Book Description
Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job.
In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. The First 90 Days provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly.
Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period.
Concise and actionable, this is the survival guide no new leader should be without.
"Few companies develop a systematic 'on-boarding' process for their new leaders, even though this is a critical function with major organizational implications. Michael Watkins's The First 90 Days provides a powerful framework and strategies that will enable new leaders to take charge quickly. It is an invaluable tool for that most vulnerable time-the transition."
-Goli Darabi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Leadership & Succession Management, Fidelity Investments
"Every job-private- or public-sector, civilian or military-has its breakeven point, and everyone can accelerate their learning. Read this book at least twice: once before your next transition-before getting caught up in the whirl and blur of new faces, names, acronyms, and issues; then read it again after you've settled in, and consider how to accelerate transitions for your next new boss and for those who come to work for you."
-Colonel Eli Alford, U.S. Army
"Watkins provides an excellent road map, telling us what all new leaders need to know and do to accelerate their learning and success in a new role. The First 90 Days should be incorporated into every company's leadership development strategy, so that anyone making a transition in an organization can get up to speed quicker and smarter."
-Suzanne M. Danielle, Director of Global Leadership Development, Aventis
"Michael Watkins has nailed a huge corporate problem and provided the solution in one fell swoop. The pressure on new leaders to hit the ground running has never been greater, and the likelihood and cost of failure is escalating. Watkins's timing with The First 90 Days is impeccable."
-Gordon Curtis, Principal, Curtis Consulting
"The First 90 Days is a must-read for entrepreneurs. Anyone who's been the CEO of a start-up or early-stage company knows that you go through many 90-day leadership transitions in the course of a company's formative years. In this groundbreaking book, Michael Watkins provides crucial insights, as well as a toolkit of techniques, to enable you to accelerate through these transitions successfully."
-Mike Kinkead, President and CEO, timeBLASTER Corporation, serial entrepreneur, and Cofounder and Trustee, Massachusetts Software Council
Customer Reviews:
Good way to get prepared.......2007-07-04
It just makes sense, and is very thorough. Many things I would not have thought about, or gotten around to thinking about - we live in such a fast paced world that it would have been a challenge to do. Luckily, I had a cross country trip, so this gave me the time to read this book and compile my "list" of notes and apply them to my upcoming job change. Bottom line - many good new perspectives that I simply would not have thought of. Highly recommended.
Practical and Actionable. It is an excellent book on the subject of management transitions........2007-06-22
As a human resources professional, I have seen a great deal of management transition. Many succeed but some do not. Unfortunately for our people and our organizations those that do not leave a stream of damage in their wake.
Recently I wrote a review about Scott Eblin's, "The Next Level" and I called it a real disappointment. This book is not and it is a far more actionable and practical approach to managing transitions.
One of the reasons this book is so practical is that each section not only provides you with clear direction but each section also ends with an action checklist. This make creating a 90-day transition plan doable and improves your prospects for success.
Lastly, the steps from this book create a framework that a company can use to create a "transition strategy" for all its new and upwardly moving managers. This alone will enable a firm to increase their odds that a new hire or promotion will be in the "win" column.
*****First 90 Days.......2007-06-10
I only ordered this for a superior and he is VERY VERY happy with the book...he asked for it by name so we ordered three copies! Thank you for the great service you provide.
A Must Read.......2007-05-30
Great book for all business leaders who are advancing to a new role or coming from the outside into an organization. Simple, easy to read with pertinent lessons for a successful transition.
Some great tips, but often not well developed or organized.......2007-05-28
We bought this book along with the "New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan" and read them side by side.
Pro:
-"STaRS" concept is excellent. Start-ups, Turnarounds, Realignments and Sustaining success are all different scenarios that you might be thrown into, and the environment you join directly affects what you need to do.
-Checklists are helpful, when available, to boil thoughts down to the most essential elements
-There are many good tips interspersed throughout the book that are good reminders of the basics you need to adhere to in order to be successful
-Breaks the "sink or swim mindset" often associated with starting a new position
Con:
-Does not really address the time opportunity BEFORE you start a job and in my experience is a major lost opportunity that I've been able to surprise and delight. Set up pre-meetings, arranging for email/phone and a place to sit, etc. as a chance to listen and learn without the pressure to perform. Any items that can/should be done ahead of time appear to me as afterthoughts, underdeveloped, and often out of sequence in this text.
-Would not serve as a handy reference... better chapter summaries and a stronger introduction with time lines and meaty chapter outline would have been helpful both now and in the future
-I think that many good concepts like "STaRS" were underdeveloped or under leveraged... I sense more detail that was perhaps omitted
-To me, many of the illustrations were filler and did not offer additional information
-Sometimes poor or awkward word choice or idea sequence (e.g. rather than "Promote Yourself" why not just call it "Prepare Yourself" as this is what you are really saying, so why not just say it that way?)
