Book Description
This fifth edition of the classic text, Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations, introduces strategic thinking, strategic planning, and strategic momentum to advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as practitioners in the field of health care. It demonstrates how strategic managers can become strategic thinkers with the crucial skills to evaluate the changing environment, analyze data, question assumptions, and develop new ideas.Swayne, Duncan, and Ginter present methods to develop and document a plan of action through strategic planning and illustrate how, as managers attempt to carry out the strategic plan, they evaluate its success, learn more about what works, and incorporate new strategic thinking into future planning, strategy formulation, and situational analysis. They demonstrate how strategic management "maps " can provide the direction needed for successful implementation.In this new edition, all chapters have been revised and contain new or updated Introductory Incidents and Perspectives. Appendix A has been revised to match the new model of strategic thinking, planning, and managing the strategic momentum. Twenty real-life case studies, including nine new cases and three updated classics, present diverse strategic situations in an accessible manner that enhances the applicability of the concepts for students and professionals.The text is supported by PowerPoint slides and an Instructors ' Manual. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/swayne for details.
Customer Reviews:
Both conceptual and practical tools.......2007-04-11
This is an outstanding book. While naturally oriented to strategic management of health care it is also a comprehensive framework to strategic management in general. The book's layout is that of a university textbook but it is also written in an enjoyable style. I read this book as a practitioner and not a formal student and found it extremely readable and helpful. The authors present both conceptual and practical tools for strategic management.
Excellent book.......2006-12-14
I would highly recommend this book. It is easy to read, methodical in approach and provides a balance of relevant theory and application. A useful resource for any healthcare organization expanding its services within existin country or beyond.
Thanks extended to the authors...I look forward to other additions!!!
Excellent Book.......2004-03-03
I was fortunate enough to be a student of Linda Swaynes @ UNC Charlotte. We were the first class to use this book. Not only was Ms. Swayne excellent at what she taught but the book was a tool that explained the theories in nice detail. I continue to use the book as a resource. I am currently a hospital CEO.
Great balance of theory and practice.......2001-11-29
I used this text for a class in health care management. I was impressed by the readability of the text, the incredible amount of information it contained, and the great balance of theory with practical approaches. Many books about management are a bit short in the area of practical tools. This one gives you tools to work with. I used the outline of this book to do a strategic analysis of an organization with which I work. The only significant weakness of the book is the uneven quality of the case studies. These were contributed by outside authors. Some of these are terrific, others are not well written and not so helpful. Hope this gets corrected in the new edition.
A Must for the Novice Planner.......2000-07-27
This comprehensive and yet easily understood text provides the fundamentals of strategic management as it applies to most any health care organization. The authors' experience comes to life in a variety of real examples and cases throughout the text. My background and interest in strategic planning led me to thoroughly examine the step-by-step processes, and I was amazed at both the simplicity and applicability of each. Definetly a text that I will recommend to anyone entering the healthcare industry or strategic planning arenas. Not only was I benefited by the purchase of this text, but had the opportunity to meet these outstanding authors in person during graduate study/research.
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
The philanthropic landscape is changing dramatically as a new generation of wealthy donors seeks to leave its mark on the public sphere. Peter Frumkin reveals in Strategic Giving why these donors could benefit from having a comprehensive plan to guide their giving. And with this thoughtful and timely book, he provides the much-needed framework to understand and develop this kind of philanthropic strategy.
After listening for years to scores of individual and institutional funders discuss the challenges of giving wisely, Frumkin argues here that contemporary philanthropy requires a thorough rethinking of its underlying logic. Philanthropy should be seen, he contends, as both a powerful way to meet public needs and a meaningful way to express private beliefs and commitments. He demonstrates that finding a way to simultaneously fulfill both of these functions is crucial to the survival of philanthropy and its potential to support pluralism in society. And he goes on to identify the five essential elements donors must consider when developing a philanthropic strategy—the vehicle through which giving will flow, the way impact will be achieved, the level of engagement and profile sought, the time frame for giving, and the underlying purpose of the gift. Frumkin’s point is that donors must understand strategic giving as the integration of these five critical dimensions to giving.
Essential reading for donors, researchers, and anyone involved with the world of philanthropy, Strategic Giving provides a new basis for understanding philanthropic effectiveness and a promising new way for philanthropy to achieve the legitimacy that has at times eluded it.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful book for donors who want to be (or are) engaged in philanthropy.......2006-10-19
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is good, well written, and includes lots of thought. Clearly much time was spent writing it.
This book is not for the philanthropist who merely gives a little. And it is not a guide for major donors who want to give effectively and in an informed and strategic way. Instead, this book is for major donors to read and learn more about the donor world that exists today. It provides a comprehensive theoretical framework of that world along with analysis.
I just got done reading Tracy Gary's "Inspired Philanthropy" written in 2002 (ISBN: 0787964107) which covers the same subject material, but in a different perspective. Instead of going heavy on the theoretical framework of the donor world as Frumkin does, Gary provides a guide to creating one's "giving plan." In a way I think "Inspired Philanthropy" and "Strategic Giving" are companion books even though different authors write them. By reading Frumkin's book along with Gary's book major donors can BETTER create a giving plan.
