Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: Maybe not revolutionary, but definitely making a very clear point that is all too often forgotten by even the biggest companies.
Very useful for those making business plans or those reviewing business strategy. It can definitely help determine how to go build a business and what to focus on to make a business successful.I found this book truly worth its 5 star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: This ain't no rotten apple
Review: Okay. Here's my unscientific sample size of one opinion -- this book is really good. Anyone involved with the innovation and development of new business models (e.g. spin-outs, dot.coms, dot.corps, etc) will find this a valuable read. Don't be fooled: this is not strategic fit warmed over. Chris Zook builds a clear, fact-based case for how firms need to evaluate business development opportunities relative to their core mission and operating model. If anything, I would have enjoyed a little more on implementation specifics (but who knows -- maybe the field guide is in production as we speak).
Rating: 
Summary: Hard work, but not a good book on strategy
Review: The book is apparently based on substantial empirical evidence. However that evidence is used only to explain what happened in the past. Hence the book does not tell us much about future growth strategy. It simply says that you should stick with your core business. However, it continues, if your core business does not work, then you should redefine your core again. Believe it or not this is the argument of the book. You would normally discard such an argument immediately but you don't do it with this book because the empirical evidence that is uses increases the book's credibility. I think following the argument put forward in the book may lead to fatal consequences for most companies. At a time when the buyer-seller relations are controlled by the customer, the book appears to be incredibly "company-centric" rather than "customer-centric". It is inside-out rather than outside-in. It focuses on the company's own "cores". But what if the customer does no longer bother about your core? Who cares about your core if that core does not provide a unique differential value to the customer. For me, this book is just an empirical study of the past, which was not as turbulent as present, and hence is not helpful at all to develop strategies in turbulent times like these. Therefore the title "turbulent times" is terribly misleading. I also found the book boring especially because of the extremely long chapters. So, if you are a serious student of strategy this book is certainly NOT for you. Go for much better titles, especially those written by Adrian Slywotzky.
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Summary: Formula for growth
Review: There is only one central idea in the book - how to make a company growth profitably. Chris and Allen showed a 3-step process to us. Firstly, you have to well-define your core business. That is, the unique products and services, the major customers and the comparative advantages over your competitors. You have to unleash the full potential from your core business Secondly, you have to expand the adjacencies of your core business so as to on one hand, develop new market on new products and services. On the other hand, reinforce your core business. Finally, when your business is running in full potential, then redefine your business to enlarge the scope, and then continue to develop. The above step is proven by hundreds of successful examples and concrete data and all of them are cited in the book. Undoubtedly, I will not hesitate to recommend this winning formula to everyone who is running a business as well as to the one who is planning to run a business.
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Summary: These guys really messed up
Review: This book is clearly overrated -- very simplistic and nothing more than a marketing tool for would-be customers. The book's fatal flaw is probably its praise of Enron and its ability to grow from its "core"
Rating:
Summary: One of the best in this area
Review: This book is one of the best to have an overall review about growth strategy. It mentions a lot about the importance, the implications, and the execution. Author has quoted quite a number of real life examples to strengthen the points mentioned. An area which I believe is a bit weak about this book is the making up of the options for growth.
Rating:
Summary: Very Realistic and very useful
Review: This book is very good, it explains very clearly the different growth concepts with clear definitions, and a very interesting growth matrix. in addition, unlike other books, this book uses a lot of real world examples to illustarte the different concepts and growth startegies. It explains how companies, that succeded, evolved from their core business and developed new products without getting lost in the process. Also, explains why and how some companies failed. The book is realistic, and gives you some tools and matrix that you can apply when analyzing and developing a growth strategy. You should also check out the web site, it has some examples of how to apply the gowth matrix.
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Summary: thought provoking about getting back to basics
Review: this book is very timely regarding a changing, dynamic and turbulent marketplace. in many ways it reflects people who move away from the center of who or what they are before they recognize the importance of staying true to your very essence. the authors through their case studies and thorough research show the good, bad and ugly of either organically or inorganically becoming or growing into something you are not because you don't have the right resources or focus. they give compelling company histories that validate their belief that management has to be innovative and adaptive in a white water environment with out losing touch with it's core. and finally, the results of the last several evolving years only reaffirms the authors strong tenets of returning to basics for true profitable growth.
