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Praise from Distinguished Business School Professors
“Information in the past tense is never as valuable as information in the future or present
tense. How often do we hear that “the signs were all there”. Martin has created a framework
and processes that anyone or any organization can adapt and use to create information and
intelligence that will prevent or reduce unpleasant surprises in their lives or work.”
Professor William J. Bruns, Jr., Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration,
Emeritus,
Harvard Business School
Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration
Northeastern University
“This book is crisply written, offering a conceptual framework to tie together technical
tools and practical wisdom. It is a must-read for Chief Intelligence Officers and others
focused on moving to the forefront of their industry or shaping the next competitive arena.”
Professor John S. Carroll, Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Executives that are just becoming aware of the untapped intelligence potential within their
organizations need to absorb this book. Martin’s prescription for enhancing traditional
market research information with intelligence activities will provide managers with the key
to strategic advantage. Martin shows how to exploit the untapped competitive power in
day-to-day intelligence. He presents ethical methods of collection and usage of intelligence
and shows how all types of organizations can identify, monitor, and exploit early detection
signals. If anticipating your competitors’ next move is what keeps you up at night- start
here.”
Dr. Paul Dishman, President
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Associate Professor, Brigham Young University, Marriott School
“Alain Martin has produced a very useful guide for strategy formulation that should be of
interest to any general manager.”
Professor Emeritus Samuel L. Hayes
Harvard Business School
“This impressive book forces us all to rethink the role of intelligence in organizations. It
is an essential encyclopedia of knowledge about why intelligence gathering is vital for
businesses and it also shows how it can be carried out successfully”.
Robert J. Jackson, Fletcher Jones Professor of Government
University of Redlands, California
Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science
Carleton University
“A must read for senior executives. Alain Paul Martin built his concepts very cleverly with
thought-provoking examples and jogs the minds of the readers to ponder deeper into the power
of intelligence! This is a grand slam by Martin.”
Professor Sunder Kekre
Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration
“Competitive intelligence is one of the key antecedents for successful marketing strategy
formulation. This book outlines the pertinent issues in conducting competitive analysis and
provides an extremely useful tool for the practicing marketing strategist. As such, Alain
Martin’s book is a timely as well as important contribution.”
Professor Werner Reinartz
INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
“Alain Martin has compiled an excellent compendium of tools and examples which define the “why and how to”
of corporate intelligence. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting to acquire an overview of
this very complex subject.”
Professor Dennis G. Severance, Accenture Professor of Computer and Information Systems,
University of Michigan Business School
“Alain Martin has deftly incorporated, adapted, challenged, and complemented the insights of Fuld,
Porter, Sun Tzu, and others to achieve a superb practical guide to the strategic and tactical
management of institutional information.”
Dr. Mark Thompson
President, Equity Resources Group Inc.
Former Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
“This serious book is breaking new ground in intelligence production and strategic risk management.
It is well worth reading by decision-makers on both sides of the Pacific Rim.”
Professor Tak Wakasugi, University of Tokyo
Also concurrently Co-Director, Mitsui Life Financial Research Center,
and NTT Program of Asian Finance and Economy
University of Michigan Business School
Praise from Business Executives, Scientists and Intelligence Professionals
“In today’s turbulent business environment, decision-makers in global companies, particularly
financial institutions, need a clear vision, effective strategies and state-of-the-art execution.
In this book, Alain Martin provides thought-provoking analyses, a practical framework and concrete
examples of how to develop the business intelligence required to support these three major challenges.
Highly-recommended reading before taking action.”
André Bérard, Chairman of the Board
National Bank
“Alain Martin’s book has shown me new ways to apply the discipline of intelligence in order to stay ahead
of competitors. The book is well worth reading just for the sections on intelligence platforms and the
Invisible Web alone. It provides a complete framework for building an ethical intelligence-driven
organization with illustrations drawn from business, government, the military and NGOs.”
David Baird, President and CEO
ISS Integrated Security Solutions Inc.
now part of Honeywell Integrated Security
“Alain Martin integrates strategic planning, competitive analysis, and risk management tools into a
powerful framework that provides valuable theoretical and practical approaches to strategy formulation
and business risk management. His trenchant advice to “use competitive intelligence as both a sword
and a shield” is particularly relevant in today’s competitive marketplace. More importantly, Martin
shows how the ethical and responsible use of competitive intelligence can prepare an organization
for unprecedented changes in the external environment. This practical book is well worth the busy
executives’ time.”