The book has the following 10 chapters:
1. Philanthropy and the Public Sector
2. Central Problems in Philanthropy
3. Donors and Professionals
4. The Idea of Strategic Giving
5. Dimensions of Philanthropic Value
6. Logic Models: Theories of Change, Leverage and Scale
7. Institutions and Vehicles
8. Giving Styles
9. Time Frames for Giving
10. Measuring, Knowing and Acting
I found the first three chapters to be my favorite. It is where the author explains that the nonprofit sector lacks much accountability and thus donors who donate blindly may be throwing their money into black holes. Maybe enough people will read the book and try to effectuate change so there will be more accountability in the future?
Chapters 4 through 10 are the chapters that seriously supplement Gary's book by providing prose on the art and science of philanthropy. If you are a major donor, then seriously consider giving both these books a read. You won't be disappointed. 5 stars!
Book Description
Designing the Customer-Centric Organization offers todayâs business leaders a comprehensive customer-centric organizational model that clearly shows how to put in place an infrastructure that is organized around the demands of the customer. Written by Jay Galbraith (the foremost expert in the field of organizational design), this important book includes a tool that will help determine how customer-centric an organization is- light-level, medium-level, complete-level, or high-level- and it shows how to ascertain the appropriate level for a particular institution. Once the groundwork has been established, the author offers guidance for the process of implementing a customer-centric system throughout an organization. Designing the Customer-Centric Organization includes vital information about structure, management processes, reward and management systems, and people practices.
Download Description
"Designing the Customer-Centric Organization offers today's business leaders a comprehensive customer-centric organizational model that clearly shows how to put in place an infrastructure that is organized around the demands of the customer. Written by Jay Galbraith (the foremost expert in the field of organizational design), this important book includes a tool that will help determine how customer-centric an organization is- light-level, medium-level, complete-level, or high-level- and it shows how to ascertain the appropriate level for a particular institution. Once the groundwork has been established, the author offers guidance for the process of implementing a customer-centric system throughout an organization. Designing the Customer-Centric Organization includes vital information about structure, management processes, reward and management systems, and people practices.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful in real time organization design.......2007-08-11
I've been using Jay Galbraith's principles in making organization designs for major clients with great effectiveness. This book is very practical.
Designing the Customer-Centric Organization: A Guide to Strategy, Structure, and Process .......2007-01-18
Es un libro excelente, me parece muy bueno el contenido, sin embargo lamento decirles que llego un poco maltratado, por lo que en lo subsecuente espero pongan mas cuidado en este aspecto
It's all in the first 25 pages!.......2007-01-14
I was very excited when I came across this particular book. This was exactly the right book - looking at the title - coming at the right moment for me. I could use it to help me work through a current problem!
Maybe my expectations were too high, but I dived into it with a passion. The introduction was insightful and right on target. This is terrific! Chapter 1; Surviving the Customer Revolution, was as good a review of this topic as I've read anywhere. It succeeded in defining what a customer centric organisation could look like and brought some real clarity to this part of the puzzle. If you've ever tried to explain the difference between a traditional product centric company and a customer centric one then you'll know what I mean.
Chapter 2 though, How Much Is Enough, was the beginning of the decline. The author attempts to define different levels of customer centricity necessary for your company and, for me, falls foul of too much detail and too much process - clearly reflective of the authors' obvious expertise and familiarity with organisational design. From there on it continued to be a struggle for me. The case studies were terrific and there was some real insight, but the solutions were too formulaic and linear to be of real value.
I came away from the book concerned that I'd missed something. I thought that customers would drive what level of customisation would be required in order to deliver value, and thereby improve business performance. Perhaps I was wrong!
Was I disappointed? Not at all. Worth reading even if the best is right up front!
COMPREHENSIVE, IN-DEPTH, THOUGHTFUL BOOK!.......2006-01-16
In contrast to product-centric, a customer-centric firm must be organized around the customer. This means going further than "customer focused" initiatives. This comprehensive, in-depth and thoughtful book begins by exploring the structures and philosophy involved in being customer-centric. Galbraith then details the different types of customer relationship strategies, following which he offers a guide to determining the level of customer-centricity (three levels are proposed) that would best serve the reader's company. The specific elements for achieving each of the three levels, from lightest to most intensive, are presented, along with guidelines for implementing actions ("solution strategy") required. Solution strategies vary by scale and scope, depending on the intensity of customer-centricity needed.
In all, the book delves into ways that organizations can design their strategy, structure, and processes to strengthen their position in the market and grow. Technology, with emphasis on its implementation and connectivity with customers, gets major attention. Much of the book presents engrossing cases (IBM, Proctor & Gamble, Nokia), which are extremely informative and provide a plethora of insights. This is an outstanding work in its content, organization of material, and style of writing. Very highly recommended.
