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Rating: 
Summary: Serve a single customer...Act in a zero time...
Review: "This book is about the death of predictability and how you can turn it to your advantage. Until now, virtually every work of management theory, as well as every business, has been based on a single premise: The future is predictable. Until now, we have forecast market trends, scheduled production, designed services, and trained employees on the assumption that we could count on a stable future expect for the occasional unexpected earthquake...We believe that the insights contained in this book will allow businesses to weather the storm of unpredictability. More than that, we believe this book will help businesses size the opportunities inherent in an unpredictable future as they constantly create new sources of competitive advantage. Our proposals aren't simply theory. They have emerged in part from our study of dozens of leading companies that have recognized the change in the business environment and have developed new ways to cope with it...We offer a model of what we call the 'kinetic enterprise,' a guide to the design of a business that can cope with the new reality. It is based on a simple yet profound insight: If we can no longer depend on our ability to predict the future, we must create a dynamic business design that can capitalize on the unpredictable, to turn it to our advantage...It is very different, in structure and behavior, from the traditional corporation...The kinetic enterprise isn't constrained by existing work processes. It is an instant-action machine, constantly changing its work and evolving its operations to address the unpredictable. What is more, it ignores traditional hierarchies and boundaries. Workers initiate and manage its activities, collaborating with one another at every level and within every area. The old command-and-control management model is defunct. Instead, a new culture motivates workers to collaborate spontaneously, make decisions, take risk, innovate, and learn" (pp.15-20).Within this general framework, Michael Fradette and Steve Michaud divide their book into two parts: I. The Destination - In this part, they set forth the principles and attributes of the kinetic enterprise as follows: * They write, "The kinetic enterprise is organized around workers who initiate and execute individual, discrete, and unpredictable projects that we call events." These are basically market and customer events. According to them, these events require workers who are committed to success of the overall enterprise, rather than just their own position, department, or team. * They define a market event as the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to seize an unexpected market opportunity. According to them, market events aren't strategy, market forecasting, and just responses to shifting customer needs, and hence market events have the following six basic elements: (1)spotting an unexpected market opportunity, (2)assessing its impact on the enterprise, (3)deciding if the market opportunity is right for the business, (4)marshaling the resources of the enterprise to capitalize on the opportunity, (5)developing the best approach to the task, and (6)capturing insights and rolling out the idea to the enterprise. * They define a customer event as the work of enterprise immediately and profitably performed to satisfy a unique, single customer demand. According to them, customer events aren't an exercise in extravagant service, dedicated to achieving customer intimacy or even a long-term relationship, micro-marketing, and mass customization, and hence customer events have the following six basic elements: (1)ascertaining a customer's specific needs, (2)assessing its impact on the enterprise, (3)deciding if if satisfying the demand is right for the enterprise, (4)marshaling the resources of the enterprise to meet the customer's demand, (5)developing and implementing the best approach to the task, and (6)satisfying the customer. * They argue that workers of a kinetic enterprise think like owners, share common goals and enterprise-wide rewards, disdain constraining job descriptions, design event teams, and learn as they go. * They argue that in a kinetic enterprise, old notions of predefined jobs and roles, the hierarchical distinctions, no longer exist. Everyone in the enterprise, from CEO to assembly line workers, must be ready to play one or all of the roles such as frontline worker, strategist, stakeholder, decision-maker, manager, coach, student, champion, innovator, project member, networker, and leader at any given time. II. The Journey - In this part, in order to answer to 'How should companies go about their journey toward a kinetic future?', they suggest the following five concurrent paths: 1. Create the new leadership - They argue that in traditional, task-based organizations, leaders are, by definition, separate and removed from their workers. Leaders are responsible for predicting market trends from year to year, developing strategies to take advantage of them, and making sure the strategies are implemented. In the kinetic enterprise, leaders still predict and implement winning plays to succeed in visible markets. But they also prepare themselves and their organization to respond to the invisible, unpredictable market shifts that have become so commonplace in the modern business world. And thus, Fradette and Michaud show five key tasks of these kinetic leaders. 2. Building the right workforce - They argue that in traditional companies, job interviews are concerned with the candidate's specific skills and experience. Kinetic organizations search for candidates who have innate talents rather than just track records, and their attitudes and personalities must match the corporate culture. 