Dr. Peter B. Corr, Senior Vice President, Science and Technology
Pfizer Inc
“Alain Martin provides many up-to date examples, in a concise format that allows the reader to put the
concepts to use immediately. I got ideas from the “Intelligence Insights From The Battlefield”
regarding competitive intelligence cases in the public domain that I am already using to obtain
competitive information.”
Daniel B. Cunningham, President & CEO
Long-Stanton Manufacturing Co.
“This book is a useful guide on frameworks to enhance intelligence gathering and strategic
planning in business.”
Holger G. Demuth, Managing Director
Credit Suisse, Zurich
“Alain Martin provides great insight into the competitive intelligence function. Vivid examples from
multiple industries bring the book alive. The framework and tools are practical. They would have broad
applicability across our company from guiding R&D decisions to developing strategies for our sales
representatives.”
Denise Dickson, Director, Global Competitive Intelligence
Eli Lilly and Company
“Alain Martin delivers a powerful message that the most vital determinant of a company’s future performance
is not reflected on its balance sheet. Rather, it’s the knowledge that’s retained within the organization.
Martin’s latest publication is a richly-resourced guide for the intelligence gathering practitioner,
replete with compelling examples of successful applications. And, in the process, Alain presents a
wonderful panoply of methodologies for understanding people - and their cultures.”
Archie W. Dunham, Chairman, President and CEO
Conoco Inc
“All too frequently the information coming into a company about its suppliers, competitors and
customers is passive, ad hoc and fragmented. In this book, Alain Martin provides a structure for
organizations of whatever size to assemble and collate the vital signs of change and proactively
and ethically search for corroborating material. The section on exploiting the power of Search
Engines typifies the extensive research input into this book.”
John Fletcher, Global Change Advisor
Shell International B.V., The Netherlands
“Alain Martin’s new work is the perfect combination of practical advice and theoretical
frameworks for building effective, far-sighted strategies. It is an easy-to-read reference
source that will prove a valuable tool for strategic planning.”
Tina Georgeou, Vice President, Business Development - Publishing
Meredith Corporation
“This book cites pertinent reference materials and explicit examples that substantiate Alain
Martin’s methodology for assessing competitive intelligence, formulating strategic plans, and
mitigating inherent risks. It provides a formidable and useful framework for a way forward in
our dynamically changing business environment.”
Amy M. Gepes, Vice President, Business Development & Planning
MasterCard International Incorporated
“I have used the framework described in this remarkable book successfully for several years, first,
to orchestrate the turnaround of North America’s fastest growing casualty-insurance company, and
subsequently, to craft a vision and strategic direction of a $75 billion financial institution.”
John Harbour, Former President and CEO, Desjardins Casualty Insurance Group,
and President & COO, Desjardins Confederation
“Alain Martin has created an easy-to-read primer filled with clear examples of intelligence,
counterintelligence and decision making in large organizations. This book is highly recommended.”
Fred Hassan, Chairman and CEO, Pharmacia Corporation
and Chairman of the Board
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America
“This book is worthwhile to read. The intelligence framework it presents helps executives reshape
their own model to better focus on mission.”
Jean-Peter Jansen, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board
Lufthansa Cargo AG
“Productive corporate governance, dynamic strategic planning and focused risk analysis are inextricably
bound together. They are driven by the rigorous conversion of information into intelligence, the
identification of threats and opportunities and a foundation for proactive management in an environment
of constant change. Harnessing Intelligence, Counterintelligence and Surprise Events is a pragmatic
blueprint for this essential process.”
H. Earl Joudrie, Director of Abitibi Consolidated, ATCO,
Conoco Canada Resources, Canadian Tire and Zargon Oil & Gas
“Competitive intelligence is one of the key prerequisites to develop a robust and deliverable
set of
strategies. I found this book very appropriate to my business and I recommend it to decision makers
who must secure high performance, particularly at a time of rapid change.”