Book Description
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âThis book clearly shows how today’s industry pressures and business challenges mandate renewal of the contract between organizations and their IT assets and people–and it illustrates how a service-oriented approach to IT can help organizations go through the necessary transformation. The role of governance in bringing IT and business closer together is particularly well explained, and the book is worth reading for that alone.â
–Neil Ward-Dutton, Research Director, Macehiter Ward-Dutton
âIt’s easy to pay lip service to the concept of business/IT alignment, but in The New Language of Business, Sandy Carter walks the walk. Few treatments of SOA ground this admittedly difficult topic in the world of business as thoroughly as Sandy has here. I’d recommend this book to any business reader who wants to leverage IT to make their business more agile and innovative, and to any technical reader who wishes to understand how to place SOA in the business context where it belongs.â
–Jason Bloomberg, Senior Analyst and Principal, ZapThink LLC
âA very valuable read. In today’s globally connected marketplace profitable growth requires business flexibility and continuous innovation, both of which are increasingly proving to be impossible without business modularity and the new table-stakes technology SOA.â
–Ron Williams, Professor, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
âSandy has provided a pragmatic and holistic perspective on Service Oriented Architectures. She adds credibility by sharing IBM’s in-depth customer research as well as case studies to support the findings. The book is a strong source book for those wanting to get started with SOA.â
–Judith Hurwitz, President & CEO, Hurwitz & Associates, coauthor,
Service Oriented Architectures for Dummies
âFew people have thought as long or as hard about SOA as Sandy Carter. This book embodies her invaluable work and the work of many at IBM to research, define, deploy and make SOA happen. Useful not just from a SOA perspective, but also as a concise articulation of the contemporary concepts fundamental to understanding where business and IT are heading.â
–Carol Baroudi, coauthor Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies, Senior Analyst, Aberdeen Group
âThe New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0 is based on the collective feedback from industry leaders at organizations of all sizes, in more than 50 countries, who shared their views, experiences, and challenges of aligning technology with business goals.â
–From the foreword by Steve Mills, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Software Group
There is now a direct, provable link between an organization’s flexibility and business performance. To optimize flexibility, companies must achieve unprecedented levels of integration and automation of key processes and infrastructure, both internally and externally. At the same time, they must learn to manage their processes far more dynamically and responsively.
They must become flex-pon-sive*.
Until recently, technology stood in the way of achieving these goals. Thanks to the emergence of service oriented architecture (SOA), Web 2.0, and open standards, technology now enables companies to achieve those goals. In The New Language of Business, one of IBM’s top SOA strategist demonstrates how business leaders can use innovations in technology to drive dramatic process improvements and support accelerating change.
Sandy Carter shows how to deconstruct your business into a âcomponentizedâ business model, then support that model with linked, repeatable IT services that can adapt quickly, easily, and economically. These techniques will help both IT professionals and business leaders reach new levels of operational excellence to deliver the market-focused innovations that matter most.
Drive competitive advantage through Service Oriented Architecture
Leverage the value of business process components and IT services
Achieve one version of the truth–finally!
Use information as a service to improve business insight and reduce risk
Master SOA governance and the service lifecycle
Manage IT infrastructure for business results, both short-term and long-term
Start fast: choose from three winning approaches
Get quick wins with business process management, collaboration or information
Implement on demand: what works–and what doesn’t
Discover key success factors–and ten critical mistakes to avoid
Create the flex-pon-sive* business!
•Learn the secrets of success from industry leaders at organizations of all sizes, from over 50 countries–and why SOA was unanimously chosen as the best way to address their challenges
•Leverage the IBM roadmap for SOA and Web 2.0 deployment, plus proven best practices learned in the field
•Understand what it means to be flex-pon-sive*–and how your organization can get there
In The New Language of Business, senior IBM executive Sandy Carter demonstrates how to leverage SOA, Web 2.0, and related technologies to drive new levels of operational excellence and business innovation.
Writing for executives and business leaders inside and outside IT, Carter explains why flexibility and responsiveness are now even more crucial to success–and why services-based strategies offer the greatest promise for achieving them.
You’ll learn how to organize your business into reusable process components–and support them with cost-effective IT services that adapt quickly and easily to change. Then, using extensive examples–including a detailed case study describing IBM’s own experience–Carter identifies best practices, pitfalls, and practical starting points for success.
Build the flex-pon-sive* business
* Flex-pon-sive* companies respond with lightning speed and agility to rapidly changing business needs. Flex-pon-sive* companies are focused on processes that are enabled for change through IT.
Foreword
Part I: Start at the Beginning–The Business
Chapter 1: The Innovation Imperative
Chapter 2: What Is Flex-pon-sive*?
Chapter 3: Deconstructing Your Business: Component Business Model
Part II: A Flexible Business Requires Flexible IT
Chapter 4: SOA as the DNA of a Flex-pon-sive* and Innovative Company
Chapter 5: SOA Key Concepts
Chapter 6: SOA Governance and Service Lifecycle
Chapter 7: Three Business-Centric SOA Entry Points
Chapter 8: What about Web 2.0 and SOA? Are They Related?
Part III: How to Implement Flex-pon-sive* in Your Business
Chapter 9: The Top 10 Don’ts!
Chapter 10: Case Study: IBM
Chapter 11: Putting It All Together
Glossary
Index
Customer Reviews:
SOA is just about business - THANKS Sandy! .......2007-07-18
It has been hard for me to understand the value of SOA from a business perspective - Your book realy helped me to understand the linkage between IT and business and the value of SOA for my company.
I do recommend reading your book !!!!