3. Design for instant action - They argue that traditional organizations build infrastructures primarily to promote productivity and efficiency, with the result that all to often they lock themselves into old ways of doing business. Kinetic enterprises, on the other hand, gear their infrastructures to a pair of outrageous goals. Work design, communications and computer systems, and even physical plants are designed to serve single customer and to act in zero time. 4. Ignite customer events - They argue that kinetic enterprise ignite customer events so customers can design their own relationships, create personalized products and services, invent wholly new products and services, and design total solutions. 5. Ignite market events - They argue that innovation with customer events isn't enough to win in today's unpredictable environment. To stay on top, workers must invent new products, services, and businesses that neither customers nor competitors have imagined. Finally, they write, "The primary focus of this book is more immediate and pragmatic. We have designed it to be both a spur and a guide: a spur to recognize the permanence of the changes that have torn up our business environment, and a guide to help cope with those changes. We hope that you will heed our warnings and that you will find ways to apply kinetics in your own backyard. As so many enterprises have discovered, the path of kinetics can be difficult and demanding, but the rewards are sure and plentiful." Strongly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Oversimplified old wine in new bottles
Review: "This book is about the death of predictability and how you can turn it to your advantage. Until now, virtually every work of management theory, as well as every business, has been based on a single premise: The future is predictable. Until now, we have forecast market trends, scheduled production, designed services, and trained employees on the assumption that we could count on a stable future expect for the occasional unexpected earthquake...We believe that the insights contained in this book will allow businesses to weather the storm of unpredictability. More than that, we believe this book will help businesses size the opportunities inherent in an unpredictable future as they constantly create new sources of competitive advantage. Our proposals aren't simply theory. They have emerged in part from our study of dozens of leading companies that have recognized the change in the business environment and have developed new ways to cope with it...We offer a model of what we call the 'kinetic enterprise,' a guide to the design of a business that can cope with the new reality. It is based on a simple yet profound insight: If we can no longer depend on our ability to predict the future, we must create a dynamic business design that can capitalize on the unpredictable, to turn it to our advantage...It is very different, in structure and behavior, from the traditional corporation...The kinetic enterprise isn't constrained by existing work processes. It is an instant-action machine, constantly changing its work and evolving its operations to address the unpredictable. What is more, it ignores traditional hierarchies and boundaries. Workers initiate and manage its activities, collaborating with one another at every level and within every area. The old command-and-control management model is defunct. Instead, a new culture motivates workers to collaborate spontaneously, make decisions, take risk, innovate, and learn" (pp.15-20). Within this general framework, Michael Fradette and Steve Michaud divide their book into two parts: I. The Destination - In this part, they set forth the principles and attributes of the kinetic enterprise as follows: * They write, "The kinetic enterprise is organized around workers who initiate and execute individual, discrete, and unpredictable projects that we call events." These are basically market and customer events. According to them, these events require workers who are committed to success of the overall enterprise, rather than just their own position, department, or team. * They define a market event as the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to seize an unexpected market opportunity. According to them, market events aren't strategy, market forecasting, and just responses to shifting customer needs, and hence market events have the following six basic elements: (1)spotting an unexpected market opportunity, (2)assessing its impact on the enterprise, (3)deciding if the market opportunity is right for the business, (4)marshaling the resources of the enterprise to capitalize on the opportunity, (5)developing the best approach to the task, and (6)capturing insights and rolling out the idea to the enterprise. * They define a customer event as the work of enterprise immediately and profitably performed to satisfy a unique, single customer demand. According to them, customer events aren't an exercise in extravagant service, dedicated to achieving customer intimacy or even a long-term relationship, micro-marketing, and mass customization, and hence customer events have the following six basic elements: (1)ascertaining a customer's specific needs, (2)assessing its impact on the enterprise, (3)deciding if if satisfying the demand is right for the enterprise, (4)marshaling the resources of the enterprise to meet the customer's demand, (5)developing and implementing the best approach to the task, and (6)satisfying the customer. * They argue that workers of a kinetic enterprise think like owners, share common goals and enterprise-wide rewards, disdain constraining job descriptions, design event teams, and learn as they go. * They argue that in a kinetic enterprise, old notions of predefined jobs and roles, the hierarchical distinctions, no longer exist. Everyone in the enterprise, from CEO to assembly line workers, must be ready to play one or all of the roles such as frontline worker, strategist, stakeholder, decision-maker, manager, coach, student, champion, innovator, project member, networker, and leader at any given time. II. The Journey - In this part, in order to answer to 'How should companies go about their journey toward a kinetic future?', they suggest the following five concurrent paths: 1. Create the new leadership - They argue that in traditional, task-based organizations, leaders are, by definition, separate and removed from their workers. Leaders are responsible for predicting market trends from year to year, developing strategies to take advantage of them, and making sure the strategies are implemented. In the kinetic enterprise, leaders still predict and implement winning plays to succeed in visible markets. But they also prepare themselves and their organization to respond to the invisible, unpredictable market shifts that have become so commonplace in the modern business world. And thus, Fradette and Michaud show five key tasks of these kinetic leaders. 