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Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commoditized. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn, and IBM, discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service.

But, according to Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, the bar of economic offerings is being raised again. In The Experience Economy, the authors argue that the service economy is about to be superseded with something that critics will find even more ephemeral (and controversial) than services ever were: experiences. In part because of technology and the increasing expectations of consumers, services today are starting to look like commodities. The authors write that "Those businesses that relegate themselves to the diminishing world of goods and services will be rendered irrelevant. To avoid this fate, you must learn to stage a rich, compelling experience."

Many will find the idea of staging experiences as a requirement for business survival far-fetched. However, the authors make a compelling case, and consider successful companies that are already packaging their offerings as experiences, from Disney to AOL. Far-reaching and thought-provoking, The Experience Economy is for marketing professionals and anyone looking to gain a fresh perspective on what business landscape might look like in the years to come. Recommended. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Nardelli-led bounce gives book its just due
As I write this review on July 29, 2003, I see 'The Experience Economy' is ranked at #624 in amazon.com's constantly updated sales rankings. Pretty heady for a fairly esoteric business book published in April 1999.

The reason has to do with the latest (August 2003) edition of 'Fast Company' magazine. The editors asked a series of business leaders to pick one "book that matters," noting that "one book can change the direction of a company -- or a career." Bob Nardelli, ex-of GE and now CEO of the Home Depot, chose 'The Experience Economy.'

That's a great thing, because this excellent piece of work really got the short shrift - with its April 1999 publication date, its message of capturing the full potential of face-to-face retail got buried in the tsunami of e-commerce hysteria.

Now that we all recognize the Internet as just another viable sales channel, this fine effort by Pine and Gilmore has a second life. The fact that Nardelli picked it as his one book that matters tells you all you need to know about his vision for the future of Home Depot.

The Divergence of Theory and Reality
The book takes a very logical, reasoned approach towards the theoretical next steps of economic expansion. It reasons that margins drive profits and that by constantly searching for higher margin offerings, a company will naturally improve and increase its profitability.

The logic is understandable... Commodity goods have small margins, as they are undifferentiated from each other and relativly easy to reproduce. Manufactured goods take things one step further, providing higher margins due to some level of product differentiation and brand specificity. Above that are Services, where the products don't last long enough to be copied and are customized enough to prevent easy manipulation. The higher margins should lead to higher profitability and better staying power. Fair enough.

Where the book's logic becomes strained, however, is where it strethes out towards the next generation of higher margin offerings, "Experiences." While it is true that experience companies my be able to provide higher margins than can older economy companies, experience companies tend to suffer from a fatal flaw that has infected many of the companies praised in the book. That flaw is the utter lack of repeat business generated by most experience economy companies.

Take two of the companies mentioned in the book as companies to emulate -- Planet Hollywood, the restaurant chain, and Peapod, the online grocery store. Planet Hollywood is under bankruptcy protection, because people are simply unwilling to pay through the nose repeatedly for the same experience over and over again. Peapod ran out of cash and is limping along only after being bought out by a Dutch firm. Hardly two stellar companies to emulate when searching for ever expanding profits.

Throughout the book, by expounding the virtues of ever expanding margins, rather than focusing on goods, services, and 'experiences' that people would be willing to repeatedly pay to have, the authors make the mistake of ignoring the overall forest for the sake of a single tree.

In the real world, experience companies know their limitations and create their pricing scheme to represent that fact. Amusement parks sell season passes for less than the cost of two visits -- acknowledging the fact that people may pay more for experiences, but only once, and repeat business depends heavily on making the repeat worth the cost.

Had the book focused more on successful ways for experience economy companies to thrive, rather than spending its time drolling on about the virtues of failing companies with the right plan, it would have been far more believable and enjoyable.

Insightful Look at Business Today
This book definitely makes you stop and think about what today's consumer wants and expects. (In fact, it's easy, just ask yourself what you would want - what you're offering or what Walt Disney is offering). Businesses that don't make a lasting impression, offer an experience for the consumer will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.

a fresh and novel view of the current business trends
this book is definitely out of the ordinary: it proposes a novel (to me at least) view of the current economy trends and well illustrate an equivalence between the work environment and the stage of a theatrical play.
Worth reading it.

The ultimate product differentiator
This book really opened my eyes, and made me see my service offerings from a customer perspective. I've become incredibly passionate about the experience economy concept, and am constantly looking for real life examples or potential applications.
When I stand in a queue I'm thinking about how I would go about offering the service or product I'm queueing for.
When I speak to the beauracracy that provides me banking or insurance services, I'm forever demanding that they change the impersonal and inflexible way that they engage with me.
If you're looking for a new paradigm in selling what you have to offer, then this is the book for you.
I love it. ... Read more

Book Description

The First Systematic Strategy for Building Iconic Brands

Coca-Cola. Harley-Davidson. Nike. Budweiser. Valued by customers more for what they symbolize than for what they do, products like these are more than brands-they are cultural icons. How do managers create brands that resonate so powerfully with consumers?

Based on extensive historical analyses of some of America's most successful iconic brands, including ESPN, Mountain Dew, Volkswagen, Budweiser, and Harley-Davidson, this book presents the first systematic model to explain how brands become icons. Douglas B. Holt shows how iconic brands create "identity myths" that, through powerful symbolism, soothe collective anxieties resulting from acute social change.

Holt warns that icons can't be built through conventional branding strategies, which focus on benefits, brand personalities, and emotional relationships. Instead, he calls for a deeper cultural perspective on traditional marketing themes like targeting, positioning, brand equity, and brand loyalty-and outlines a distinctive set of "cultural branding" principles that will radically alter how companies approach everything from marketing strategy, to market research, to hiring and training managers.

Until now, Holt shows, even the most successful iconic brands have emerged more by intuition and serendipity than by design. With How Brands Become Icons, managers can leverage the principles behind some of the most successful brands of the last half-century to build their own iconic brands.