You can't change everything to SOA, but SOA changes everything.......2007-07-17
After reading and recommending Sandy's book to my customers, I realized that it has always been about the business, so Sandy has it right.
Technology has always been important but instead of buying technologies that assumes will somehow improve the business; we should examine aspects of the business that most require improvement. Sandy's book does a great job in reminding us that as we look into the future flexibility through SOA and Web 2.0 can give us what we are all looking for - shorter cycles of innovation. I congratulate Sandy for a well written book, simple to understand and most important the insight she brings from her experiences, customer engagements and thought leadership. I recommend this book to c-level execs, project managers, line-of-business leaders and new hires.
Comprehensive overview moves beyond bits and bytes.......2007-07-16
If you're looking for code samples, topologies, software products, speeds, and feeds, this book is not for you. But if you're after real-world insights into how companies solve real problems, it should be right up your alley. For those looking for pure IT, the good news is, there are many other volumes of technology-focused guides and books about SOA and Web 2.0 available. Conversely, books about using SOA and Web 2.0 as a means of attaining real business benefits are in painfully short supply. While other writings may claim to fill this void, Sandy Carter's book actually fulfills this objective.
While this book is not for the person who is looking for a first introduction to SOA, it does a very nice job at describing how to put the concepts of SOA into practice for business benefit. In other words, the book is less about what SOA IS than it is about when and how SOA can be used and what results can be expected. There are illustrative examples drawn from IBM implementations sprinkled throughout the book that bring the concepts that the author introduces to life. I would say that the ideal audience for this book is the business-minded IT manager/executive or the line of business executive who recognizes that IT is best approached as a means of strategic advantage rather than mere overhead cost.
I'd recommend this book for personal and professional enrichment. I can imagine this book as being used as a business technology textbook although it lacks the dry academic tone of many other textbooks I've read. It is a lively read so perhaps "guidebook" would be a more appropriate term than `textbook'.
Less than expection on the usefulness of book.......2007-05-28
This is much less than my expection. It describes too much marketing information and so far away from SOA technical stand point.
It provides many non-useful for SOA technical reader, can't give practical solution and how it is possible in the real world.
SOA the next big thing? Not so Fast my Friend.......2007-05-04
The complexity of the content in this book came at no surprise due to my limited background knowledge of information technology. If you are planning to read this book in hopes of gaining a broad understanding, forget it. Even the author specifically states in her forward section that a general sense of understanding is a prerequisite. However, there are numerous blogs and articles outlining this controversy that are readily available, which will help supplement the content in this book.
Being the novice that I am, I needed to find a perspective that challenged Sandy Carter's secrets for success. Conceptually, the idea of being "flex-pon-sive" appears to be more common-sense than ground-breaking. I mean if SOA and Web 2.0 can create as much value as Sandy Carter claims, why the entire business community isn't rushing to implement these technologies into its IT systems. Therefore, I decided to go to the one source that I could count on to provide an "alternate perspective." Public Enemy #1: Nicholas Carr.
As I predicted, Nicholas Carr has indeed inserted himself into the conversation, simplifying these technologies into a group he calls, "knowledge management systems."3 I could not find anything in his blog that specifically attacks SOA, but Web 2.0 was a common theme. Carr noted that implementing Web 2.0 into enterprise-wide IT systems will fail due to the lack of governance. 3 His point did not provide any shocking revelations since even Sandy Carter herself noted that the failure of effective governance would ultimately cause this concept to fail. However, Carr did manage to insert the discussion of cost effectiveness and sustained benefit, two of his most core arguments dating back to his controversial article, "Does IT Matter?" 4 He believes that once the hype generated by the "enthusiastic earlier adopters" dies down, those who lack the essential knowledge will become indifferent, leaving only those select few who actually possess the essential knowledge to optimize these technologies, but have no time to do so. 3 In the end, the system will ultimately fall into disuse and crumble under its own complexity.
As cynical as this may appear, his outlook for Web 2.0 proved to be fairly accurate in a McKinsey study that was conducted in January 2007. McKinsey & Company, a prominent consulting firm, surveyed close to 2,800 executives from around the world to determine the level of interest in companies adopting Web 2.0 technologies. The study to proved Sandy Carter's assertion to be partially correct; many executives have a strong interest in these technologies. 5 However, the study also noted that there was a disparity between the number of executives who were interested in investing in Web 2.0 technologies and those who actually invested or were planning to invest in these technologies in the near future. 5 Social networking at 37% was found to be the most popular Web 2.0 tool that executives were willing to or have already invested in. 5 This percentage certainly does not depict an enthusiastic revolution brewing in the IT world. With that being said however, it does appear that the general consensus is to employ a wait-and-see approach. Executives are indeed interested in improving the flexibility of their business models, but don't feel comfortable enough to act based on the current tools available. Therefore, unfortunately for proponents of SOA such as Sandy Carter, the next phenomenon wave has not arrived yet. But it's on the horizon and with the improvements being made each and everyday, this concept will become a reality much sooner rather than later.