-Real life examples were unnecessarily detailed, consuming time and space that I think could be better used by the author as he's clearly brilliant and has some great observations
-I think that the scope is too narrow, picks up after you've started the job (day 1) and neglects the opportunity (and chaos) beforehand of the interview, moving, doing "pre-work" to get your basics at work set-up
Bottom line: While there were some interesting moments, I was disappointed. The book does offer several cautionary tales of CEOs who crashed and burned, and if nothing else serves as both warning and motivation to be smarter about your transition.
Book Description
In his landmark book Open Innovation, Henry Chesbrough demonstrated that because useful knowledge is no longer concentrated in a few large organizations, business leaders must adopt a new, “open” model of innovation. Using this model, companies look outside their boundaries for ideas and intellectual property (IP) they can bring in, as well as license their unutilized home-grown IP to other organizations.
In Open Business Models, Chesbrough takes readers to the next step—explaining how to make money in an open innovation landscape. He provides a diagnostic instrument enabling you to assess your company’s current business model, and explains how to overcome common barriers to creating a more open model. He also offers compelling examples of companies that have developed such models—including Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Air Products.
In addition, Chesbrough introduces a new set of players—“innovation intermediaries”—who facilitate companies’ access to external technologies. He explores the impact of stronger IP protection on intermediate markets for innovation, and profiles firms (such as Intellectual Ventures and Qualcomm) that center their business model on innovation and IP.
This vital resource provides a much-needed road map to connect innovation with IP management, so companies can create and capture value from ideas and technologies—wherever in the world they are found.
Customer Reviews:
Fair.......2007-06-21
This is another pretty good book from the author. As in his earlier book, he starts with the motivation for open innovation, which is an old idea but that is not well practiced. In this new book he addresses many of the shorcomings of the first book, such as getting real value out of the partnerships that can be formed while overcoming internal issues, such as NIH. He then talks about different ways companies go about this. What drives you crazy is that he seems unaware that companies have been doing this forever. In the consumer electronics industry, for example, open innovation is mostly the model. Companies like GE, TI, and RCA were examples. In the case of GE and RCA they go back almost 100 years.
Well-written, concise, with specific examples.......2007-06-02
As with his previous book Open Innovation, Chesbrough provides a concise and easily read review of important new trends in high-tech management. In this book the focus is on the path an innovation takes to profitability in the marketplace. Among the topics reviewed are novel "intermediate markets" for ideas and technology.
I particularly appreciated the chapters of the book that provide nine examples of companies that are more-or-less "pure play" innovation intermediaries. Companies like Innocentive, Ocean Tomo, and UTEK are profiled in depth. I appreciate the specificity, which will allow the reader to evaluate Chesbrough's insights into the future: By following up on the progress of these companies, we'll see how well Chesbrough hit the mark. This specificity is rare in business books.
It will be interesting to see where Chesbrough's interests flow in future. I would welcome a focus on public sector research institutions. A comparison of the innovation and commercialization models among universities, NIH, NASA, ESA, etc. could be helpful to policy makers as Open Innovation ideas gain wider acceptance.
Open Business Models for Those Who Rely on Technology Innovation and Need Intellectual Property Protection.......2007-05-14
This book is misnamed. Rather than being about open business models, the book's topic is about how to open business models to benefit from access to more technological innovation and strengthen your competitive posture through intellectual property.
As a result, Professor Chesbrough creates a misapprehension that successful open business models are almost always linked to technological innovation as their main purpose and benefit. My own research (with Carol Coles in The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continuously Developing a More Profitable Business Model) indicates just the opposite point: Technological innovation is rarely the most effective way to open up your business model to create improvements.
So, this book's value is mostly to those who work in achieving or creating more benefits from technology innovation. If that is your interest, you've come to the right book. If that's not your interest, skip this book.
Why do those involved in achieving or creating more benefits from technology innovation need to open their business models? Professor Chesbrough points to several influences:
1. Technological innovation is coming from more sources than ever before. As a result, you will be developing inferior technology without accessing the best of what the world has to offer.
2. Most intellectual property isn't used for any practical purpose. That's a waste of social and company resources.
3. The protections for intellectual property are stronger now, and your pathway to progress will be blocked without collaborating with those who have complementary IP.
4. Product cycles are shorter and costs of developing new technologies are higher; open business models offer the promise of getting to market sooner at lower cost so that your business has a better chance of earning a decent return on new technology.
5. Large companies need to make new product development more productive if they are to meet their growth goals.
Professor Chesbrough does a nice job of developing those themes. He balances theoretical arguments with case histories of recent practices.
Of even more value, he explains how companies will have a hard time finding all of the technology they need without help. As a result, he feels that intermediaries will turn out to be important to helping connect organizations. His case histories of such intermediaries are very interesting in showing how difficult it is to play such intermediary roles without deep pockets.
For those who are new to the subject of technological innovation in the context of business models, you will find his descriptions of what a business model is (see page 182) and types for assessing your business model (see pages 132-133) to be helpful. The only quibble I would make with his types is that in his examples he assumes relative undifferentiation in industries and business types where there are often large nontechnological differentiations.
