Millennium Intelligence: Understanding and Conducting Competitive Intelligence in the Digital Age

Citation

Chawner, B. (2001), "Millennium Intelligence: Understanding and Conducting Competitive Intelligence in the Digital Age", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 131-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.2.131.5

My first question on receiving this book for review was “Who or what is the Business Intelligence Braintrust?” After consulting its index, I learned that the phrase is Miller’s term for the 12 specialists who contributed to the book, rather than a term referring to a wider group. In the introduction Miller states that the book is intended for decision makers and managers who wish to learn both how to carry out the competitive intelligence (CI) function legally and ethically, and also how to manage the process. Individual chapters cover the intelligence process, factors affecting the intelligence process, the location of the intelligence unit, skills and training for intelligence, analytical models and techniques, information resources for intelligence, the information technology marketplace, knowledge management and the intelligence function, intelligence and the law, conducting intelligence ethically, intelligence and security, small business and intelligence, and the future. Each chapter has been written by someone with expertise in that aspect of the intelligence process. For example, Helene Kassler, the director of Library and Information Resources at Fuld and Company, an early CI consultancy firm, writes about secondary information sources (both print and electronic), while Michael A. Sandeman, a Fuld and Company senior vice president, discusses primary research techniques: interviewing, unpublished documents, and observation. The chapter on ethics and CI, written by Clifford Kalb, from the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) and Merck & Co., contains some thought‐provoking case studies, as well as the SCIP Code of Ethics. The chapter on information resources has a strong US emphasis, with only a brief discussion of international sources. Despite this, the more general material on concepts and techniques will be useful to readers anywhere, since the basic principles of CI are the same no matter where one is. The writing style is informal, with frequent use of “I”, “you” and “we”. Diagrams and charts are used to illustrate key models, such as the Intelligence Value Creation System. There are an index and a bibliography, though the latter would be more useful if it were grouped into sources about CI and sources used in CI.

Someone new to the area of CI will find this title particularly useful, as it emphasises basic concepts and techniques. It is recommended for business collections, particularly for tertiary institutions offering courses in business information sources and techniques.