Synopses & Reviews
Review
The Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship: "Gilad weaves a cautionary tale for modern managers. He is an expert storyteller whose compelling cases illustrate the follies of missing strategic risk and the benefits of embracing CEW [competitive early warning]. The book has thought-provoking ideas presented in a very readable style."
Review
Poolonline.com: "This [Early Warning] is an excellent book that shows the importance of an early warning system and ways in which it can be developed in companies of different sizes and in different industries. It also serves as a warning that in today’s turbulent environment it is a highly dangerous strategy to proceed without such an early warning system in place."
Synopsis
Surprise is rarely a good thing in business. Unexpected developments range in their effects from inconvenient to disastrous. To avoid being blindsided, companies must develop a Competitive Early Warning system, or CEW, which combines strategic planning, competitive intelligence, and management action. Such systems let organizations manage risk more effectively and prevent ""industry dissonance"" -- when market realities outpace corporate strategies. Early Warning reveals how to:
* Change strategy to meet new realities
* Learn from the mistakes of others via the book’s eye-opening stories
* Avoid common tactics like benchmarking and using consultants, which may do more harm than good
* Tell executives what they need to know -- not what they want to hear
Each chapter ends with a Manager’s Checklist of key points, and the book includes numerous charts, tables, and tools. With strong opinions and wry humor, world-recognized expert Gilad reveals how to anticipate and react to early signs of trouble.
Synopsis
With strong opinions and wry humor, world-recognized expert Benjamin Gilad reveals how to anticipate and react to early signs of trouble.
Surprise is rarely a good thing in business. Unexpected developments range in their effects from inconvenient to disastrous. To avoid being blindsided, companies must develop a Competitive Early Warning system, or CEW, which combines strategic planning, competitive intelligence, and management action.
Such systems let organizations manage risk more effectively and prevent "industry dissonance" -- when market realities outpace corporate strategies. Early Warning reveals how to:
- Change strategy to meet new realities
- Learn from the mistakes of others via the book's eye-opening stories
- Avoid common tactics like benchmarking and using consultants, which may do more harm than good
- Tell executives what they need to know -- not what they want to hear
Each chapter ends with a Manager's Checklist of key points, and the book includes numerous charts, tables, and tools.
About the Author
Ben GILAD (Kfar Saba, Israel) is president of the Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence. He has trained the majority of CI managers at Fortune 500 companies. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, and others.
Table of Contents
"Part One: Companies at Risk
1. Surprise!
2. What Do You Know About Risk?
3. The Internal Dynamics of Early Warning Failure
4. The Analytical, the Tactical, the Couch Potato and the Blind
Part Two: The Competitive Early Warning Solution
5. Step 1--Identifying Risks and Opportunities
6. Step 1, Continued--War Gaming
7. Step 2--Intelligence Monitoring
8. Step 3--Management Action
Part Three: Early Warning at Work
9. Case Studies of CEW in Action
10. If You Start from Scratch"