Nevertheless, despite the hesitation to implement these tools into the business world, one idea was made quite clear in this book; IT still matters. With this new push towards becoming increasingly flexible and responsive, the value of IT has been rejuvenated. Although Carr believes that a botched implementation of these emerging technologies will result in significant detriment to any company, the benefits of a successful implementation is endless. 5 The sustainable competitive advantage though does not come from the technology itself, but rather will come from the flexibility that these technologies will provide. Although Carr is correct in a sense that the window of competitive advantage for any technological advancement is miniscule, the ability to maintain this competitive advantage can potentially be endless with these new technologies. 4 The additional flexibility that these technologies provide will generate unprecedented amounts of innovation as there will be seemingly no boundaries that will hinder the advancement of a company from growing to insurmountable heights. Just imagine if every company can adjust its business model on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. The concept of sustaining a competitive advantage will not rely on the length of time, but rather the frequency in which you can change to sustain this advantage. As a result, it would appear that the best defense for companies will be a great offense. In other words, if a flexible company can continue to push the envelope and adjust its business model more frequently that the rest of its competition, it may be able to distance itself far beyond the rest of the pack and can then focus on other improvement areas while waiting for its competitors to catch up. The new, flexible business environment could potentially turn from a marathon into an all-out sprint!
Book Description
Attracting Perfect Customers leads readers through a transformation as they learn that it is no longer productive or profitable to conduct business using warlike marketing techniques such as "targeting" customers and "outmaneuvering" the competition. In fact, these techniques seem both outdated and labor-intensive when compared to the Strategic Synchronicity process, which requires just five minutes of planning each day.
Strategic Synchronicity is based on nine principles that are not new but are often neglected in today's business world. Among them are the ideas that businesses don't need to search for customers if they are "on purpose"; that collaboration, not competition, is required; and that businesses create their own "clients from hell".
Customer Reviews:
modern snake oil salesmen.......2006-09-09
This book offered nothing of real value. I've noticed that the only people that really gave it good comments are other "business and success coaches". There are no real original or earth-moving ideas in this book.
So if you want to hear another "success consultant" write about "shifting paradigms" and "thinking outside the box", the same old tired and worn-out buzz words, buy the book
A Great Way to Grow Yourself and Your Business.......2006-09-06
This is a fantastic book and if you will use it as directed the process will cause you to do just what the title says. Attract Perfect Customers. I have been using the tools and processes in this book for over 2 years now and so have many of my clients and associates. We would not be without it!
Transformative process.......2006-04-24
When this book was recommended to me I was hoping it wasn't "just another marketing book". Fortunately it's so much more than that! This book outlines into a powerful and profound 4-step process designed to create clarity around your business relationships (it can also be applied to ANY relationship although the book doesn't explore this). I am amazed at the results I've had using this process. My business has grown, I'm getting paid more than ever before, and as I share this process with others their stories amaze me. I also highly recommend their web site PerfectCustomers dot com. The email tips are great!
Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity.......2006-03-19
This book was recommended by my business coach but, I apply it to every relationship in my life! The law of attraction and strategic synchronicity are helpful to stay focused on what it is that you REALLY want. We can choose to be the 'lighthouse' and the 'perfect customer' will find us.
Good stuff.......2006-02-22
This is a great read for someone trying to refocus their marketing efforts. Very thought provoking.
Book Description
A world-renowned innovation guru explains practices that result in breakthrough innovations
"Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation."
-Clayton Christensen
For years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer "requirements" to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually.
In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as "outcome-driven" innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated.
Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In What Customers Want, Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as "needs," "benefits," "specifications," and "solutions," Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal "voice of the customer" and focus on the "metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done." Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs into the innovation process eliminates much of the chaos and variability that typically derails innovation initiatives.
With the same profound insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense that propelled The Innovator's Solution to worldwide acclaim, this paradigm-changing book details an eight-step approach that uses outcome-driven thinking to dramatically improve every aspect of the innovation process--from segmenting markets and identifying opportunities to creating, evaluating, and positioning breakthrough concepts. Using case studies from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, Pfizer, and other leading companies, What Customers Want shows companies how to:
- Obtain unique customer inputs that make predictable innovation possible
- Recognize opportunities for disruption, new market creation, and core market growth--well before competitors do
- Identify which ideas, technologies, and acquisitions have the greatest potential for creating customer value
- Systematically define breakthrough products and services concepts
Innovation is fundamental to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer-driven thinking, this landmark book arms you with the tools to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates--and create the products and services customers really want.
Customer Reviews:
Simple and Disciplined Approach to Obtaining Customers' Wants.......2007-07-21
This is an excellent book that lays out a simple but disciplined approach to capturing what customers' want. With all the sources out there communicating how to do the voice of the customer, this book starts off by challenging that approach as being ineffective and then lays out what the author proposes as a better approach through the understanding of the customers' jobs that they are trying to perform, the outcomes (or key metrics that they use to measure how well a product or service completes a job) and the opportunities or those outcomes that are either underserved or overserved. The opportunities are the areas that a company should focus on to be successful in innovation. The author does this by sharing examples from different organizations that resulted in success. All in all a very refreshing approach to focusing on the customer and worth the read for all the innovators out there.