... Read more

Book Description

All companies must grow to survive-but only one in five growth strategies succeeds. In Profit from the Core, strategy expert Chris Zook revealed how to grow profitably by focusing on and achieving full potential in the core business. But what happens when your core business provides insufficient new growth, or even hits the wall?

In Beyond the Core, Zook outlines an expansion strategy based on putting together combinations of adjacency moves into areas away from, but related to, the core business, such as new product lines or new channels of distribution. These sequences of moves carry less risk than diversification, yet they can create enormous competitive advantage, because they stem directly from what the company already knows and does best.

Based on extensive research on the growth patterns of thousands of companies worldwide, including CEO interviews with twenty-five top performers in adjacency growth, Beyond the Core (1) identifies the adjacency pattern that most dramatically increases the odds of success: "relentless repeatability;" (2) offers a systematic approach for choosing among a range of possible adjacency moves; and 3) shows how to time adjacency moves during a variety of typical business situations.

Beyond the Core shows how to find and leverage the best avenues for growth-without damaging the heart of the firm.

... Read more

Reviews (11)

Standing Tall
Standing Tall among Business Books, Chris Zook has indepth research examples of Companies portraying picture of today's business times. Numerous CEO reports, charts and graphs with real practical illustrations are varied. Outside a core business, the expansion is detailed in this book - on how to go ahead framing and practically applying the ways and means so as not to harness the existence levels. The books offers nurturing roots of business, examples on adjacency expansions with pros and cons of success and failure measures. The name itself speaks big 'Expand market without abandoning Roots' and the rule of the game lies in effective management. The author pin points steps to leverage best avenues and the possible adjacent moves so as to reach competitive edge and pooling profit without harnessing the roots of main frame business. In today's time, with diversifications, 'Beyond the Core'- the book serves a Good Reference and as I read on Chris zook's comments, I feel this is a 'Grab Pick' and Must for all Big Company Executives.

Not All Adjacencies Are Appropriate
Perhaps you have already read Profit From the Core: Growth Strategy in the Age of Turbulence which Zook co-authored with James Allen. It was based on rigorous research which revealed the key strategic decisions that most often determine growth or stagnation in business. They note: "Central to our findings are three ideas: the concept of the core business and its boundaries; the idea that every business has a level of full-potential performance that usually exceeds what the company imagines; and the idea that performance-yield loss occurs at many levels, from strategy to leadership to organizational capabilities to execution." In the five chapters which follow, Zook (with Allen) examines "the types of strategic business decisions that most often seem to tilt the odds of future success or failure." Zook correctly suggests in this book that many organizations cannot resist the appeal ("the siren's song") of "miracle cures" of their problems. Zook focuses entirely on what has been verified in real-world experience, on what is practical, and on what will reliably achieve the desired results of sound strategic decisions.

In the first chapter of this book, Zook discusses what he calls "the growth crisis" which many (most?) organizations encounter. He observes, "Finding or maintaining a source of sustained and profitable growth has become the number one concern of most CEOs. And moves that push out the boundaries of their core business into 'adjacencies' are where they are most often look these days." I agree with Zook that these strategies have three distinctive features: "First, they are of significant size, or they can lead to a sequence of related adjacency moves that generate substantial growth. Second. they build on., indeed are bolted on, a strong core business. Thus the adjacent area draws from the strength of the core and at the same time may serve to reinforce or defend that core. Third, adjacency strategies are a journey into the unknown, a true extension of the core, a pushing out of the boundaries, a step-up in risk from typical forms of organic growth." Much of the material in this brilliant book is guided and informed by what Zook claims is "the new math of profitable growth." Specifics are best provided by Zook himself.

Zook presumes that those who read this book already know what a core business is, and more specifically, what the core business is of their respective organizations. Given his objectives, that assumption is probably necessary so that he can explore the opportunities which (key word) appropriate adjencies offer. Fair enough. However, my own experience suggests that companies frequently extend the boundaries of a core business without fully understanding what that core business is. Railroads probably offer the best example. Only much too late (if then) did senior-level executives at major railroads realize that their core business was transporting people and cargo, NOT "railroading." Obviously, trains are confined to the tracks as are ships to the water and trucks to the roadways over which they proceed. Early on, what if owners of railroads and their associates had addressed questions such as those Zook poses in his Preface (Page ix)? Had they done so, presumably they would have recognized appropriate adjacencies which include taxi cabs, Super Shuttle, local delivery services, and "overnight" delivery services (e.g. DHL, FedEx, and UPS). While they're at it, why not own or forge strategic partnerships with over-the-road trucking companies and cargo airlines? Given the central locations of railroad stations in major metropolitan areas, it would have been easy enough to combine a full-range of travel services within an upscale retail mall.

The question to ask, therefore, is not what an organization's core business is. Rather, what could AND SHOULD it be? The correct answer to that question is important, of course, because without a proper core, there can be chaos. Also, the correct answer suggests appropriate adjacencies by which to achieve and then sustain increasingly more profitable growth.

In the Afterword, Zook imagines himself engaged in what he calls the proverbial "elevator" conversation during which he reviews the "key messages" contained within his book. It serves no good purpose to list them here because each must be carefully considered within a meticulously formulated context. However, once the book has been read, I strongly recommend that all of these "key messages" be reviewed on a monthly (if not weekly) basis. For decision-makers in at least some companies, this may well prove to be the most valuable book they have read in recent years.

An Outstanding Growth Guide for Global Business Leaders
As a second year MBA student at the Kellogg School of Management and a future corporate strategist for a global financial services firm, I found reading Beyond the Core to be one of the best time investments that I've made over the last few years. Chris Zook seems to have a knack for writing great books that not only stand the test of time but that are also highly relevant to the current business and economic environments. Specifically, his first book, Profits from the Core, which focused on maximizing the value of the core business, was launched when businesses needed it most - during the economic downturn. Now, Beyond the Core is perfectly timed since, from what I and other MBA's are observing in the market, most businesses are remobilizing for growth.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed Beyond the Core - it's a relatively quick read that is focused, insightful and well structured. More specifically, I think there are three key things that make this book stand out in comparison to many other business books I've read: 1) it takes a global perspective 2) it is highly data driven and has great examples and 3) its very actionable and offers lots of insights on implementation.