2. Building the right workforce - They argue that in traditional companies, job interviews are concerned with the candidate's specific skills and experience. Kinetic organizations search for candidates who have innate talents rather than just track records, and their attitudes and personalities must match the corporate culture. 3. Design for instant action - They argue that traditional organizations build infrastructures primarily to promote productivity and efficiency, with the result that all to often they lock themselves into old ways of doing business. Kinetic enterprises, on the other hand, gear their infrastructures to a pair of outrageous goals. Work design, communications and computer systems, and even physical plants are designed to serve single customer and to act in zero time. 4. Ignite customer events - They argue that kinetic enterprise ignite customer events so customers can design their own relationships, create personalized products and services, invent wholly new products and services, and design total solutions. 5. Ignite market events - They argue that innovation with customer events isn't enough to win in today's unpredictable environment. To stay on top, workers must invent new products, services, and businesses that neither customers nor competitors have imagined. Finally, they write, "The primary focus of this book is more immediate and pragmatic. We have designed it to be both a spur and a guide: a spur to recognize the permanence of the changes that have torn up our business environment, and a guide to help cope with those changes. We hope that you will heed our warnings and that you will find ways to apply kinetics in your own backyard. As so many enterprises have discovered, the path of kinetics can be difficult and demanding, but the rewards are sure and plentiful." Strongly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Tolls the death knell for the industrial business model.
Review: As any number of recent business books have pointed out, markets and customers have become increasingly unpredictable. What Fradette and Michaud offer, however, is a new business design that takes unpredictability as a working assumption. This new design--which responds to customer and market "events" rather than attempting to predict, plan and implement--turns everyone in the enterprise, from the CEO to the receptionist, into a front-line worker. The authors also posit two outrageous goals for aspiring kinetic companies: zero-time response and serving markets of one profitably. If the vision seems at times a bit like science fiction, scores of real-world examples remind the reader that many such efforts have, in fact, succeeded (albeit on a smaller scale than the wholesale, enterprise-wide transformation the authors propose). The book is well-paced and written in an engaging style. I found myself devouring it in a single sitting.
Rating: 
Summary: Some good concepts. Very difficult to implement the ideas.
Review: The ideals of the book - 'Serve a single customer' and 'Act in zero time' are very commendable goals. How to create a Kinetic Enterprise that can make the above two goals happens is approximately the gist of the book. First, the bad - the first clue that this may be an impractical book if you are looking for implementation advice comes from the following statement on the inside front cover of the book 'It's not just the increase in the rate of change; we all know markets are moving faster - it's the magnitude of the increase that is making the future completely unpredictable'. Maybe it is my 8 years of undergraduate and graduate work in engineering schools that puts me at a disadvantage to accept a statement like the one above. But to me the statement is the same as saying 'how fast you can accelerate your car doesn't matter but how much you can increase its speed does'. Don't they both mean the same? If you can accelerate your car very well, you can generally also achieve a high speed because of the acceleration. Right there, I became leery of what the book was going to present because I was afraid that one has to leave reality at the door and be prepared for an amazing exercise of imagination where you can go to the moon and back in 30 seconds by spending just a couple of dollars. My fears then came true as I forced myself to read through the book to validate or invalidate my initial concerns. I ended up finding these flights of fantasy throughout the book now that I had my practical hat on and questioned almost every statement the authors made. Enough of the negative stuff about the book as I generally like to stay with positive reviews. So let's move on to the positive aspects of the book. Now, the good stuff - there are two very important concepts in the book that are valuable to the success of any business in the present and the future. These are the concepts of 'Market Events' and 'Customer Events'. A Market Event is defined as 'the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to seize an unexpected market opportunity'. For example - when an employee at Kinko's noticed that they had some slow times during Christmas when everyone was out shopping and came up with the idea of using their laminating presses to create