Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Review

Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches. By John E. Prescott and Stephen H. Miller, eds. John Wiley & Sons, 334 pages. $39.95.

Practical experience and proven advice aren't always featured in business books, but Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence has them to spare. The book is actually a collection of presentations made to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, and offers a variety of different voices and approaches. The publisher, Wiley, also publishes the society's Competitive Intelligence Review, in which a number of the book's chapters had earlier appeared.

Competitive intelligence (CI) is a bit like warfare; in fact, one presentation refers to the Gulf War stratagems of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. CI refers to information-gathering and evaluation techniques that the editors say market leaders use "to help them outwit, outmaneuver and...