Purpose for Gathering Voice of the Customer (VOC) Data.......2007-06-08
Proposes a different purpose for gathering VOC -- that is, focusing on the customer's desired "outcome" of the job to be accomplished. I was very delighted to read about this approach since it allows more objectivity in designing final solutions. However, it appears the author fails to capture that this is infact VOC data collection. Students of Six Sigma know that VOC data collection is not about writing down what the customer "says". It is about uncovering true "needs" (or whatever term you want to use) directly from the customer and not some secondary party ill-equiped to articulate those "needs".
Good but not great.......2007-01-18
If you are new to market research or product innovation, this book is practical and easy to read and I recommend it. No need to read further in my comment.
For the more experienced reader: As a businessperson, I was disappointed in this book. At first I was carried away; Ulwick is a good writer. I was so excited, I restared the book and took notes. That is when I realized that this is essentially a marketing tool for his company. Ulwich doesn't give insight into how to find the "50-150" criteria he mentions beyond saying that good marketing researchers are important. Furthermore his comments about customer-driven innovation are incorrect. While I agree with him that many companies behave as he describes, this is because, as with other business tools/concepts, customer-driven innovation is misunderstand and misused. Most of what he talks about is identical to what I tell employees during training. What I got out of this book was a handful of sentences about focusing on the job your customer needs done, the constraints and the criteria by which customers will measure your "solution".
Most Practical Approach.......2006-11-11
This book offers the most practical approach to developing an innovation strategy of the many I have read.
It is one of the few that offers tools and ideas that can be put immediately to work in a business.
Cutomer Service Training.......2006-10-07
Innovation is primal to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer driven initiatives, this wonderful book offers you the tools and strategies to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates and create the products and services customers really want.
Book Description
Spa Business Strategies: A Plan for Success is a unique, must-have resource for any professional who wants to learn more about the business and marketing strategies vital to owning and operating a day spa. This book takes a thoughtful and interactive approach to the subject matter, and the easy-to-read language and user-friendly format provide the spa owner, manager, or potential spa owner with an opportunity to tackle some of the more important tasks necessary to develop successful business practices. Important business concepts such as marketing, financing, utilizing technology, promoting sales, improving communication, and developing excellent customer service skills are discussed, among others. The author uses thought-provoking questionnaires, targeted worksheets, and practical examples to illustrate key concepts. The text is also focused on encouraging the day spa owner or manager to develop critical thinking skills that will promote solid business practices and sustain the continued growth of the day spa industry over time.
Customer Reviews:
At last a book that gets the nuts and bolts of the Spa business.......2007-10-14
Janet D'Angelo has done a great work to simplify the real nuts and bolts of what a Spa Business entails. Has saved me an enourmous amount of money and time.
Most Comprehensive Guide..........2006-05-02
What didn't Ms. D'Angelo cover? I can't think of anything! A mass of valuable information for anyone considering the Spa business. This book will be an invaluable guide for my business for a long time. It has done the work and the research for me. With the most up to date information for todays marketplace. A comprehensive outline for bringing a vision to reality and beyond. I feel so much more confident now in where to start and how to market and promote my business and how to keep it fresh and viable into the future. I'm so grateful for this book.
Great book with a wealth of information!.......2006-03-17
An easy read with lots of valuable information on how to do it right the first time. Plenty of resources listed to gather more info from, as well as the importance of the marketing plan and how to go about it. Even if our are already established the book offers many useful tools for successful business operations.
Book Description
Bag the Elephant! is more than a strategy book; it's packed with proven guidelines, tools, and techniques. Throughout the book you'll find stories, derived from the author's real-world experience, that show you how to put the strategy to work.
Customer Reviews:
Where's the beef: a lot of sizzle, very little meat here.......2007-10-07
The over-the-top positive reviews here astound me because while this book has some merit it is certainly not the best book on the topic and offers very little for the labor of reading it. The book's format is a classic sizzle over the steak sales technique: colors, pictures and odd printing over content, verbosity over wisdom. This book has little to offer field salespeople and nothing to offer non-B2B companies.
Certain ideas are useful for managers, such as: execute flawlessly, one mistake you're out, excellent customer service will keep the business, and team selling is critical even necessary for winning big accounts. Much of the wisdom is common sense: selling to a big company results in substantial growth; be careful about putting all your eggs in one basket; and mismanaging customer expectations can cost you the business and all the hard work that went into getting it.
On the positive side this author is clearly a sales professional. If you need to learn how professionals act in corporate sales there are tips and insights here. Large account selling is very different than the kind of selling say Brian Tracey or Tom Hopkins teach about. Planning, targeting, clarity of message and pricing, flawless execution and relentless follow-through and documentation are all needed. If you're new to corporate sales start with "Strategic Selling" and then perhaps this book. If you're in corporate sales and you don't already know this material, or act and look like Kaplan, you're in for a tough slog.
For overcoming the real challenges of prospecting and B2B selling that every salesperson can use I recommend "Selling to Big Companies" and "Value Forward Selling." As Sandler pointed out in his selling methodology, most systems will work if they are applied consistently and well. Getting in the door to develop the relationship and the sale is the critical step. Both of those books specialize in that, as does "Selling against the goal."