custom calendars with photos from customers for a good price. This has now become a leading profit making idea around the world. This would be a market event starting with the employee noticing the market opportunity. There is a similar definition for the Customer Event that is defined as 'the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to satisfy a unique, single customer demand'. For example - when a corporate customer calls Dell to order some computer equipment, the customer service rep works with the customer to better define the exact need and moves the enterprise to fill that individual customer need all the way from ordering the parts from the supplier for this particular customer's needs to making sure the price is right. I found the information on pages 53 and 69 titled 'The Elements of Market Events' and 'The Elements of Customer Events' very informative and useful. There are other valuable pieces of information throughout the book and I am still working through the book to find all of them. It is hard work as the good information is mixed with the material put in there to inspire the reader (which I find very bothersome because of the transparency of these statements). Overall, this is a book worth skimming through (especially if you able to buy this at bargain price) to see if it suits your style of reading (and if you can ignore some of the inconsistencies). Some of the other reviewers of this book did a fantastic job of summarizing what's in the book so I decided not to focus on that as I would end up repeating what has already been done perfectly. Hence my goal in this review was to point out some of the problems with this book and warn the reader to put on a more realistic hat when reading this book. I hope this was helpful. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Some good concepts. Very difficult to implement the ideas.
Review: The ideals of the book - `Serve a single customer' and `Act in zero time' are very commendable goals. How to create a Kinetic Enterprise that can make the above two goals happens is approximately the gist of the book. First, the bad - the first clue that this may be an impractical book if you are looking for implementation advice comes from the following statement on the inside front cover of the book `It's not just the increase in the rate of change; we all know markets are moving faster - it's the magnitude of the increase that is making the future completely unpredictable'. Maybe it is my 8 years of undergraduate and graduate work in engineering schools that puts me at a disadvantage to accept a statement like the one above. But to me the statement is the same as saying `how fast you can accelerate your car doesn't matter but how much you can increase its speed does'. Don't they both mean the same? If you can accelerate your car very well, you can generally also achieve a high speed because of the acceleration. Right there, I became leery of what the book was going to present because I was afraid that one has to leave reality at the door and be prepared for an amazing exercise of imagination where you can go to the moon and back in 30 seconds by spending just a couple of dollars. My fears then came true as I forced myself to read through the book to validate or invalidate my initial concerns. I ended up finding these flights of fantasy throughout the book now that I had my practical hat on and questioned almost every statement the authors made. Enough of the negative stuff about the book as I generally like to stay with positive reviews. So let's move on to the positive aspects of the book. Now, the good stuff - there are two very important concepts in the book that are valuable to the success of any business in the present and the future. These are the concepts of `Market Events' and `Customer Events'. A Market Event is defined as `the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to seize an unexpected market opportunity'. For example - when an employee at Kinko's noticed that they had some slow times during Christmas when everyone was out shopping and came up with the idea of using their laminating presses to create custom calendars with photos from customers for a good price. This has now become a leading profit making idea around the world. This would be a market event starting with the employee noticing the market opportunity. There is a similar definition for the Customer Event that is defined as `the work of the enterprise immediately and profitably performed to satisfy a unique, single customer demand'. For example - when a corporate customer calls Dell to order some computer equipment, the customer service rep works with the customer to better define the exact need and moves the enterprise to fill that individual customer need all the way from ordering the parts from the supplier for this particular customer's needs to making sure the price is right. I found the information on pages 53 and 69 titled `The Elements of Market Events' and `The Elements of Customer Events' very informative and useful. There are other valuable pieces of information throughout the book and I am still working through the book to find all of them. It is hard work as the good information is mixed with the material put in there to inspire the reader (which I find very bothersome because of the transparency of these statements). Overall, this is a book worth skimming through (especially if you able to buy this at bargain price) to see if it suits your style of reading (and if you can ignore some of the inconsistencies). Some of the other reviewers of this book did a fantastic job of summarizing what's in the book so I decided not to focus on that as I would end up repeating what has already been done perfectly. Hence my goal in this review was to point out some of the problems with this book and warn the reader to put on a more realistic hat when reading this book. I hope this was helpful. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: "Kinetics" Good Readings!