I found the last chapter to be by far the most helpful, in describing three case histories (IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Air Products) for showing how large organizations went from closed to open business models for the purpose of technological innovation. In fact, the discussion of Procter & Gamble's practices is the best one that I have read. That point, by itself, is sufficient to commend this book to you. I suspect that almost everyone will be doing what Procter & Gamble is doing now ten years hence.
Excellent work, Professor Chesbrough!
Innovation requires an open mind...and the courage to challenge "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." .......2007-03-14
What is an open business model? In Chapter 1, here's Henry Chesbrough's response to that question: "A business model performs two important functions: it creates value and it captures a portion of that value. It creates value by defining a series of activities from raw materials through to the final consumer that will yield a new product or service with value being added throughout the various activities. The business model captures value by by establishing a unique resource, asset, or position within that series of activities, where the firm enjoys a competitive advantage."
Having thus established a frame-of-reference, Chesbrough continues: "An open business model uses this new division of innovation labor - both in the creation of value and in the capture of a portion of that value. Open models create value by leveraging many more ideas, due to their inclusion of a variety of external concepts. Open models can also enable greater value capture, by using a key asset, resource, or position not only in the company's own business model but also in other companies businesses."
These two brief excerpts are provided because Chesbrough`s definitions of various terms are far clearer and more authoritative than mine could possibly be. Also, these excepts address the "what" so that in the balance of this brilliant book, Chesbrough can then focus almost entirely on the "why" and "how" concerning the design, implementation, modification, and performance measurement of open business models.
I was especially interested in what Chesbrough has to say about what several quite different exemplary companies -- including IBM, Qualcomm, Genzyme, Procter & Gamble, and Chicago (the musical stage show and film) -- share in common: "each started with an idea that traveled from invention to market through at least two different companies" which shared the work of innovation, and, all were assisted by effective management of an open business model. Chesbrough also devotes a substantial attention to IBM whose type 3 business model (i.e. multiple segmentations, "inside-out" mindset) reached a financial crisis in 1992. Had the IBM board not replaced its then CEO with Lou Gerstner and fully supported his leadership throughout an immensely complicated and equally difficult transformation , it is probable that IBM would not have survived. Gerstner deserves much of the credit for the success of that "cultural revolution" (as he once described it) but much credit should also be assigned to IBM's open source business model. Procter & Gamble is another company which completed an especially difficult transition from having internal staff members who protected (hoarded?) various technologies so that other companies, including potential competitors, could not use them to becoming a company with a much more open approach to innovation. Chesbrough notes that P&G began to pay much greater attention of external licensing of its technologies, (e.g. to BearingPoint), now strongly supports openly partnering for driving growth equity joint ventures (e.g. with Clorox), and an entirely new perspective on competitive advantage.
According to Jeff Weedman, vice president of P&G's external business development: "There are many kinds of competitive advantage. The original view here was: I have got it, and you don't. Then there is the view, that I have got it, you have got it, but I have it cheaper. Then there is I have got it, you have got it, but I got it first. Then there is I have got it, you have gotten it from me, so I make money when I sell it, and I make money when you sell it." To me, that in essence describes the primary competitive advantage of the open business model.
I also appreciate what is rarely provided in other business books: detailed notes (Pages 217-242) which are clustered per chapter. As I read them, it seemed as if Chesbrough were standing next to me, supplementing his narrative with additional comments that are always informative and frequently entertaining. What also struck me about Chesbrough's notes is that they enable him to acknowledge various sources with appreciation and admiration. His was obviously an open source approach to the research for this book and then to the writing of it.
To thrive in the new innovation landscape, change agents must have both an open mind and the courage to challenge what James O'Toole characterizes, in Leading Change, as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." They would also be well-advised to absorb and digest the material in this book. Congratulations to Henry Chesbrough on a brilliant achievement.
The World It Is a'Changin.......2007-03-04
We have become accustomed to the fact that innovation has become a standard of the industrial world. Indeed companies like Microsoft market (very successfully) what is essentially nothing but an arrangement of bits. One of the things that this book brings to mind is that a lot of other companies (Procter & Gamble, Air Products) are innovative in a business that you wouldn't think of as being particularly innovative.
This book is exploring fairly new ground in its concept of 'Open Innovation,' that is creating a marketplace for innovation itself. You might not be able to capitalize on your new innovative idea, perhaps Air Products can, or perhaps you can use something that Procter & Gamble has done. And where that's a market like that, there are new specialty companies in the business of marketing innovation between companies.
We live in a time where the future is going to require major changes, peak oil and global warming to name two harbingers of change. Companies that continue to live in the old world are going to have a very hard time -- go look at Ford and GM
Book Description
Most events that catch us by surprise are both predictable and preventable, but we consistently miss (or ignore) the warning signs
This book shows why such “predictable surprises” put us all at risk, and shows how we can understand, anticipate, and prevent them before disaster strikes.