To elaborate, the first thing I really liked about Beyond the Core is that it takes a truly global perspective with examples from Europe, Asia and Latin America. As an MBA student majoring in International Business Strategy who will be working in a global firm after graduation, it was great to read about the strategies that firms such as Li & Fung (HK), Ambev (Brazil), Lloyd's Bank and Vodephone (UK) and STMicroelectronics (Italy). Overall, I also liked that the book mixes an array of fresh case studies (Tesco, Biogen, Ambev) with more traditional ones (Dell, Nike, American Express).

Secondly, Beyond the Core is highly data driven and the recommendations are based on empirical evidence, not conjectures. As a student of business strategy, I too often come across books or theories that are supported by nothing other than a few select examples that prop up the author's hypotheses. Beyond the Core, in contrast, is supported by an enormous amount of financial, competitive and market research and by many CEO interviews and studies by Bain & Company. This is extremely insightful as it helps the reader understand the odds of success and failure across the business world and thus leads to much more informed strategies.

Finally, Mr. Zook has focused nearly a third of the book on implementation and execution strategy. This makes the book and its recommendations highly actionable instead of leaving the author asking "so what?" The book sets out a systematic and understandable road map for adjacency expansion. More importantly, it discusses issues that are critical to growth initiatives such as: organizational structure, decision making processes, staffing, accountability and reporting, etc.

In sum, I highly recommend Beyond the Core, especially to global business leaders looking for a practical guide for profitably growing their businesses. Enjoy!!

Questionable Choice of Examples and Lack of Definitions!
Many people who have been burned by going into new areas will grade this as five-stars for encouraging caution in expanding a company's scope. If that's all you want from a book, this is a five-star book. If you want to learn what the exact lesson is, and why that lesson is true, you'll have to look elsewhere however. If you want to learn how to beat the odds in this area, you will also have to look elsewhere.

I found Profit from the Core to be a directionless mishmash of data without firm definitions that repeatedly espoused the idea of "stick to your knitting." As a result, I took up Beyond the Core with great trepidation. At first blush, Beyond the Core seemed to cure some of the peripheral problems of Profit from the Core . . . until I began to notice how almost all of the important examples of continuing business model innovation had been excluded that seemed to fit all of the criteria (except perhaps being willing to be interviewed by the author). Mr. Zook continues to avoid defining what "the core" is, so that basic problem continues.

The book's message is "stick to your knitting . . . unless you have not choice . . . then don't go away from your cost advantages and knowledge." If you want to know a little more about that message, you can read all of the key points in the book summarized in the Afterword on pages 189-192 in less than five minutes.

The book will mainly be helpful to those who are thinking about making unrelated acquisitions. The advice: Don't do it! The odds are way against you . . . but even the most unrelated acquisitions sometimes work (GE bought NBC and has done well with it, for example). The book lacks clear direction for how some overcome the odds.

The book was also curiously silent about how companies can use small experiments to test their way into new areas. That's the way that most firms expand beyond their core.

The methodology looks very much like those employed in Build to Last and Good to Great . . . but don't believe it. Cases were selected in part based on whether Mr. Zook could interview the companies. So it's really a subjective sample. So take the conclusions with a selective grain of salt. Here are some of the cases of those who have prospered with expanding into new areas that seem to fit the Zook criteria but don't appear in the book: Beckman Coulter; Berkshire Hathaway; Clear Channel Communications; Education Management; GE; Iron Mountain; Nucor; Paychex; Sony; Virgin Group; Xilinx; and Zebra Technologies. It's not surprising that the book fails to describe the discipline of continual business model improvement as a best practice . . . a serious omission for this subject.

Ultimately, I think the flaw behind the book is to look at moving "beyond the core" separately from looking "at the core." If the two books had been combined into one that looked at how to outperform the competition, there would have been the basis of helpful insights. Or, this book could have been scoped down into how to grow into new areas with internal development activities versus acquisitions. That would have been helpful. But with the focus of "beyond the core," you are left in a never-never land that you may not want to be in. The other interesting question that could have been addressed is how companies prospered by eliminating the old core and replacing it with a new one through acquisition as a number of companies have.

As I thought about why the author might have chosen this direction, I realized that it may be an unconscious use of the older ways of strategic thinking. Those analytical schemes separated thinking about existing business areas from entering new ones. For some time though, most strategic thinkers have emphasized seeing the questions as connected. You should, for example, be pursuing your best opportunities. That means comparing all choices in some manner at the same time.

The other problem with data-heavy studies like this one is that you are relying on backward impressions (with 20-20 hindsight). Studies of best practices are best done by looking at the decisions and actions when they are made . . . and then measuring the results to see what happens. Interviews taken at such times reveal much different information than the neat success stories spun after the fact. Clayton Christensen does a good job of explaining this issue in chapter one of his new book, The Innovator's Solution.

As I finished the book, I began to think about the many unsuccessful unrelated acquisitions that I have run into among companies. In almost every case, I remember reading a thick book by a name consulting firm that had explained at the time of the purchase why the acquisition could not miss. Perhaps a follow on for this book would be how to avoid bad advice in evaluating acquisitions.

A great lead-on to Profit from the Core
A very well documented lead-on to Profit from the Core, with practical real life examples on adjacency expansions, including successes, failures and comparisons of companies that started with similar points of departure but went different ways. It comes as no surprise that the book was rated by The Economist among the top 5 business books of the season. The book and its thinking are highly relevant to today's business climate in Europe. ... Read more

Book Description

A strategic guide to unleashing explosive growth

If all firms face similar obstacles to profitable growth, how do some companies successfully burst through these barriers, leaving their competitors in the dust?

Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan argue that an answer to this question lies in MarketBusters: strategic moves that dramatically reconfigure profit streams in an industry and upend conventional competition.Best of all, the authors say, opportunities for identifying and executing such moves can be unearthed throughout a company's existing business platform-if managers know where and how to look for them.

Based on an extensive three-year study, McGrath and MacMillan identify five arenas in which exceptional growth opportunities can be found: the customer experience, reconfigured offerings and services, key metrics, industry dynamics, and emerging market shifts. The authors outline forty specific marketbusting moves and provide practical tools and checklists to help leaders determine the best move to use in a given situation. Vivid company examples illustrate the moves in practice, and clear guidelines aid managers in implementing their chosen moves effectively.

Driving continuous growth is imperative for every leader in every industry. MarketBusters is the field guide that will help them succeed.

... Read more

Download Description

With the increasing globalization of brands, effective brand management in differentiating products has become even more essential. This helpful volume provides the latest strategies for maximizing the value of your brands and products. Articles include: "Building Brands Without Mass Media" by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aaker, "Brands vs. Private Labels: Fighting to Win" by John A. Quelch and David Harding, "How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" by David A. Aaker, "Extend Profits, Not Product Lines" by John A. Quelch and David Kenny, "The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" Perspectives from the Editors, "Can This Brand Be Saved," by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Your Brand's Best Strategy" by Vijay Vishwanath and Jonathan Mark. The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great ten years ago
This would have been a great read in 1995; however, the statistics and points made seem very dated given today's reality of fragmented segments, consolidated grocery distribution and strength of private label.

This is a good read if you are interested in how issues have changed since '94.

Great for perspectives but not a full picture of branding
This is a great collection of thoughtful "perspectives" on brand related issues, some very thoughtful (e.g., the one on extending premium brands with Transition health clubs as the lynchpin) and others somewhat perplexingly dichotomous (e.g., a chapter on the perils of line extensions which is immediately succeeded by another on the logic of line extensions leaving the reader with no cogent framework for how to decide between the two).

The "book" is structured as a collection of essays, each of which takes up a case study with an actual company and then presents the views of several big-tyke experts about branding issues that the company was faced with. This makes it a fascinating read as a case study guide. An attempt to weave these scattered insights into a summary recommendation at the end of each essay, or at least some mention of what the client in question actually ended up doing, would have been even more useful. Sans such synoptic editing, this book ends up being little more than thought piece for the branding experts on some issues that pertain to corporate identity (and the marketing bottomline) but this is by no means a holistic branding reference as one of the other reviewers seemed to indicate.

All the same, I would still give it is a 4 star for its readability, for the breadth and the reality of the cases picked for discussion, and for the sharpness/relevance of the insights that went into discussing them. Should be a no-brainer of a buy if you are interested in the identity/advertising/marketing strategy industry in any way, especially as a real-world companion to any of Aaker's works.

It's worth to buy it, read it, and think about it.
This collections would absolutely give either the managers in business war or students in acdemic area some fresh insights of "Brand". Most people misunderstand the true meaning of a brand, so they make wrong decisions when facing consumers' wants. You can get new ideas about your business positioning, your strategy, or media policy. Students also should read it, because it will help you to clarify your concept about what "brand" mean. I recommend it to you.

Insightful Perspectives
In this volume, one of a series of anthologies of articles previously published in the Harvard Business Review, we are provided with a variety of different perspectives on a single business subject. Here are the titles and their authors:

"Building Better Brands without Mass Media" (Joachimsthaler and Aaker)

"How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" (Maruca)

"Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" (Aaker)

"Extend Profits, Not Product Lines (Quelch and Kenny)

"The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" (Perspectives from the Editors)

"Can This Brand Be Saved?" (Maruca)

"Your Brand's Best Strategy" (Vishwanath and Mark)

Even if you do not recognize at least a few of the authors' last names, The Harvard Business Review's brand is of sufficient credibility to encourage you to purchase and read this book. I am especially impressed by the inclusion of "Executive Summaries" of key points in each of the articles. No brief commentary such as this can do full justice to the rigor and substance of the articles provided. It remains for each reader to examine the list to identify those subjects which are of greatest interest to her or him. My own opinion is that all of the articles are first-rate. For me, as previously indicated, one of this volume's greatest benefits is derived from sharing a variety of perspectives provided by several different authorities on the same general subject.

This is a classic; nice to have in eBook format too.
I found this collection of articles to be a very helpful business tool day to day. Nice to have in eBook form on your PC, so you can go back and reference it from time to time. The pages render quite well on the screen and its easier to navigate from article to article. I also use the annotation tool to save certain phrases for reminders. Worth the $$ for this one.

Here are some of the articles in this eBook: "Building Brands Without Mass Media" by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aaker, "Brands vs. Private Labels: Fighting to Win" by John A. Quelch and David Harding, "How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" by David A. Aaker, "Extend Profits, Not Product Lines" by John A. Quelch and David Kenny, "The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" Perspectives from the Editors, "Can This Brand Be Saved," by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Your Brand's Best Strategy" by Vijay Vishwanath and Jonathan Mark ... Read more

Book Description

CEOs are more than frustrated by marketing's inability to deliver results. Has the profession lost its relevance?

Nirmalya Kumar argues that, while the function of marketing has lost ground, the importance of marketing as a mind-set-geared toward customer focus and market orientation-has gained momentum across the entire organization.

This book challenges marketers to change their role from implementers of traditional marketing functions to strategic coordinators of organization-wide initiatives aimed at profitably delivering value to customers. Kumar outlines seven cross-functional and bottom-line oriented initiatives that can put marketing back on the CEO's agenda-and elevate its role in shaping the destiny of the firm.

