Introduction
The author begins with an anecdote of a company he consulted with, a medium-sized manufacturing firm, that was being outmaneuvered by a competitor who seemed to be able to guess what they were going to do before they even started acting, and either preempt them or beat them to their move.
He also mentions that the intelligence field borrows much from military intelligence. Not only is this unsuitable for business purposes, but it's often done by people who haven't served in the military and their only exposure to military intelligence is watching old war films. Simply stated, people don't understand intelligence or strategy, and their best and most serious efforts are laughable.
A nice barb where he refers to someone quoting Sun Tzu as a person whose "idea of a strategy session was reading fortune cookies." But then, he goes into detail about Musashi in particular, who is known to have beaten many opponents with a wooden sword. Much legend surrounds this, but the author boils it down to this: Musashi studied his opponents carefully, and determined what they were likely to do - and because he was meticulous about it, he could predict their tactics. It wasn't the physical properties of a sword, nor even his skill in wielding it, but in his ability to make accurate predictions of his opponent's moves that made him a legendary warrior and a mentor for strategists.
The author describes intelligence and strategy as a method for overcoming uncertainty. It's not so much about people, equipment, money, etc. - this is merely logistical management, which must be guided by strategy if it is to be effective.
The author mentions globalization, which has made the environment more fragile and uncertain: there are many more competitors, information travels more quickly, and the field is in constant fluctuation. He quotes Herbert Simon, who mentioned that "a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention," in that the volumes of data obscure what is important to know, and leaders are often overwhelmed, and pay attention to the wrong things.
He mentions the trend of "strategic planning" that was popular until a few years ago. This was an approach taken when the global economy was booming - a rising tide that lifts all boats - such that businesses didn't need to worry about one another very much. It was a situation in which "winning" didn't take much effort. But in 2008, that changed, and companies are back to business as usual - having to compete for scarce resources (namely, customers). The companies that didn't foresee that have suffered greatly, and many have forgotten about or abandoned the basics of strategy and planning tha are necessary to long-term survival.
He spends a bit of time stressing the importance to organizations of all kinds: nonprofit and government as well as corporations, small organizations as well as large ones. Ultimately, if the accomplishment of goals is important at all, strategy is necessary.
In this book, the author proposes to explain the basic concepts and methods of strategy, either for leaders who are seeking to maintain competitive advantages, or for those that the board will hire to replace them if they fail to do so.
(EN: To add an introduction of my own ... there's a lot of good information in this book, but it's buried in fluff. The author is fond of anecdotes and narratives, and will often tell an extended story rather than making a direct point. Makes for an interesting read, and bulks out a manuscript, but it often leaves the reader - i.e., myself - guessing at exactly what point the author intended to make, and possibly getting it wrong.)