In this volume, noted experts in a variety of information, business, and management fields offer a comprehensive overview of the role information plays in global business and its impact on competition and competitiveness. At the core of the collection is a common belief in the essential value of information to the modern business and a recognition that the corporate intelligence function must today cope with changing realities produced by both new technology and the globalization of markets. Taking these as their points of departure, the contributors discuss a broad spectrum of corporate intelligence issues ranging from the uses of artificial intelligence and the structure of the corporate intelligence system to the nature of security threats, financial warfare, and corporate risk assessment.

The chapters are divided into five sections and begin with two essays on the emerging interrelated global world order. George Roukis discusses the corporate intelligence process as it embodies the global view, while Hugh Conway shows how modern technology has changed the corporate intelligence function. Three chapters explore the information applications of new technologies, including the use of the computer to further all aspects of corporate intelligence gathering and the emergence of an information industry to serve the needs of intelligence gatherers. The following section contains chapters that address, in turn, the use of intelligence in strategic decisionmaking, coping with bad news, the process of intelligence gathering, and field-marketing intelligence. Turning to a discussion of outside threats to corporate intelligence data security, the contributors examine computer security in general, defense related computer security, and the terrorist threat to corporations. In the final section, the contributors look at a number of strategic challenges. A particularly interesting chapter examines corporate intelligence in Japan; others look at geography and corporate risk assessment, the Soviet foreign intelligence service, and corporate responses to financial warfare. Competitive intelligence and marketing executives, as well as students in international business programs, will find this volume enlightening and provocative reading.

This timely volume contains a series of informative and thought-provoking articles by experts in their fields. Together they provide a detailed assessment of the political, economic, and religious forces affecting the major oil rich states of the Arabian Peninsula, along with a comprehensive analysis of the primary forces affecting economic and resource development in that region. Topics discussed include historical areas of underlying conflict, regional analyses of pivotal forces and trends, Islamic influences upon the concept of labor, the subtleties of cultural differences and the transfer of technology, and employment contracts. Specific chapters provide resource profiles of the major Arab states in the Persian Gulf, along with statistical projections of future resource needs. In the concluding chapter, the editors offer a comparative analysis of the human resource requirements of the smaller Gulf states, along with practical applications for human resources management. The volume also contains a select biblography, charts on Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and a chart on comparative Western and Islamic organizations.