Nirmalya Kumar is Professor of Marketing at IMD-International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland.

... Read more

Reviews (3)

Marketing is Strategy and Kumar explains why
Professor Nirmalya Kumar explores the world of Marketing from the CEO's perspective, making a strong case in favour of a major role for the marketing director in the developing of the company's strategy.

His message is clear: marketing and strategy are closely related, if not the very same thing, and in today's highly competitive environment no single company could afford to ignore this fact.

Perhaps two of the most important contributions of this book are the use of the "three Vs" approach (Valued customer, Value network and Value proposition) as a means to get answers to the three basic strategic questions: Who, How and What, and the section devoted to the discussion of the concept of strategic segmentation.

I had the privilege of having Professor Kumar during a term of my Sloan Fellowship Masters Programme at the London Business School, in 2003, and we used parts of his then unpublished manuscript to explore some of his revolutionary concepts. Even though nothing can replace having Nirmalya in front of you talking about his experience and incredible knowledge of the Marketing science, by reading this book you will have access to some of his most innovative ideas.

Definitively, a Marketing/Strategy reference book for the years to come

Making Marketing Matter to Your CEO
With increasing pressures on CEOs to deliver profits in the short term and increasing concerns of Board members about financial reporting requirements, the corporate agenda is less and less likely to include marketing issues. Yet in every organization, it is marketing's answers to the who?, what? and how? questions that build the growth engine of the enterprise. Professor Kumar explains why leaders must have their eyes on the marketing ball.

Though Professor Kumar is a marketing academic, his book is useful not just for marketers, but also for CEO's and general managers. He convincingly argues why marketing must be elevated from the tactical responsibility to sell more of our products and services to a strategic influence in the future direction of the organization.

To do this, he suggests that marketing no longer employ the traditional four Ps model of product, promotion, price and place (distribution) but rather a more strategic approach he calls the Three Vs: valued customer (who to serve), value proposition (what to offer) and value network (how to deliver).

With practical suggestions and examples, he details a menu of seven marketing initiatives that will drive growth and innovation in all organizations. The seven transformational initiatives along with some questions from the checklists provided are:

1. From Market Segments to Strategic Segments: Who are our valued customers?; Which customers are unhappy with current offerings in the industry?; Is the target large enough to meet our sales objectives?; What is our value proposition?; Does it fit the needs of customers we are trying to serve?; What benefits are we delivering?; Can we deliver and earn a profit?

2. From Selling Products to Providing Solutions: Do we guarantee customers outcomes and benefits instead of product performance?; Have our sales people developed consulting skills and deep industry knowledge?; Have we developed effective processes to allocate resources to solution projects?

3. From Declining to Growing Distribution Channels: What service outputs will the new channel provide?; How will the relative importance and power of existing channels change?; Which competitors will enter the new channel?; What changes in channel incentives to existing members will competitors try? What new competences do we need to enter the new channel?

4. From Branded Bulldozers to Global Distribution Partners: Have we identified our most valuable clients on a worldwide basis?; Are there single points of contact for global customers?; Have we optimized our supply chain for global efficiency?; Have we harmonized pricing structures?

5. From Brand Acquisitions to Brand Rationalization: Which brands are contributing to our profits?; What needs-based segments exist in each category?; How much sales revenue would we risk by deleting non-core brands?; What is the role of the corporate brand?; How will we articulate our program to stakeholders?

6. From Market-Driven to Market-Driving: Are new ideas routinely imported from the outside?; Do we tolerate failures and have processes in place to learn from failures?; Do we mix people on teams to generate new ideas?; Do we ensure that radical ideas do not lose resources to incremental ideas?

7. From Strategic Business Unit Marketing to Corporate Marketing: How does the organization rate on customer focus in processes, including new product development, order fulfillment, customer relationship management?; Is the organization organized around customers?; Are metrics and rewards related to impact on customers?; Does the organization systematically learn about customers?

Read this important new book to learn how to live up to today's pressing challenges of identifying new markets, keeping prices up and retaining customers.

Making Marketing Matter to the CEO
With increasing pressures on CEOs to deliver profits in the short term and increasing concerns of Board members about financial reporting requirements, the corporate agenda is less and less likely to include marketing issues. Yet in every organization, it is marketing's answers to the who?, what? and how? questions that build the growth engine of the enterprise. Professor Kumar explains why leaders must have their eyes on the marketing ball.

Though Professor Kumar is a marketing academic, his book is useful not just for marketers, but also for CEO's and general managers. He convincingly argues why marketing must be elevated from the tactical responsibility to sell more of our products and services to a strategic influence in the future direction of the organization.

To do this, he suggests that marketing no longer employ the traditional four Ps model of product, promotion, price and place (distribution) but rather a more strategic approach he calls the Three Vs: valued customer (who to serve), value proposition (what to offer) and value network (how to deliver).

With practical suggestions and examples, he details a menu of seven marketing initiatives that will drive growth and innovation in all organizations. The seven transformational initiatives along with some questions from the checklists provided are:

1. From Market Segments to Strategic Segments: Who are our valued customers?; Which customers are unhappy with current offerings in the industry?; Is the target large enough to meet our sales objectives?; What is our value proposition?; Does it fit the needs of customers we are trying to serve?; What benefits are we delivering?; Can we deliver and earn a profit?

2. From Selling Products to Providing Solutions: Do we guarantee customers outcomes and benefits instead of product performance?; Have our sales people developed consulting skills and deep industry knowledge?; Have we developed effective processes to allocate resources to solution projects?

3. From Declining to Growing Distribution Channels: What service outputs will the new channel provide?; How will the relative importance and power of existing channels change?; Which competitors will enter the new channel?; What changes in channel incentives to existing members will competitors try? What new competences do we need to enter the new channel?