Review: The Power Of Corporate Kinetics-Book review Introduction The concept of Corporate Kinetics (Kinetics meaning movement from the Greek language), is presented in this book as a new business model that evolved from the analysis by the two authors in 1995 of a fundamental shift in pioneering companies, in response to a rapidly changing environment (Fradette & Michaud, 1998). The premise in the author's view is that in order for business to survive in today's age of advanced technology, savvy and demanding customers, and uncertain politics and finance, a business must move at the same pace and be ready to meet the challenge. Some of the ideas in the book can be identified within well-established motivational theories and organizational models. However, the newness of the model presented in this book is in the potential of "Kinetic" organizations to utilize principles that work such as a clear corporate vision, coupled with worker's passion that grows out of ownership of the vision, translated into immediate actions in response to market changes or customer needs. The old theories are crystallized into a picture of a planned corporate setting that welcomes and encourages change and new opportunities, without loosing sight of why the company exists in the first place. Book summary The book is composed of two parts, the first being described as "The Destination", and the second as "The Journey". Part I - Embrace the power of Corporate Kinetics Part one of the book begins from the premise that businesses today are faced with unpredictability, changing customer loyalties, and tremendous advances in technology that warrant corporate change to cope, survive, and thrive. Part II - Follow five concurrent paths to Corporate Kinetics This section of the book describes the practical steps a company can take to become "Kinetic". The practical steps provide a road map to executives wishing to "convert" their companies into "kinetic" enterprises, or entrepreneurs who are looking to fit in today's business environment. Commentary This book caught my eye as I searched for strategic insight, primarily because I am a visual as well as conceptual learner. This book presented more than a total of theories and a plan of action, but a "word picture" that I could "see" with my mind's eye. A Company deeply committed to a vision, with a good strategic plan, but fluid enough to adapt quickly in response to internal or external changes, as identified by a hand-picked workforce, in touch with the real world, and just as committed to the company's vision. "Kinetic" workers, test their responses to market changes or customer demands by how well they fit the strategic plan, support the vision, and create competitive advantage and corporate health. The motivation for the so called kinetic worker, is a sense of ownership in the company, fueled by a generous reward system and clear understanding of the vision, as well as complete collaboration and access to resources, among all levels in the workforce from the CEO to the front line worker. It is this worker empowerment and encouragement of innovation that attracted my attention, since they are concepts that I espouse wholeheartedly, the essence of what I find fascinating in this book. Especially impressive were the case histories used that clearly illustrate what a company "in movement" is like, i.e. Kinko's, MTV, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, the US Army, etc. It was evident by the examples that the companies illustrated "fit" the overall picture of the "Kinetic" enterprise as described in the book. The idea is to "step back a minute" to see more clearly what we've missed or where we are going. Ultimately I feel this type of organization encourages personal growth and societal well being, as well as a healthy corporate structure that can stand the test of time and change. Conclusion In my view, rather than finding something entirely new in this book, I found a fresh perspective with a word picture "Kinetics" (stay in movement), to describe in a graspable way the ideal business in today's world. One that moves with the times, focuses on the ever-changing needs of clients, and is willing to change itself, while also acting as an agent of change. It is apparent to the author that all of the elements mentioned in this review are necessary to succeed in creating such an organization. However, the primary elements are servant leadership (leaders and managers rolling up their sleeves and joining workers), and recognition of the front line worker as a mover and innovator (closest to customer needs and market opportunities). Both of these must also be aligned with the primary purpose of customer satisfaction and company well being that is shared by all. As attractive as this model is however, even these companies must continually renew their efforts to prevent stagnation. Leadership in my opinion is key, since in many organizations denial is still rampant, and corporate change is stifled by hierarchical structures and corporate culture. Personally, I acknowledged as I read this book that as a mini-organization, home life also needs to become "kinetic" to some extent. I.e. we must make time for one child at a time, invest in their changing needs, "get into" their environment (the world as it is rather than as we would have it be), and be committed to the overall success of this enterprise we call family however defined by each. Whether running a large corporation or home life, we do well to heed the signs of the times and focus on adapting and seizing the opportunities presented to us, one at a time. Bottom line, I recommend this book for it's fresh perspective and insight into a complex and ever changing business environment. Good readings! Asela M. Calhoun, BS, MAOM Student, Azusa Pacific University
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