There is a universal fear factor surrounding this subject: that society and the workplace are filled with disasters in the making that we could prevent if we only knew what to look for. This book plays on that fear and offers a positive, proactive resolution to it.
Customer Reviews:
Enlightening.......2007-08-27
The book jumps around but makes clear and valid points. A great eye opener! I would recommend this to students, leaders, informed citizens...just about anybody. I'm definitely getting more copies for friends and loved ones.
On Target - Bullseye - Should have seen it coming.......2005-10-07
Anyone who has worked for some sort of organization, government agency, business, university or whatever, will empathise with "Predictable Surprises" by Bazerman and Watkins. This book focuses on the early and late warning signs, the cover-ups, the denials, and the eventual consequences of failing to take action to avert disaster. I've been in far too many situations where I observed that the peple "in charge" (really??) were blindsided by their own limited vision to the realities of what was happening within their organizations.
There are two "Predictable Surprises" that weren't included. First, Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath in New Orleans. Anyone visiting that city and talking with one's professional compatriates could have seen coming what unfolded before our eyes. The warning signs and studies were out there and ignored. That's why those who had a reasonable level of education left town and paid attention to the evacuation notices.
The other predictable surprise that was missed was the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. I'm Protestant but know a lot of fine Roman Catholic people. I heard things as long ago as fifty years and knew then that this situation was going to explode in the public domain. "Predictable Surprises" provides the principals that explain why this particular surprise was kept under the radar so long.
An outstanding book that should be read by everyone working in the corporate world, a government agency, a university, the military, or a non-profit organization. Your life may depend on knowing what's in this book.
Predictably bad.......2005-06-14
A major shortcoming of Bazerman and Watkins' book is the failure to provide adequate evidence to support their arguments about what they call "predictable surprises", which they define as "an event or series of events that take an individual or group by surprise, despite prior awareness of all of the information necessary to anticipate the events and their consequences." Bazerman and Watkins build their case substantially on just two examples: aviation security failures leading to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and auditor independence concerns leading to the collapse of Enron and Arthur Anderson. Several other examples are discussed in less depth throughout the text, however many of these are not actually predictable surprises under the definition provided. For example, global warming is discussed a number of times; however global warming has been in public discussion since the 1930s, and today a substantial majority of people believe not only the concept of global warming but that current warming is man-made. By 2050, this subject will have been under study for 120 years and popular consensus will have been achieved for 50-60 years. This is certainly predictable, but hardly a surprise. The United States' looming crisis in entitlement spending also falls in this category.
Flaws exist in other anecdotal support as well. For example, Bazerman and Watkins cite aviation security failures as an occasion when overly discounting the future lead to a predictable surprise. Quick calculation based on figures provided in the book show that, using equal discount rates for the expected future cost of security and the future cost of disaster, even with a disaster probability as high as 10% for any given year, the airlines would be ahead on a cost basis. The total destruction of both World Trade Center towers and the massive ensuing death toll was not reasonably foreseeable by the airline industry; based on the typical passenger plan carrying 78 people, this was the equivalent of an absurd 41 simultaneous aircraft disasters! Given the cost of implementation and the low probability of such a large disaster, even at a full cost of nearly $50 billion, the airlines' decision to oppose security measures on a cost basis was reasonable. The full scope of this surprise was unlikely enough that it should not be termed "predictable."
Despite some good analysis of reasons predictable surprises occur and ways to avoid them, this book is critically weakened by its lack of evidence. Bazerman and Watkins try to make it stand largely on just the aviation security and auditor independence failures; however these are insufficient evidence for their broad analysis and conclusions, particularly given the weakness of those arguments provided. This book would be substantially more persuasive with more anecdotal support.
Predictably OK.......2005-05-11
In a world ruled by probability, all predictions eventually come true (no matter how impossible.) That said, ignoring the obvious can be disastrous, but the authors methods for prioritizing risk were disappointing.
Updating the March of Folly.......2005-02-23
The authors have found a memorable phrase to describe a depressingly common phenomenon - the occurrence of a disaster or failure that has been widely and often publicly predicted. The term `predictable surprise' will undoubtedly enter the managerial and political language.
They have provided a valuable analysis of why these predictable disasters occur and what can be done to prevent them (while recognizing that there are also such things as `unpredictable surprises' which can not be avoided through these processes).
The book is invaluable for the clear way in which it brings the elements together and for the vividness and immediacy of the examples chosen to illustrate the points. The result is a book that is very readable as well as being immediately useful, even if many of the points have also been made elsewhere by other authors. The book provides a template against which organizations can assess their defences against `predictable surprises', and I suspect that every organization will find gaps in its armour when it measures itself against the recommendations in the book.
The authors also use the book to mount a stinging attack on the failures of the American political system (and by extension those of other countries) and the need for fundamental reform. Their attack on the activities of the special interest groups and their direct responsibility for some of the worst disasters that the US has suffered is particularly pointed. One can only hope that the criticisms will be listened to and acted upon, and that politicians as well as business people will read and note them.