Werner Jung, Vice President, Finance, Strategic Planning & Legal
SAAB, Sweden
“Alain Martin has presented several important concepts within a single volume which will be
beneficial whether utilized together or separately. The first is a strategy, structure and sources
for the critical task of actionable strategic intelligence gathering and analysis, which is vital
in the fast moving, highly competitive world of global consumer products. The second part is a
framework for creating the circumstances in which things can happen, not just as result of new
intelligence, but for any necessary change in business. This book should be compulsory reading
for senior executives.”
Howard Mann, President and CEO
McCain Foods
“Mining intelligence is a tall order. To tackle this formidable task, Alain Paul Martin delivers
sensible advice, rich in practical ideas and real-life examples.”
Douglas McCracken, CEO
Deloitte Consulting
“In Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events,
Alan Martin first takes the reader through the active and defensive essentials of CI,
from both the process and the management perspectives. While basic, these chapters are
an interesting read, particularly since he uses a number of real-world examples that
are new, at least to me.
Harnessing the Power is a novel work. The core of that effort, Chapter seven
“Value incubation: a proven framework for early detection of threats and opportunities”
is a real gem. It walks the reader through one model of how individuals convert raw data
into useable intelligence. As you read through it, Alan links his vision of analytical phases
with real world examples of successes and failures, based on such principles. He then moves on
to the use of the CI you have generated. Finally, Alan has three chapters to help the CI
professional understand those with whom the CI professional must deal with, in his or her own
organization. I found, as I read these closing pages, that many of the tools and techniques he
was using could well be applied to profiling competitors’ key executives, or defining a
competitors’ corporate culture and view of the world.
[This book] deserves to be seen by all executives still unfamiliar with CI and by CI managers
eager to improve their own management skills.”
John McGonagle, Competitive Intelligence Magazine
Author Bottom Line Competitive Intelligence (2002)
Co-author of seven books on CI
“This book is well researched. It stimulated my thoughts on the importance of competitive analysis
and provides excellent examples of not only “how to”, but also the consequences of failing to try
to understand your competitors’ strategies and actions.”
Thaddeus T. Moore, Director - Missile Defense
Washington Operations, Boeing
“Alain Paul Martin starts the book with a quote from Napoleon and ends it with one from Sun Tzu.
The book tries to be something to all people, which is normally a doomed endeavor. Paul Martin
succeeded in doing so by a clear mission definition, a wealth of information sources and practical
modeling to real-life applications. This book is highly recommended to everybody in the business
field with a need for change.”
T. Nakagawa, President
ExxonMobil Chemical Japan
“This groundbreaking book is invaluable to decision-makers who plan for emergencies and important
risks. My fear is that most may read it after rather than prior to a major incident when it can
really help save lives and property.”
Jeff Robertson, President and CEO
CML Emergency Services Inc.
“This book is focusing on an extremely important aspect of today’s global business - information
and intelligence. It has a good balance between theory and practical examples and is easy to read.
Without any doubt, it is a valuable guide for senior executives not only in the US, but also in
Europe.”
Dr. Axel Steiger, Head of Corporate Policy
Bayer AG, Germany
“This book takes us beyond the rhetoric by setting out a bold plan of action for hitch-hiking
on surprise events. The combination of useful examples and a theoretically grounded approach
to navigating turbulence makes this book worth reading - and using!”
Cathrine F. Stene, Vice President, Human Resources Corporate
Scandinavian Airlines Systems, SAS, Sweden
“Filled with guidelines and techniques, the book provides
a roadmap for gathering competitive intelligence, information on
resources and cases. This is an excellent book that is well organized
and highly useful.”
Gerry Stern
Book Reviews: Strategic Planning
Stern & Associates
Culver City, California
“In today’s fast changing global markets where money and information flow at
the speed of light,
intelligence tasks should feature prominently on the daily agenda of every manager. For an
innovative provider of application software like LBS, this compelling book describes a proven
methodology to implement an ethical and far-reaching intelligence program.”
Tugrul Tekbulut, President and CEO
Logo Business Systems, Turkey
“This book - well structured, excellently documented and easy to understand - represents a great
step in mastering this extremely difficult subject. What fascinates me is that Alain Martin not
only encourages to improve your management skills but awakes in you a strong desire to do so. He
also shows insight stressing the difference between human capabilities and supporting tools. With
this book you can conduct your business according to the French saying
“Diriger c’est prévoir”.
