As the major powers move away from the traditional weapons of warfare, they are turning instead to economic weapons like competitive intelligence - the gathering and analysis of information about competitors and the marketplace - to ensure their national sovereignty and survival. Using technology and skills adapted from the Cold War era, they turn raw information into powerful intelligence, enabling them to build market share, launch new products, increase profits, and destroy competitors.

Yet, in America, the subject of business intelligence remains shrouded in secrecy - because some companies regard it as unethical, and because certain successful companies don't want to lose their advantage.

But the secret is out. With detailed examples from home and abroad, Kahaner reveals the methods, case studies, and systems that businesses use today to establish their own intelligence operations. You'll discover how competitive intelligence can unmask hidden competitors, and how it can help your company to enter new businesses, understand your own marketplace, and increase the range and quality of acquisition targets.

An indispensable guide to the new competitive world, Competitive Intelligence will help companies transform themselves from mere collectors of information to informed users of intelligence. Innovative and practical, it will forever change the way companies make decisions about themselves and the global marketplace.