4. From Branded Bulldozers to Global Distribution Partners: Have we identified our most valuable clients on a worldwide basis?; Are there single points of contact for global customers?; Have we optimized our supply chain for global efficiency?; Have we harmonized pricing structures?

5. From Brand Acquisitions to Brand Rationalization: Which brands are contributing to our profits?; What needs-based segments exist in each category?; How much sales revenue would we risk by deleting non-core brands?; What is the role of the corporate brand?; How will we articulate our program to stakeholders?

6. From Market-Driven to Market-Driving: Are new ideas routinely imported from the outside?; Do we tolerate failures and have processes in place to learn from failures?; Do we mix people on teams to generate new ideas?; Do we ensure that radical ideas do not lose resources to incremental ideas?

7. From Strategic Business Unit Marketing to Corporate Marketing: How does the organization rate on customer focus in processes, including new product development, order fulfillment, customer relationship management?; Is the organization organized around customers?; Are metrics and rewards related to impact on customers?; Does the organization systematically learn about customers?

Read this important new book to learn how to live up to today's pressing challenges of identifying new markets, keeping prices up and retaining customers. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

must read for 21st century human
Alvin Toffler has indicated customization is future trend. He is(was) right.

The future of competition shows what, why, and how ( sometimes, who) about the future of product and service. What a corporation must do in order to integrate cusomter's experience into their production process and how to organize the company in order to do it. A must read book for 21st century human, why? because any interaction is an experience and if you extend the metaphor of product, any interaction is a 'product'. If you have been of good reputation, you will 'sell' well on whaterver you say or do. Because people 'buy' it.

a real disappointment
I was left with the feeling that all of this has been said before in one form or another, Where it was ' new' there are other who have already explored the space ( eg The Suport Economy by Shoshana Zuboff) There are two many big words hidding little concepts. The case studies are simplistic and look to the past rather than casting light on the future. This will be another 'fad" and like all fads find its place in the dustbins of business books

A transforming and revolutionary wealth of insights
Co-written by C. K. Prahalad (Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration, University of Michigan Business School) and Venkat Ramaswamy (Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow of Electronic Business and Professor of Marketing, University of Michigan Business School), The Future Of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value With Customers offers readers a stimulating look at a fascinating shift away from the firm-centric view of value creation, toward the possibilities opened by new technologies that allow consumers themselves to interact with and directly add value to their chosen product. Drawing upon real-life examples, and focusing on the key foundations of co-creation - dialogue, access, risk assessment, and transparency, The Future Of Competition offers a transforming and revolutionary wealth of insights into commercial and marketplace trends of the present and the near future.

Content good, style weak
The content of this "text" is rich with pointers for those who will format strategic decisions in the future. However, it would seem to challenge the reader to probe the true value of the writers. As the reviewer from Dallas infers, the message is there but the packaging leaves something to be desired. As a university professor who teaches strategic thinking, I see this book as one of the reasons that executives and MBA students resist reading academic pieces: the task is greater than the payoff!!

New framework, new jargon, but nothing else is new
The future is here. Competition is getting tougher and customers are more difficult to please. On the other hand everything is connected, objects are embedded with sensors and software and information flows instantly to all corners of the world , thanks to the communications revolution. This book essentially looks at a networked world where customers and companies are inseparable and are constantly in interaction. In this paradigm, the framework of DART - Dialogue, Access, Risk Assessment and Transparency is introduced and the book proceeds to explain each of these in detail.

The word Co-creation will get included in your daily vocabulary sooner than you expect. Lots of diagrams and case studies are thrown into every chapter. But frankly, there is no concept that is radically different from some of the pioneering works on similar topics already published. To list a few :

-Customer.Com by Particia Seybold
-How to Grow when Markets Don't by Adrian Slywotzky
-The Innovator's solution by Clayton Christensen
-Adapt or Die : Turning your Supply Chain into an Adaptive Business Network by Bob Betts , Claus Heinrich
-Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation by Stephen Thomke
-Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences by Diana Lasalle, Terry A. Britton
-The Agenda: What Every Business must do to Dominate the Decade by Michael Hammer

Most of the case studies in this book are repetitions from these or are similar in concepts or processes in creating value for ( or along with) the customer. The authors have duly acknowledged and referred to an elaborate list of books and articles under "Aids to Exploration". But my point is that after going through some of the key works listed above, this book fails to impress on originality.

Towards the end of the book, Knowledge Management is brought in as one of the strategic tools that can be integrated into the co-creation framework.

It is certainly interesting to go through the book though it is a combination of old ideas in a new packaging. Young MBAs will find lots of new jargon that can be put to profitable use in job interviews. ... Read more

Book Description

"There's never been a better time to have big ideas." --from the Foreword by Nathan Myhrvold

Creating new possibilities. Finding hidden problems. Blasting through knowledge barriers. That's the job of inventors. And just as invention has fueled the progress of humankind for centuries, the same thinking patterns that produced breakthroughs from the steam engine to the gene sequencer will spawn the inventions on which we'll build our future.

But what drives invention? Where do the mental leap, the "Aha!" and the "Eureka!" come from? What makes one person, company, or country more inventive than another? What motivates someone to search for a problem, brainstorm a solution, and create that next big thing?

This groundbreaking book takes us inside the laboratories and the minds of some of today's most prolific inventors to demystify the process by which they imagine and create. Evan I. Schwartz argues that invention is less about serendipity and genius than it is about a relentless inner compulsion to question and discover. This creative energy, says Schwartz, is the fuel-the "juice"-that drives the best inventors. And this special form of creativity is latent in each of us.

Juice juxtaposes the stories of classic inventors with a new breed of innovators, such as hypersonic sound inventor Woody Norris, genomics pioneer Lee Hood, mechanical whiz Dean Kamen, business systems inventor Jay Walker, and biomimicry trailblazer James McLurkin. Schwartz reveals the brilliant strategies-such as crossing knowledge boundaries, visualizing results, applying analogies, and embracing failure-that enable inventors to transform improbable ideas into reality. We learn, for example, how a connection between slot machines and pill-bottle caps might improve the world of preventive medicine; how mud and weeds are being used to help carry a nation out of poverty; and how the development of a diagnostic nanochip could extend human lifespans.