Throughout the book, the systemic, interconnected nature of the processes that lead to predictable surprises is very clear, but the authors do not, in my opinion, highlight the fact as strongly as they should. They do point out that depletion of international fisheries is a classic case of 'the tragedy of the commons', one of several archetypal forms of systems relationship, but virtually every example that the authors cite could well be illustrated with simple systems diagrams based on one or other of the classic 'systems archetypes'. Systemic issues require systemic solutions and the leverage for systemic change may be located well beyond the area of control of the immediate actors - another fact that shows up clearly in the course of the authors' examples.
It is probably no coincidence that I was strongly reminded of Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly as I read the book. The perspective and coverage is different, but the themes of willful ignorance, willful inaction and willful pursuit of perceived short-term self interest as fundamental drivers of future disasters are common to both. If Tuchman were still alive, I would have confidently expected an analysis of Iraq to follow her masterful analysis of the Vietnam war, the American War of Independence and the drivers of the Reformation. In its own way, Predictable Surprises provides a contemporary update of the ways in which we continue the march of folly.
Book Description
Easy to understand-even for learners with limited math backgrounds, this book uses a modeling approach to provide thorough coverage of the basic techniques in quantitative methods and focuses on the managerial applications of these techniques. An interesting and reader friendly writing style makes for a clear presentation, complete with all the necessary assumptions and mathematical details.
Chapter topics include probability concepts and applications, decision models and decision trees, regression models, forecasting, inventory control models, linear programming modeling applications and computer analyses, network models, project management, simulation modeling, and more.
For an introduction toquantitative analysis, quantitative management, operations research, or management science-especially for those individuals preparing for work in agricultural economics and health care fields.
Customer Reviews:
Introduction.......2006-12-17
We used this book in my "Operations analysis"-class, and it's a great introduction to the subjects discussed. Some very basic probability for estimating values and descision theory. Some regression in addition to other forecasting methods. Good sections on linear and integer programming, and also basic queuing models. Markov analysis is about as far as this book goes, and it basically just touches upon all the subjects in order to make the reader grasp the basic ideas.
One minus is the Windows-only software, no Mac-support there, but that only meant that I had to use Excel, which imo helped me gain a better understanding of the subjects, as I had to formulate all the spreadsheets myself instead of just feeding numbers into the QM-package, which imo seems like a total waste of a chance to learn. Anyway, most areas are covered with respect to both QM and Excel, which makes the non-existant Mac-support bareable.
So Much Better Than The University Bookstore.......2006-11-10
Wow! This brand new book cost $50 less than the same new book at my university bookstore! It was even cheaper than buying a used version of the book from the bookstore. The shipping was so fast, it arrived at my house the day after I ordered it! I'll be looking on Amazon.com for all my future text book purchases!! :)
Excellent introduction to the subject.......2006-02-28
I read this book as the assigned text for a course in Quantitative Analysis and found it to be an excellent text for such a class. Each Model and equation presented is explained through realistic examples, illustrations, and explanations of the math. This made the subject very easy to comprehend and apply to the real world.
Exercises at the end of each chapter are also based on real-world situations and case studies are included in the book and the CD that go into more detail about a real world use for each model.
The book was also easy to read and not overly technical when explaining mathematic concepts. An excellent text for an introduction to the field of management science.
Customer Reviews:
Extremely good reference guide.......2005-08-04
I first came across this book whilst doing my MBA at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The subject was Competitive Analysis and Babette Bensoussan was a guest lecturer. Working in Strategic Projects in a large Australian company, I found this book extremely useful in selecting strategic models to use for my analysis. The explanations of the models and how they work are accurate and precise and enables the reader to apply the model efficiently and effectively.
a must have for all business students.......2005-07-18
I just had the pleassure of having one of the authors (babette bensoussan) as a lecturer at bond university.
This book is THE reference for startegic analytical tools.
it is not one of the usual useless academic books - it is a practical usefull resource for most if not all strategy areas.
Selected as "the" text for government all-source analysts.......2004-01-14
Rather than outline the wonderful aspects of this book, which other reviewers have done so ably, I will just say that I rank the authors up there with Ben Gilad (Israel), Mats Bjore (Sweden), and Jan Herring, Dick Klavens/Brad Ashton, and Leonard Fuld (USA), and we have made this book "the" text for the annual government all-source analysis training that centers on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
This book, in combination with Ben Gilad's "Early Warning", the Leonard Fuld's "New Competitor Intelligence", Dick Klavens and Brad Ashton's "Keeping Abreast of Science & Technology", and Mats Bjore forthcoming book, are the essential five books for any business intelligence professional or anyone seeking to understand best in class business intelligence.
