Business as War: Battling for Competitive Advantage

By Kenneth Allard

Book Overview

Praise for Battling for Competitive Advantage

"[Battling for Competitive Advantage] systematically unravels and explains the complexities of modern business and warfare. This excellent book will prove helpful to business leaders as well as the academic community charged with explaining successful leadership of large organizations."
-General Barry R. McCaffrey, U.S.A. (Ret.), Professor of International Security Studies at West Point and NBC News Commentator

"Colonel Ken Allard doesn't just have supreme military intelligence, his operational brilliance extends to the business world as well. Battling for Competitive Advantage teaches you that business is war and that Ken is the perfect commander-in-chief to follow into your business battles."
-Ron Insana, Coanchor, CNBC's Business Center

"In war, they don't give out medals for second place. In business, as in war, you can't win without first surviving. [This book] offers the hard-won wisdom from one warrior's world to another. Read, laugh, squirm, survive, and win!"
-Scott A. Snook, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior Harvard Business School

"In the post-9/11, post-Enron environment, Ken Allard's Ten Commandments of Military Leadership are directly applicable to today's business CEOs."
-Tom Petrie, Chairman and CEO, Petrie Parkman & Co.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471468541
• ISBN13: 9780471468547
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

This should be required reading for all business executives!

This book should be required reading for all executives! If you are a business executive who is tired of being surprised by your competition, or you want to maximize your competitive advantage, read this book!!! Also, if you want some customized help from experts in the field, consider hiring Ken's new firm, Business BattleLab, LLC. You can contact them through auditexec@gmail.com. You really can improve your competitive advantage and keep from being surprised!

If you want prosperity, prepare for paucity...

I was a student of Col. Allard at Gerogetown University. In his class, Technology and National Security, one of his most important lessons was the continuing way in which the offense is guaranteed to adapt to whatever defense you can mount. And vice versa... In his new book, Col. Allard takes such lessons, accumulated by milennia of warfare, and applies them to the modern business world. I recommend this book for anyone truly interested in implementing effective leadership and strategy in their organization.

A Badly Neglected Subject

Given the large number of business books it's surprising that so few have drawn out the similarities between business and war. Col. Allard's Business As War does an especially good job of making the comparison, and of noting the differences. It will be important for business readers especially because it focuses on the essential constants of war and business.Paul BrackenProfessor of ManagementYale School of Management

Great to read. Great ideas

It is so very refreshing to read a book that takes a critical look not only at business practices, but at business schools and business literature as well. Allard's basic thesis is that character and systems matter. He rightly criticizes business schools for failing to instill values and ethics into its graduates. He also criticizes business books for easy, flashy solutions to what are really complex problems. Integrated systems, strategy, intelligence and ethical and moral leadership are what matters in Allard's universe. It is also a very well written (and entertaining) book. Read it if you are in business. Read it if you just want to understand how business should operate.

Business as War is Great!

A refreshing and provocative look at how the military gets things done and how this can be applied to business. Very useful