Powerful and inspiring, Juice will convince you that anything imaginable is possible. There is so much left to be invented. Let's turn on the juice. ... Read more

Book Description

How to Capture Today's Biggest Untapped Market

Forget mass customization and microsegmentation. Winning in today's business world requires a return to an approach abandoned by marketing experts decades ago. Mass marketing is back, say Paul Nunes and Brian Johnson-but with a new target and a fresh approach that companies ignore at their peril.

While the mass-marketing concepts of the 1950s consisted of lowest-common-denominator strategies aimed at the "middle class," Nunes and Johnson argue that the rules of mass marketing must be rewritten to appeal to today's burgeoning mass of different-and far more affluent-consumers. The "moneyed masses" have more disposable income than ever, and research shows the richest among them are not spending up to their potential-thus creating a windfall of opportunity for marketers. Based on extensive consumer research, Mass Affluence outlines seven new rules for capturing this largely ignored market, and reveals how innovative companies are already employing them to launch billion-dollar industries in categories from oral care to homebuilding to exotic automobiles.

A sea change in marketing is underway-and future growth and profitability will belong to the companies that woo and win today's affluent mass market.

... Read more

Book Description

Shaping the Market Endgame-the Innovator's Playbook

Innovation's encounter with the market results in a game of both high risk and high stakes. Often its outcome defies common sense: Superior new products flop, unlikely ideas become runaway hits, and-despite rapid technological advances and intense interconnectedness-change happens at a snail's pace. What really happens during this encounter? How can you increase your own odds on this complex game board?

In The Slow Pace of Fast Change, Bhaskar Chakravorti peels back the many factors that govern an innovation's penetration into interconnected markets-and offers a game plan for successfully steering innovations from the lab to the living room. Chakravorti explains the vagaries of market adoption by highlighting a paradox in the widely celebrated concept of network effects: While everyone loves a great idea, individuals will embrace it only if they believe others will too. In markets with strong interconnections among participants, this "equilibrium" slows adoption and protects the status quo-despite the innovation's clear superiority.

To win, innovators must unravel this status quo equilibrium and replace it with one built around their own innovations. The key is to imagine a desired plausible endgame, and work backward to orchestrate the network of individual choices to create conditions that make this outcome happen.

Drawing on Chakravorti's hands-on experience with many of the best-known innovating companies and insights gleaned from his expertise in the practical applications of game theory, this playbook offers go-to-market strategies for:

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

A first-time collection of the old classics and best new thinking on marketing. The articles provide a diverse look at marketing, including global branding, one-to-one marketing, and how to manage buzz.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Collection of the best articles from the HBR magazine.
There are now over 20 books in this Harvard Business Review series. All the books are compilations of the best articles from the Harvard Business Review magazine. This book is one of the best books in the series for the quality, relevance, and usefulness of the articles selected for inclusion.

The eight articles selected for this book are 'The Brand Report Card', 'Bringing a Dying Brand Back to Life', 'How to Fight a Price War', 'Contextual Marketing: The Real Business of the Internet', 'The Lure of Global Marketing', 'Are the Strategic Stars Aligned for Your Corporate Brand', 'Torment Your Customers (They'll Love It), and 'Boost Your Marketing ROI with Experimental Design'.

My favorite article was the first one 'The Brand Report Card'. This article in just a few pages cuts to the core of how to evaluate the strength of your brand using a very logical approach.

The article on Contextual Marketing about the Internet is very interesting since it was written in late 2000 and makes predictions about how the Internet will change by the end of 2003 to 2005. But even the basic predictions haven't come true regarding how ubiquitous the authors predict the Internet will become. Yes, we have access to the Internet through wireless devices but they are not very profitable for businesses right now. Of course, the current economic conditions are influencing the predictions quite significantly.

Overall, this is indeed an excellent collection of articles relating to Marketing and the book is priced well since it is far more expensive to buy the same collection of articles directly from Harvard Business Review online (almost 5 times more expensive).

I have been reading several books on marketing over the last few years to apply in my small business and this book is one of the best I have read. It is less than 200 pages long and makes for a very quick yet powerful read. Enjoy reading and benefiting from the book! ... Read more

Book Description

Whether their complaints are about customer-proof packaging, a never-ending voice mail loop, or a purchase that doesn’t live up to its claims, customers are consistently disappointed in their interactions with companies. And while experts say that the creation of "customer experiences" is the new requirement for success, few companies have managed to deliver.

Now, veteran experience consultants Diana LaSalle and Terry A. Britton take businesses from concept to practice, offering a tactical guide to creating value-adding experiences around any product or service—whether the offering is candles or computers, catering services or consulting advice.

The authors argue that most managers remain stuck in a "features and benefits" mentality that zeroes in on what a product does. That focus needs to shift, they say, to what a product or service offers and how it affects customers’ lives. LaSalle and Britton provide a hands-on model for understanding the relationship between value and experience, and then show how companies can leverage that knowledge to transform ordinary products and services into experiences that customers consider extraordinary—even priceless.

Drawing from extensive research and the stories of experience pioneers, the authors introduce new systems—the "Experience Engagement Process" and the "Experience Event Matrix"—businesses can use to:

- Evaluate the entire consumption experience through the customers’ eyes

- Better understand what various customer groups value and why

- Identify areas where new dimensions of value can be added to an offering

- Eliminate customer sacrifice and increase rewards at every stage of the process

- Align products, service, and environment to deliver a complete value experience

- Translate experience creation into bottom-line profits

Lively, practical, and entertaining, Priceless helps managers, marketers, and strategists recognize exactly what customers want and how to deliver it. We’ll never look at what we sell—or buy—the same way again. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Entertaining and Informative
Unlike most books that stretch out one idea for 200-300 pages, every chapter in Priceless provides powerful tools that you can take away and use to improve the customer experience. This is a must read book for any company that wants to move their product or service from ordinary to extraordinary. It is both an informative and enjoyable read with real life examples of companies that have put these principles in action.