Excellent coverage of management analysis tools.......2003-07-23
This book fills a niche that should have been done by somebody a long time ago. It includes most of the popular analysis techniques that a management consultant would normally use, and provides a common process description for employing the method. It makes an excellent complement to Porter's series of books and can be nicely combined with more conceptual treatments in the strategy field. I have already bought several copies for my office colleagues as it will be useful for them in their consulting work as well. I can see why it has gotten many good reviews and I'd concur with these. It is worth having this one on your book shelf although, like me, you may find yourself pulling it off the shelf to refer to on a frequent basis.
Outstanding one stop source for techniques and "how to".......2003-03-25
It is rare to find a text that pulls together the many quite different techniques that can be used to analyze a business and the competitive environment in which it operates. This book does that, and more!
The authors have addressed their personal needs as much as the needs of those who will use the benefits of their labours. Now, when asked about a technique or asked for a recommendation as to how to attack an issue, one can turn to this one text and extract the most appropriate tool(s) and make sensible assessments of which of the various analytical tools is most appropriate.
The authors have gone one better - and I suspect that more than one MBA student will appreciate their efforts - they have included a very useful and quite comprehensive outline of financial analytical tools that add to the more "marketing" oriented techniques detailed in the core of the text. The various financial ratios are now at your fingertips. The financial analysis can be woven into the market and environmental competitive analysis.
Oh to have had access to this at an earlier stage of my career.
One of those indispensable tools. A "must have" in the office.
Book Description
A short, up-to-date, practical and readable guide to strategy formulation, this book is designed for practicing executives who are getting ready to assume broader responsibilities. By focusing on strategic thinking and using real-life examples and historical references, this book is a must-read for the serious executive strategist. The first chapter defines strategy and its effect on a corporation's effectiveness; and then in subsequent chapters covers the external strategic environment, the analysis of a firm's physical assets, the development of a competitive strategy, different industry environments, corporate strategy and competition, different strategy choices, global strategy, and implementing and controlling a chosen strategic direction. For CEOs, senior executives, general managers, vice-presidents, divisional managers, and consultants.
Customer Reviews:
Can get a perspective through overview of strategy.......2007-10-15
This book is very helpful to get a understanding about strategy.
Because of this book offers quick review whole about strategy.
Brief and to the Point.......2007-10-02
The book is a concise exposition of the most important concepts and techniques in strategic management. The book provides a sound overview of strategic management, focusing on basic concepts and their application in the real world of business. The book covers all the essential topics in strategic management such as environmental scanning, industry analysis, strategy formation, competitive strategies, strategy implementation and global strategy.
Those interested in strategic management and corporate strategy will find the book useful and handy. This is particularly the case with the busy executives who need a concise book packed with all the useful concepts that can be applied in formulating strategies in their organizations.
All-in-all, a short but readable textbook filled with ideas and strategies to help managers become more competent, effective and valuable to their organizations.
Didn't do me any good........2007-01-09
It was a book required for my MBA course, but it speaks to what seems like common sense. Read the Wall Street Journal if you want some insight on real world strategy.
An overview of concepts used in Business Strategy.......2005-12-08
This book is a good overview of the several approaches used in the discipline of Business Strategy. It covers most of the current approaches and concepts.
Usually the major concepts are presented with sufficient detail so that it is possible to understand the basics. The concepts and tools related to strategy are put in the context that is most applicable, i.e., scenario analysis is part of Chapter 2 - Change and Uncertainty in the External Strategic Envinronment.
A good thing is that the book reduces "the marketing or hype" around some tools or concepts to its real dimension or importance, helping the practioner understand its applicability in real world situations.
I would say the book is a good introduction on the topics covered and can be used both as a starting point or an overview by an experienced person that has been exposed to a particular set of techniques and concepts and wants to complements his/her knowldedge.
Good reference for modern strategy theories.......2002-12-17
Thin (140pages), but comprehensive introduction of strategy theories from SWOT to Porter's thoughts. Best to capture the concept of Strategy.
Book Description
This best-selling book is dedicated to the development of decision-making skills in marketing. It introduces concepts and tools useful in structuring and solving marketing problems, while extensive case studies provide an opportunity for those concepts and tools to be employed in practice. Consisting of 10 chapters and 43 cases that feature contemporary marketing perspectives and practices, this book covers the topics of marketing management: its foundations; financial aspects; decision-making and case analysis; opportunity analysis, market segmentation, and market targeting; product and service strategy and brand management; integrated marketing communication strategy and management; pricing strategy and management; the control process; and comprehensive marketing programs. For marketing executives and professionals.
Customer Reviews:
Chapter two is most valuable!.......2007-03-22
Chapter two has a really good, in depth, review of basic marketing math.
Shippment.......2005-07-08
Book was in perfect condition with the exception of some small damage that occurred during shipping. The company packaged it well, I think the postoffice just used metal straps during shipping which damaged the book a little. But the company shipped it out immediately which is appreciated!
Strategic Marketing Problems... Not Solutions.......2003-08-17
I was disappointed. The book does contain some interesting thoughts, but 90% of the content is a description of companies facing marketing problems (case studies with a lot of facts). The author doesn't offer the solutions and best practises that would help solve these problems. While reading this book, i felt i was eating a burger without meat. Something is missing...
