cover image Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence

Larry Kahaner. Simon & Schuster, $24 (300pp) ISBN 978-0-684-81074-4

An estimated 7% of large U.S. companies, and many smaller firms, have established competitive intelligence (CI) divisions to spy on the competition, legally and ethically. By accessing government reports, scanning newspapers and the Internet, filing Freedom of Information requests and mining critical information from patents, corporate mission statements and aerial photographs, CI divisions anticipate competitors' actions, learn from their mistakes, find out what equipment they've purchased, identify acquisition targets and keep abreast of regulatory, political and market changes that could affect business. In a conversational, highly accessible style, Kahaner, a private investigator based in Virginia, explains how to set up a CI unit. He profiles intelligence-gathering operations at Motorola, Nutrasweet, AT&T, Corning, Procter & Gamble and Marion-Merrell Dow, as well as sophisticated CI operations in Japan, Sweden and other countries. The smart snooper's bible. (Aug.)