-Opetition.

"Marketing intelligence--long the jealously guarded province of marketing and promotion companies--enters the public domain with Larry Kahaner's Competitive Intelligence."

--John Zweig
CEO, Specialist Communications
WPP Group USA, Inc.

"For those business leaders challenged to excel, Kahaner explains in everyday language what competitive intelligence is, why you must have it, and how to develop it."

--E. Peter Earnest
Former Director of Media Relations
Central Intelligence Agency
President, Association of Former Intelligence Officers

"Competitive intelligence, like Deming's Quality Control movement, received scant appreciation in the U.S.A. while being perfected by foreign businesses. Kahaner's book should be required reading at America's business schools. Without question the single best book for helping managers and executives appreciate the critical importance of CI for corporate survival and success."

--William C. Boni
Associate Director
Information Protection Services
Amgen

"This book brilliantly demonstrates the impact of competitive intelligence on revenues, and ultimately a company's success in the marketplace."

--Svetlana Shaknes
Manager, Competitive Intelligence
American Express

"Competitive Intelligence elucidates why companies need to develop effective intelligence programs--and how to do it. Highly recommended reading."

--Mark Dingle
Senior Business Consultant
Bristol-Myers Squibb

"Finally, a clearly articulated approach to analyzing the competition and a fresh perspective on investment analysis."

--Steve McMenamin
Director of Equity Research
Cantor Fitzgerald

"Competitive Intelligence is essential reading for any executive who wants to thrive in today's knowledge-driven economy. It covers all the bases in this new business discipline."

--Tim Powell
Managing Director
InfoStrat, Inc.

"Intelligence has privatized, and it is as important a part of modern business competition as it was of the Cold War's political and military confrontation. Larry Kahaner's book shows how the business leader can adapt its techniques to his decision making, ethically and efficiently, with plenty of pithy case histories. A must read for the modern business leader."

--William E. Colby
former CIA Director

"This book provides a detailed method to win over business competitors using information collected through legal and ethical means... Information is the strongest weapon in global economic competition, and national prosperity depends upon ... using competitive intelligence as an effective tool for corporate strategy." (Translated from Japanese)

--Kosei Tashiro
Chairman, Japan Investigative Services Association

"A first-class introduction to the art and practice of competitive intelligence. Kahaner explains how firms use competitive intelligence in all aspects of business--from mergers and acquisitions to marketing--to gain real competitive advantage, and he describes the organisational system that makes it possible. The chapter on analysis alone is easily worth the price of the book."

--Douglas C. Bernhardt
Managing Consultant
Business Research Group
Geneva, Switzerland

"A key factor in improving the competitive position of the United States in the global economy will be the broader use of intelligence by the private sector. By explaining how businesses can use intelligence techniques legally and ethically, Kahaner's book makes an important contribution to our nation's economic strength."

--Former U.S. Representative Anthony Beilenson
Chairman, Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence

"Larry Kahaner turns a sea of information into a firehose of opportunity."

--Vint Cerf
President, The Internet Society
Senior Vice-President, MCI Telecommunications

The Media

"Kahaner offers a book that helps separate the useless from the useful... Competitive Intelligence is crammed with top companies' entertaining intelligence-gathering and counterespionage tactics."

--USA Today

"This is book is both smart and fun."

--Fast Company

"Conversational, highly accessible style... The smart snooper's bible."

--Publishers Weekly

"Anyone who reads this book and is not convinced of the critical importance of competitive intelligence should not occupy a position of importance in the modern business world... Required reading for everyone who has ever said: 'Nothing goes on in this industry that I don't already know about.' ... This is not a how-to book. Rather it is aimed at general business readers, telling them who does what and how well they do it--naming names. And therein lies its strength."

--Competitive Intelligence Review

"As the first and only guide to transforming crude business data into valuable information, Competitive Intelligence is poised to become the cutting edge tool of the nineties..."

--Business Times

"...A highly entertaining and valuable account ... direct approach one expects from a seasoned business writer."

--Consultants News

"...Tailor-made for your CEO's bedtime reading."

--Profiles Magazine

"...Recommended for upper-level business executives..."

--Library Journal

"This book should appeal to a broad audience. To the novice it provides both a clear description of what competitive intelligence is as well as a description of the intelligence gathering and dissemination process. To those already acquainted with the subject of business intelligence, he describes the collection, analysis, and dissemination of competitive intelligence as well as how it is performed by competitors abroad. For both groups, Kahaner's frequent use of detailed business examples establishes the value of understanding and utilizing competitive intelligence."

--Journal of Consumer Marketing

"The author does a good job in describing the process of competitive intelligence and makes excellent use of case studies. He does a nice job of presenting the topic as a global issue, making sure he uses examples from all around the world so that the reader gets a feel for what goes on in the international world of economics... Filled with interesting and useful information for those in the business world. It may even open the eyes of some to a practice they didn't know existed... It might be a good idea to use this book in business schools across the United States."

--United Press International

Copyright © 2010 Larry Kahaner