Executives of big companies should read this book because the proposed method looks like an effective tool for companies to stay big. Executives of small companies should read the book because their bigger competitors may be reading it, and maneuvering against a large competitor who has a good early warning system could be tough. So if you're planning an asymmetric strategy, you better know what you're up against. Anyhow, even without any offensive intentions towards bigger companies, the leaders of small organizations should look into this book since lack of early warning can ruin small and big companies alike.



I also recommend the book to students of management as an insight into the tricky subject of how organizations build an image of their environment. Most of the literature on that field tends to be written in a researcher-to-researcher style, like books on organizational sensemaking or cognitive oligopolies. This book stands out since it's clear, solution oriented and written for practitioners.

Moreover, the book offers some solution to the never ending discussion regarding deliberate versus emergent strategy making. The book shows how to deal with a complex environment by understanding and monitoring it, instead of planning yourself to death with irrelevant tools or not planning at all.



The book also discusses organizational politics that might block a competitive intelligence function since it often lacks the direct access to decision makers that governmental intelligence agencies usually enjoy in their arena.