This is a good book for teachers who want case studies for their students to work on. It's a classroom book. It's not a good book if you want want to read marketing theory and best practises (if you're already in the management world).
Great and comprehensive.......1998-05-28
I am a MBA Candidate with a finance focus who had the pleasure to use this book. Never before had I imagined that marketing could have the amount of numerical focus that this book shows. There's a case for every type of industry and many world-famous companies in this book. What else is missing from an introduction to marketing text?!
A good book..........1997-10-23
I'm a MBA student in marketing. This book is good, but just that... good. I'm absolutely certain that somewhere has to be a book about strategic marketing that has a little more information (that's the problem, little theory and plenty of numbers) and not so expensive.
Teresa M. Rodríguez
Book Description
Companies must innovate to grow, but they often forget to look beyond their own brands. Take Sony, for example. Its success with consumer innovations like the Walkman blinded it to obvious changes in how, when, and where people wanted their music. Apple capitalized on those changes in demand with the iPod, providing a new way of listening to music and of managing one’s entire music library.
This book explains how you can spot these opportunities that are hidden in plain sight. It introduces the demand-first innovation and growth model that will show you how to become an unbiased observer of people’s consumption and usage behaviors. Refining this skill helps companies generate organic growth through new products, services, solutions, and experiences that truly enhance peoples’ lives. Revealing the innovative processes of such organizations as BMW, Proctor and Gamble, GE Healthcare, and Frito-Lay, Hidden in Plain Sight offers you a new approach to identifying and executing your company’s growth strategy.
Customer Reviews:
A growth strategy from the outside in.......2007-10-15
Erich Joachimsthaler's book Hidden in Plain Sight challenges conventional wisdom on marketing and marketing strategy. There are a number of books advocating this 'outside in' view on strategy and growth.
Joachimsthaler's approach of DIG for Demand-first Integration and Growth Model provides a comprehensive set of tools and methods for defining growth opportunities based on an understanding of the external environment rather than trying to change the world to fit your products and services.
Joachimsthaler provides a full description of the processes and tools including a number of case studies that describe companies that have grown through innovation and an outside in view. These are the strengths of the book.
These strengths are also the books weakness. By talking extensively about companies like BMW, GE, PepsiCo, etc, the book's main messages get bogged down in the text. Many of these cases have not used Joachimsthaler's DIG methodology, so there is little to connect the case to the argument he is advancing. This makes the book drag in some places and confuses Joachimsthaler's argument.
Overall the book is recommended as the combination of tools and methodology provides a valuable resource for companies looking to change their marketing approach and results. Other resources to consider include Chris Zook's "Unstoppable" and Davenport and Harris's "Competing on Analytics."
The Formula for Innovation and Growth.......2007-07-14
Erich Joachimsthaler provides a systematic approach to make marketing accountable for innovation and growth of BtoC and BtoB companies. We have seen the innovative business concept of share of customer evolve and being executed over the last years. Hidden in Plain Sight pushes that practice further to the concept of customer advantage, which means consequently managing impact and relevance, products and services have on customers daily lifes - on customers share of the day.
Erich Joachimsthaler formulates an explicit model, the demand-first innovation and growth model (DIG-Model), that illuminates the advantages of creating the demand landscape and sets a plan for action to specify the necessary effort to capture the relevant parts of the ecosystem of customer demand, reframes the specific business opportunity space, aligns business processes across all functions and sets the foundation for sustainable innovations and predictable growth.
As one reads the carefully selected international cases (e.g. Procter & Gamble, BMW, Apple, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, NetFlix, Starbucks, General Electric, Sony, Allianz) reference is made to all parts of the DIG model and how all pieces have to work together to execute in business practice. Based on his deep insight and understanding of many industries, Erich Joachimsthaler proves his approach carefully and outlines, how innovation and growth can be systematically and replicable managed. That is why this book is relevant for people from many business functions and a variety of industries.
Thanks for this outstanding business book.
Kevin Frantz
Excellent.......2007-06-28
This is an excellent book, an eye opener for any professional in marketing, particularly those fighting the dog war of private labels and commoditization.
A popular, inspirational pick........2007-06-17
Business managers and executives who want keys to locating the potential for a company's expansion will want to consult HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: HOW TO FIND AND EXECUTE YOUR COMPANY'S NEXT BIG GROWTH STRATEGY. It pinpoints changing consumer needs and usage patterns and tells how to use the DIG model to help companies understand the hidden opportunities for innovation, using the author's 20+ years studying company connections to help pinpoint customer-driven ideas. Business libraries catering to executives will find it a popular, inspirational pick.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
The Invisibility of the Obvious.......2007-05-23
Erich Joachimsthaler offers what he claims is a "new model of strategic innovation for achieving profitable business growth" by abandoning "some of the tried and proven conventions of innovation, marketing, and strategy formulation" and by discarding "some of today's common assumptions and management practices and adopt a fresh way of planning an executing your strategies today and your innovation and growth strategies of tomorrow." The key word is "some" as he explains how.