A must read for anyone in business!
This is the most valuable business book I've read in years.
There have been books on value and books on experience, but
this is the first one that connects the dots. What's more
it's understandable. I'm giving Priceless to all my
marketing clients so they can better understand the
recommendations I make and hopefully they'll put the
customer-centric concepts to work in other areas of their
companies.

my comment
Priceless is a good book I recommend people who are interested in marketing to read. The paragraph is easy to read and understand. There are lots of examples in the book trying to illustrate some theories which are hard to explain in words only.

After I read the book, I appreciate some examples very much, only some small adjustments have made, the total result would be different. For example, there¡¦s an example is talking about how the product display on the shelf. Stores always place the products in a very high shelf which customers are difficult to get the one on that top of the shelf. This would waste resources if customers have to ask the staff for help in every time. So that, the store place a ladder near the shelf which the customers could get the product themselves.

The most interesting example in the book is talking about the dessert¡XBanana. The dessert is not a very special one, but it is very expensive and many customers come to the restaurant just for this dessert. This is because the dessert was made in front of the customers. This special serving way creates an extraordinary experience to the customers, and this the dessert seems has a special value to the customers.

To turning the ordinary products into extraordinary experience, one of the critical points is trying to understand the customers¡¦ needs and provide something exceed the customers¡¦ expectation which could delight the customer and make a memorable experience to the customers.

My comment
Priceless is a good book I recommend people who are interested in marketing to read. The paragraph is easy to read and understand. There are lots of examples in the book trying to illustrate some theories which are hard to explain in words only.

After I read the book, I appreciate some examples very much, only some small adjustments have made, the total result would be different. For example, there¡¦s an example is talking about how the product display on the shelf. Stores always place the products in a very high shelf which customers are difficult to get the one on that top of the shelf. This would waste resources if customers have to ask the staff for help in every time. So that, the store place a ladder near the shelf which the customers could get the product themselves.

The most interesting example in the book is talking about the dessert¡XBanana. The dessert is not a very special one, but it is very expensive and many customers come to the restaurant just for this dessert. This is because the dessert was made in front of the customers. This special serving way creates an extraordinary experience to the customers, and this the dessert seems has a special value to the customers.

To turning the ordinary products into extraordinary experience, one of the critical points is trying to understand the customers¡¦ needs and provide something exceed the customers¡¦ expectation which could delight the customer and make a memorable experience to the customers.

Good Value!
For those who think that Value is just about structuring a good financial deal, Priceless by LaSalle & Britton will open your eyes to a wealth of new areas for consideration. I found this book to be very useful and delightfully well written with good examples and checklists throughout. It's an excellent catalyst to broaden the thinking on how to improve the value of a product or service. ... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

This collection of cutting-edge articles will help organizations understand how to build customer loyalty through unique relationship-building strategies such as partnerships, branding, and superlative customer service. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Customer service, not CRM
This Harvard Business Review title is not about Customer Relationship Management, but about customer service. If you are interested in Customer Service I must say there are at leat 3 articles very useful and interesting. If you are searching for CRM, this is not going to fulfill your expetations

Brilliant and Eloquent Delineation of Basics
This is one in a series of several dozen volumes which comprise the "Harvard Business Review Paperback Series." Each offers direct, convenient, and inexpensive access to the best thinking on the given subject in articles originally published by the Harvard Business School Review. I strongly recommend all of the volumes in the series. The individual titles are listed at this Web site: www.hbsp.harvard.edu. The authors of various articles are among the world's most highly regarded experts on the given subject. Each volume has been carefully edited. An Executive Summary introduces each selection. Supplementary commentaries are also provided in most of the volumes, as is an "About the Contributors" section which usually includes suggestions of other sources which some readers may wish to explore.

Some of the most valuable benefits in this volume are provided by comprehensive charts which, all by themselves, are worth far more than the cost of the book. Here are a few examples.

• The Evolution and Transformation of Customers (page 4) and The Shifting Locus of Core Competencies (page 7): both are provided by C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy.

• Are Your Retail Pillars Solid -- or Crumbling? (page 52): Leonard L. Berry identifies the major differences between inferior retailers from superior retailers.

• The Three Dimensions of Synchronization (page 90): Mohanbir Sawhney explains how any organization can present a single, unified face to the customer -- one that can change as market conditions warrant -- without imposing homogeneity on its people.

• One Destination, Five Roads (page 111) and Teams and Work Groups: It Pays to Know the Difference (page 123): Jon R. Katzenbach and Jason A. Santamaria explain how five practices followed by the U.S. Marine Corps enable it to outperform all other organizations in terms of "engaging the hearts and minds of the front line."

These and other charts are especially helpful whenever a reader wishes to review the key points in any of the eight essays, each of which provides cutting edge thinking and eminently practical advice. Although no bibliography is provided, those who wish to consult other sources need only read the About the Contributors section which will direct them to those sources.

CRM or customer service?
I bought this book willing to find essentials about CRM as a Philosophy as a System not by pieces. I cannot qualify this as a coherent book about CRM but as a compilation of eight articles of eight valuable authors writing about Relations with Customers not CRM as an integrated system of Human Resources, Technology and Philosophy into an organization's life. If you see this book as a group of articles gathered to give you different points of view about customers and service (not CRM) this is a good book, if you buy it considering the title "Customer Relationship Management" and "Harvard Business Review" it will not full your expectations.

Nevertheless I have to recommend the article written by Fournier, Dobscha and Mick about preventing the premature death of Relationship Marketing. Very interesting point of view. ... Read more