  The QCD factorization approach provides the theoretical basis for a
systematic analysis of nonleptonic decay amplitudes of B mesons in the
heavy-quark limit. After recalling the basic ideas underlying this formalism,
several tests of QCD factorization in the decays B -> D^(*) L, B -> K^* gamma,
and B -> pi K,pi pi are discussed. It is then illustrated how factorization can
be used to obtain new constraints on the parameters of the unitarity triangle.