After discussing "hidden opportunities to innovate and grow" in Part I, he focuses in Part II on several companies which exemplify a demand-first innovation and growth model (e.g. Frito-Lay, Allianz, GE Healthcare, and State Street) and then shifts his attention, in Part III, to various strategies by which to realize customer advantage.
As the title of this book suggests, Joachimsthaler asserts - and I agree - that many senior-level executives lack the ability to see - really see - "the opportunities presented by the changing consumption or usage behaviors of people [their organizations are] trying to serve. [They] cannot spot or recognize and pursue the abundant opportunities that exist in plain sight." Why? Joachimsthaler suggests several reasons which include routine but disparate processes which fragment a company's view of its customers, perpetuation of the status quo which limits a company's perspective on its competitive marketplace, a mistaken belief that "the key to growth lies in identifying customers' needs and wants [and/or] providing solutions for the tasks or jobs it knows customers must take on and get done," and an "inside-out" perspective which results in what Theodore Levitt once characterized as "marketing myopia."
Joachimsthaler suggests three lessons that can be learned from companies such as NetFlix, Sony, and Starbucks:
1. Position existing or new products or services at natural intersections of customers' consumption and use behaviors;
2. Change or enhance customers' daily routines and create transformative experiences around activities, projects, and tasks in new and welcome ways; and
3. Deliver on previously unleashed or unarticulated desires, dreams, fantasies, and urges in the social-cultural context of people's lives.
The demand-first innovation (DIG) model can be of substantial benefit to any organization (regardless of size or nature) but it would be a fool's errand to attempt to apply all of the ideas that Joachimsthaler presents. Rather, It would be a fool's errand for anyone who reads this book to attempt to apply all of the ideas that Joachimsthaler presents. Rather, he suggests that those who read this book clearly identify their organization's key demand-relevant assets and make full use of them, rigorously evaluate and develop their organization's distinctive capabilities deployed to manage those assets, choose only those major strategic initiatives that force the integration of all demand-facing processes, and "build the culture" with innovation initiatives at all levels and within all areas throughout what should be a demand-driven enterprise.
Joachimsthaler calls for nothing less than "the activation of demand-first growth platforms by whatever means [to] help customers absorb or assimilate an innovation, or retool old ways of doing things, into their daily life or work experiences." Only then can an organization find and execute its next big growth strategy.
Book Description
Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision-Making Approach 6th Edition concentrates on strategic decision making. This approach sets Mullins apart from other texts which place greater emphasis on description of marketing phenomena rather than on the strategic and tactical marketing decisions that managers and entrepreneurs must make each and every day. This 6th Edition continues to be the most current and internet-savvy book available, injecting the latest developments in internet-based communication and distribution technology into every chapter. Also, an entire chapter (Chapter 15) is devoted to the development of marketing strategies for the new economy. The author team’s rich entrepreneurial, marketing management, and consulting experience spans a broad variety of manufacturing, service, software, and distribution industries provides an abundance of real-world, global perspectives.
Book Description
Recent research in the field of business strategy has shown that strategic flexibility can be achieved through a scenario planning perspective for long term competition and performance. The authors have drawn upon examples and cases to develop a new model for scenario planning that is closely integrated with strategy. They argue that the concept of scenario planning is as much an art as a practical management tool.
Customer Reviews:
Nuts and bolts of scenario planning.......2003-08-06
I saw an review in Harvard Business School and I fully agree with them: "...serious but yet it's the friendliest introduction to the nuts and bolts of scenario planning that you are likely to find..." I really recommend this book to everyone who wants to explore, understand and have an impact on the future.
Practical tools for future strategy.......2003-05-19
This is an eminently practical book on scenario and strategy development. The language is simple, straight-forward with many examples, tools and anecdotes. In a verbal style, with lots of figures and bullet point lists, the five chapters in a way resembles lectures.
As faculty and lecturer at the Norwegian School of Management I find this book a perfect supplement in the curriculum to the two classics: P. Schwartz' "Art of the long view" and van Heijden "Scenarios". This book occupies a kind of middle-position between Schwartz' very popular and narrative account and van Heijden's more rational-academic discourse, which some practitioners find a hard read. Not like this one. There's not much deep philosophy either, as in J. Ogilvys recent "Creating Better Futures". The chapter on scenario planning in practice (#3) contains loads of simple, informative examples, written much shorter and to the point, than G. Ringland's three books on scenarios with much-detailed cases, repetitions and a weak structure.
In short - this book is a toolbox with instructions manual. As the Swedish authors Lindgren and Bandhold themselves say in the book; "Get yourself a toolbox". If you, as a manager or consultant want to learn, update or expand your portfolio of future oriented strategy tools, this one is The Choice.
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Books Index
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General
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You're in Charge, Now What?: The 8 Point Plan
The New Leaders 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
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