Rating:
Summary: Measuring Without Understanding
Review: This book shows all of the weaknesses of a data-heavy backward look at business. It describes the outlines of what has happened, but is very light on insights into what the lessons of that experience are. The book's key conclusions will be very reassuring to those who are not inclined to look very far away from where they are today. The book is "a call back to the basics." "The better performing of your business units are likely to be those operating the furthest below their full potential." "The stronger your core business, the more opportunities . . . to move into profitable adjacencies and to lose focus." "The management team . . . most successful in building a strong core business . . . and benefited from adjacencies are . . . most vulnerable." "All organizations inhibit growth." "From focus comes growth; by narrowing scope one creates expansion." As you can see, the apparent meaning of the words makes little surface sense. The buggy whip manufacturer should narrow focus to grow faster, perhaps by just focusing on one type of buggy ship. The problem just described relates to a slippery concept of what your core is. You are to consider your most: - potentially profitable, franchise customers (what does that mean?) - differentiated and strategic capabilities - critical product offering (what if you offer services?) - important channels (what if you don't sell through channels?) - other critical strategic advantages {such as?). Then, you have a lot of questions to answer about these areas, and then you will know what your core is. It was opaque to me. But I do know from reading the book that Enterprise Rent-a-Car's core is renting to people with car insurance after accidents. The problem is then described through a metaphor to the fact that Alexander the Great's empire did not last under one person after he died. I'm not quite sure why that metaphor applies. Alexander the Great got wonderful results from his empire for almost all of the time while he was alive. That seems like a success example. Isn't that the General Electric problem? No one describes General Electric as having been a big failure for the last 20 years. Then we get into a discussion of industry turbulence. The authors cite Arie de Geus (The Living Company) as saying that companies will have to redefine their core quite often. Charles Schwab says you have to do it in their business every year. But, there wasn't much here to tell me how to redefine my core (if I knew what it was). If you are like me, you're more confused now. Southwest Airlines seems to be doing about the same things now that made it successful for the last 30 years now. Why doesn't it have to redefine its core? Isn't the airline industry turbulent? Dell Computer has been redefining its core like crazy (adding servers and storage for the same corporate customers), operates its business very effectively, and is having a horrible time. What I suspect is happening in this book is that the authors got too hung up on the idea that success has to be the combination of high revenue growth, high profit growth, and high stock price growth. That pretty much focuses you into newer, technology businesses. But what if you just ran your business a lot better than your competitors? Isn't that success? Those cases are excluded here. I guess those companies didn't narrow their focus enough to grow rapidly. Shame on Nucor! I thought they were successful. The main value of this book would be for arguing against a large, "bet the company" unrelated acquisition into a weak business. If your company or business isn't overly distracted by running off in all sorts of different directions, I suggest you skip this book. After you finish reading the book (or the review, if you do skip the book), I suggest that you think about places where historical statistics can be very misleading. Take the level of the NASDAQ. Is it crashing now or is it pausing in a tremendous bull market? You can use historical data to make either point. Be cautious when people tell you what to do based on best fitting the most recent experience. What connection does that have to the future? Do you believe that if a coin comes up heads six times in a row (and is a fair coin), that it is more likely to come up heads or tails this time? If you believe that, you'll love this book! Make profits by outperforming competitors in efficiently and effectively serving customers! I suggest reading The Loyalty Effect or The Living Company instead, either of which can help you achieve that beneficial result.
Rating:
Summary: Dell has applied this book idea very well
Review: This is a very good book for anyone interest in business strategy. Especially reading it with Creative Destruction. One company which has applied this strategy very well is Dell. Its strategy to stay at the core in PC while adjaceny expansion into Printer, PDA ... etc. It stated in Businessweek that it is entering into the low-end (maybe ignorant by market leader) market for market share first. It is similar to a point mentioned in the book. I guess it has a lot to do with Rollin (one of the head of Dell)
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