Bravo!”
Jean-Claude Theurillat, Vice President
Schindler Management Ltd, Switzerland
“Alain Martin has deftly incorporated, adapted, challenged, and complemented the insights of
Fuld, Porter, Sun Tzu, and others to achieve a superb practical guide to the strategic and
tactical management of institutional information.”
Dr. Mark Thompson
President, Equity Resources Group Inc.
Former Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
“Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events provides pragmatic
tools to tackle the uncertainties associated with risk assessment between R&D and new product
development. The methodologies provided by Alain Martin are instrumental in diagnosing, prioritizing
and deciding between technical and commercial factors. The book is lively and its scope is both deep
and broad in applicability.”
Dr. L.F. Vega, Manager, Technology Development
Alcoa
“I found this book interesting and thought provoking. As Alain Martin clearly indicates, running
an honest and ethical business does not mean that one should not do everything to understand and
anticipate market and competitive activity. I have found over the years that these activities can
and must be conducted fully consistent with the highest business principles. I found Martin’s Factional
Grid an interesting tool, as well.”
Group Chairman, Major Pharmaceutical Company
Praise from Senior Military and Government Leaders
“What is called intelligence in Alain Paul Martin’s book may be thought of by
others as gathering appropriate information for which organization leaders should
position their organizations to successful capitalize upon. This is the
message that senior leaders--in DOD or outside of DOD--should take away.
Intelligence, from my viewpoint, is only a subset of information and the concepts
described in the book really provide a useful framework to grapple with this larger
problem.
This book has a range of excellent concepts that are useful to DOD organizations
to improve their awareness of internal and environmental factors. This increased
awareness could help leaders anticipate emerging issues and concerns to DOD at
large. Mid-level leaders should know that the book is really about how an
organization can gather and manipulate information that is relevant to their
organizations and not get caught in the trap of thinking the book is primarily
about intelligence in a military sense. As we operate in increasingly
complex environments, information gathering, synthesizing, filtering, and
distributing are incredibly important organizational tasks. This book
helps people think about and approach the complexity and uncertainty
organizations face today.”
Col. Robert J. D’Amico
Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
US Department of Defense
“Alain Paul Martin has produced a book that allows decision-makers to improve their ability to
understand
how intelligence professionals link the dots between collection, analysis and interpretation.”
Ray R. Henault, General and Chief of the Defence Staff
Canadian Forces
“Decision-makers who carefully read this remarkable book will improve their ability to connect the
often-neglected dots between intelligence collection, analysis and interpretation. Alain Paul
Martin’s framework and road maps are excellent.”
Paul Hession, Chief Information Officer
Department of Fisheries & Oceans
“At present, one of the most important strategic management challenges is understanding and
enhancing the process of transforming vast amounts of information into useable knowledge.
Alain Martin’s book is an excellent guide to meeting this challenge. He provides a structure
and format that enhances our understanding and creates useable knowledge. I highly recommend
that all managers and leaders read this book with a view to gaining informational insights and
practical knowledge that can be applied to either everyday or crisis situations.”
George Kolisnek, Director Strategic Intelligence
Department of National Defence
“Must Reading. Alain Martin proposes a solid contemporary vision of risk management, with a rigorous
method that is simple, practical and very effective, regardless of the size and current situation
of the firm. Today, no organization is immune to surprises or perturbing events. We must learn how
to promptly decipher the meaning of these events in order to manage their impact. Martin’s framework
is equally useful to effectively plan and manage strategic change involving stakeholders with various
vested interests. I recommend this excellent book to those who must lead their organization to the
cutting edge, or simply wish to be equipped to better manage uncertainty.”
Gilles Morin, Vice-President, e-Business
EDC
“I sincerely hope incumbent members of the Defence Department will read this book, and
that it be used
in the instruction of all at military staff colleges, so that application of its guidance will assist
all levels of national defence management in “harnessing” the powerful intelligence
factors. Not only
will the lessons be instructive for all, but also, the book will be an invaluable resource for its
research references.”
Brigadier-General Lloyd Skaalen
NORAD Regional Deputy Commander (retired)
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