If you want to go hunting for big business revenue, this is the why and how guide to success........2007-08-06
It is obvious that Steve Kaplan really understands the processes and organizational support needed to not only land business with big accounts, but also to grow the account, sustain your business with them, and not have the big company become a liability to your other business. He shares all his information very clearly and simply, but never simplistically. There are even lots of cute pictures of him with a real life elephant to illustrate his points. Yes, they are a tad cutesy. However, they are easily forgivable because of the valuable of the serious information provided.
Sure, he provides a program for landing that important first sale, but he also stresses the importance of matching the right kind of salesperson to that account. He also shows you how to get additional business with other customers within a huge account. And he stresses aspects of working with their internal bureaucracy that less experienced businesses will not know.
For me, the material on how to design your business to properly support a big account is key to your success and a likely area where many businesses slip up in the excitement of landing that first big contract. I also think his discussion of the very real dangers of letting a big account dominate your revenues is spot on.
A very good book on sales for those looking to up their revenues by selling to big companies.
Bag the Elephant!: How to Win and Keep Big Customers.......2007-07-15
Bag the Elephant: How to Win & Keep Big Customers states that all businesses have three potential futures: the snail trail, the arc of the shooting star, and the bag the elephant track. Most businesses follow the snail trail. They put in long hours servicing a large number of small clients always trying to keep one step ahead of bankruptcy.
Some talented entrepreneurs become shooting stars. These individuals find a unique niche that propels their business into instant success. However, since these businesses don't have the foundation to support such growth, they soon find themselves in a game of catch up. Like shooting stars, these businesses usually die a quick death.
A few businesses follow the Bag the Elephant track. These businesses land and keep the big customers whose large orders will carry the business. This strategy not only increases the business short term growth but also assures long term security. Bag the Elephant: How to Win & Keep Big Customers focuses on this final strategy giving step by step instructions, helpful tips, and straightforward ideas on how to not only attract the big customers but how to build a strong foundation to support and keep these big customers.
BAG THE ELEPHANT is packed with tips and motivational advice........2007-01-07
If you want to land a big account with an impressive sales and marketing strategy which gets that one big customer which can increase profits dramatically, the tips in BAG THE ELEPHANT: HOW TO WIN & KEEP BIG CUSTOMERS is for you. Steve Kaplan is founder of The Different Maker, which provides business tools to help companies small to large. From charging fees and assessing service offerings and competition to profiling sales personnel and approaching a customer relationship like a partnership to ensure big benefits to both sides, BAG THE ELEPHANT is packed with tips and motivational advice.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Great Strategies for Thinking (and handling) Big Customers.......2006-02-25
At just over 200 pages, Bag the Elephant took me a considerable amount of time to actually finish. While the principles are presented quite simply, it's jam packed with tips and strategies that take some time to digest.
The elephant in questions is the large corporate client. The one that brings in the big money. Bag the Elephant walks you through the process of first understanding the elephant, to "Romancing" them and then on to leveraging them for even more gain for you. While focusing primarily on the Big accounts, the principles here can easily be applied to small and medium size accounts, if that is where your target audience is.
Kaplan also dives into common mistakes many people make with their clients and teaches you how to avoid them. I found the fifth mistake most enlightening. Many feel that if they just had that one elephant, then they would be rolling in the dough. But what many forget is that with big elephants come big expenses, and often times, if cards have been misplayed, you'll find profits decreasing rather than increasing after bagging your elephant.
This book is a must read for anybody hoping to hit it big by snagging an elephant of their own. And if you're just a small guy, maybe it's time you start thinking bigger.
Book Description
In today’s competitive marketplace, customer relationship management is critical to a company’s profitability and long-term success. To become more customer focused, skilled managers, IT professionals and marketing executives must understand how to build profitable relationships with each customer and to make managerial decisions every day designed to increase the value of a company by making managerial decisions that will grow the value of the customer base. The goal is to build long-term relationships with customers and generate increased customer loyalty and higher margins. In Managing Customer Relationships, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, credited with founding the customer-relationship revolution in 1993 when they invented the term "one-to-one marketing," provide the definitive overview of what it takes to keep customers coming back for years to come.
Presenting a comprehensive framework for customer relationship management, Managing Customer Relationships provides CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs, privacy officers , human resources managers, marketing executives, sales teams, distribution managers, professors, and students with a logical overview of the background, the methodology, and the particulars of managing customer relationships for competitive advantage. Here, renowned customer relationship management pioneers Peppers and Rogers incorporate many of the principles of individualized customer relationships that they are best known for, including a complete overview of the background and history of the subject, relationship theory, IDIC (Identify-Differentiate-Interact-Customize) methodology, metrics, data management, customer management, company organization, channel issues, and the store of the future.
One of the first books designed to develop an understanding of the pedagogy of managing customer relationships, with an emphasis on customer strategies and building customer value, Managing Customer Relationships features:
Pioneering theories and principles of individualized customer relationships
An overview of relationship theory
Contributions from such revolutionary leaders as Philip Kotler, Esther Dyson, Geoffrey Moore, and Seth Godin
Guidelines for identifying customers and differentiating them by value and need
Tips for using the tools of interactivity and customization to build learning relationships
Coverage of the importance of privacy and customer feedback
Advice for measuring the success of customer-based initiatives
The future and evolution of retailing
An appendix that examines the qualities needed in a firm’s customer relationship leaders, and that provides fundamental tools for embarking on a career in managing customer relationships or helping a company use customer value as the basis for executive decisions
The techniques in Managing Customer Relationships can help any company sharpen its competitive advantage.
Download Description
In today’s competitive marketplace, customer relationship management is critical to a company’s profitability and long-term success. To become more customer focused, skilled managers, IT professionals and marketing executives must understand how to build profitable relationships with each customer and to make managerial decisions every day designed to increase the value of a company by making managerial decisions that will grow the value of the customer base. The goal is to build long-term relationships with customers and generate increased customer loyalty and higher margins. In Managing Customer Relationships, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, credited with founding the customer-relationship revolution in 1993 when they invented the term "one-to-one marketing," provide the definitive overview of what it takes to keep customers coming back for years to come.
Presenting a comprehensive framework for customer relationship management, Managing Customer Relationships provides CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs, privacy officers , human resources managers, marketing executives, sales teams, distribution managers, professors, and students with a logical overview of the background, the methodology, and the particulars of managing customer relationships for competitive advantage. Here, renowned customer relationship management pioneers Peppers and Rogers incorporate many of the principles of individualized customer relationships that they are best known for, including a complete overview of the background and history of the subject, relationship theory, IDIC (Identify-Differentiate-Interact-Customize) methodology, metrics, data management, customer management, company organization, channel issues, and the store of the future.
One of the first books designed to develop an understanding of the pedagogy of managing customer relationships, with an emphasis on customer strategies and building customer value, Managing Customer Relationships features:
Pioneering theor
Customer Reviews:
CS BOOK.......2005-08-09
Solid book on CS- long read!
Many good points-
Wish there was a cliff notes version
The book that was missing.......2004-09-08
This book fills in the empty space of academic books in CRM. Most of the publications and articles I've read deal with research on the subject and companies selling their programs. In this book Peppers and Rogers compiled a comprehensive text with theory, research and contributions from other authors that are a valuable tool for the under and graduate level.
Highly Recommended!.......2004-08-06
This very extensive text on customer relationship management leaves nothing unsaid or unexplained. Authors and editors Don Peppers and Martha Rogers tackle the subject with admirable organization, clarity and depth. They define every important term and do not lose the reader in marketing jargon - a rare virtue in a book about marketing. The text, including contributions from other well-known experts in the field, propounds a well-developed theory of customer relationship management (CRM) and sets out numerous examples to illustrate, explain and clarify the theory. Useful as a handbook, textbook or reference manual, the book covers - among many other core subjects - customer identification and differentiation, customer feedback, an analysis of retailing and basic tools for CRM. We highly recommend this book to service-oriented managers and executives. To form profitable relationships with your customers, first get friendly with Peppers and Rogers.
Taking One-to-One marketing to the CEO's agenda.......2004-07-28
Having just finalised an e-business thesis on Online Personalization, I must say that this book is an impressive source on the strategic level for what is synonymously called CRM, One-to-One marketing, relationship marketing, etc.
What I like about Peppers & Rogers is that they don't pretend to be the only ones to have seen this shift in customer-focused organizations (although they were first-movers in US by coining the term One-to-One in 1993). Peppers & Rogers accept readily that many other people have interesting perspectives to add. Thus, this book includes many contributions from marketing wizards like Philip Kotler, Seth Godin, Bruce Kasanoff, and Patricia Seybold.
The book is the sixth from the authors. If you have read some of the previous publications, you'll already be familiar with their core concepts like the IDIC-model (Identify-Differentiate-Interact-Customize), as well as Learning Relationships and customer Lifetime Value.
I believe that Peppers & Rogers' most important contribution is to change a company's focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. That is: Stop spending all you money getting new customers and start spending more on keeping and growing existing customers. This is where the learning relationships come in. The basic idea of Managing Customer Relationships, the authors concisely describe in plain English:
The Learning Relationships work like this: If you're my customer and I get you to talk to me, and I remember what you tell me, then I get smarter and smarter about you. I know something about you my competitors don't know. So I can do things for you my competitors can't do, because they don't know you as well as I do. Before long, you can get something from me you can't get anywhere else, for any price. At the very least, you'd have to start all over somewhere else, but starting over is more costly than staying with me.
Being a Dane, I'm proud to see the reference made on page 172 that the relationship theory can be traced back to the Scandinavian School of Relationships Management (e.g. Gronroos and Gummeson). Back in the 1980's, both were required reading in Scandinavian business schools. They often researched service firms and B2B-networks and based on this knowledge, they emphasised the contents and types of the business relationships and the required strategies to make these relationships work. It wasn't until the 1990's that CRM-initiatives took off in the United States - and usually they have been very technology-driven. Today, we all accept that you need both the relationship mindset and the technology-enabler. So the two approaches may ultimately achieve the same goals.
Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
Don and Martha Do It Again!.......2004-05-25
Another stellar effort by the pioneers of one-to-one. This book tackles CRM on several different fronts, and includes thoughtful pieces from a range of expert contributors. The book features both tactics and theory, including a helpful history on the emergence of CRM as a major business philosophy and some of the original research behind relationship theory. A hefty reference, and a useful one!
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Essentials of Health Care Marketing
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Health Care Management: Organization Design and Behavior
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