Rating: 
Summary: An approach from outside the corporate walls
Review: THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE is obviously a book written for companies, large and small, a sort of self help book on a grand scale. Not being a corporate type I read this book more on the stance of evaluating the quality of writing and communication. This is a very finely tuned book, rich with examples of what works and what hinders the race for success in today's market place. The information presented is sound (very informative for the non-corporate types), well paced, and more important VERY readable. It is rare for books of this type to extend their appeal beyond the targeted readership. But I think Mitchell and Coles have created a user-friendly document that indeed has more universal appeal as a guide to even the most miniscule businesses - and by that I mean one-man operations such as the field of art galleries, etc.... Kudos to the writers for their sensitivity and tenacity in getting their freely shared ideas across to a needy public!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource, albeit not mind-altering....
Review: Business books are not my first interest. That being said, this book is well-written, with some insight, and incredibly useful because of the systematic way that Cole and Mitchell attempted to evaluate companies and research their proposals. Other reviewers have noted that this book is saying nothing earth-shattering. Earth-shattering books aren't often written about business; what good business books do (and there aren't as many as book sales often show: so much written in this area is absolute garbage) is to reevaluate and present sound thinking and distill other peoples' experiences. Cole and Mitchell do this seemlessly and insightfully. Revoultionary thinking in the business area hasn't done great things for the world economy lately: had so many people not fallen victim to the next great thing or to the newest fad, we might not have had a bubble for so long, and perhaps not that much to regain.In "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage" the authors argue that companies should basically do what they say in the rest of the title (e.g. "Continually [Develop] a More Profitable Business Model"). They point out that people shouldn't wait; should constantly work to improve their product; and should work to discourage others from competition through constant, tireless innovation. In these things, they aren't saying anything revolutionary: countless books from Sun Tzu to row upon row of management-related books do the same thing. Many consultancy services say it too, and charge companies a great deal of money to listen. However, in this book, Cole and Mitchell through a constant and continual use of case studies prove their points, work to provide insights, and, in the end, through doing so provide stories through which managers can seek to influence others to impliment changes. Their examples are thus useful both educationally and for influence. Finally, they do pretty well at putting together a book that is a relative page-turner: I enjoyed both reading and learning from it. Those things been said, there are places I wish that the book had been put together differently. There are insights I disagree with or find troublesome. However, this is a really good book: both students and managers could profit from looking through its pages. I wholeheartedly recommend it for those interested in business or management.
Rating:
Summary: A Thoughtful and Engaging Analysis of Competitive Advantage
Review: THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE by Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles is a unique book that offers the reader, in a balanced blend of theory, example and anecdote, a comprehensive analysis of the importance of continual business model for all types of organizations. In today's rapidly changing world, the need for constant innovation in the many small things that make up an organization is key if a business is to remain fresh and creative. Whether the organization is a major global corporate force, a regional or local business, or even a not-for-profit religious, social service, or community organization, the book offers the principles and ideas that can lead to greater competitive success. Building upon the 25+ years of successful consulting experience with their own strategic consulting firm, Mitchell and Company, the authors present a tightly focused examination of the various elements of business model innovation. The book is very well organized and I found "Part Two - Provide Sustained Benefits for All Stakeholders" to be most valuable. Too many managers view the development of the business model as a one-time achievement where the finished product is bronzed, tied up neatly in a little bow, then placed on a shelf where it remains unchallenged for all eternity. In contrast, the authors emphasize the need for continual innovation - to refine and renew the business model, often in numerous small ways, as a means to uplift all of those who have a stake in the ultimate success of the organization. This occurs when a person, as a leader, grows beyond his narrow-minded functional approach to business and views his role and organization with passion, dedication, and purpose. The story of Michael Cogliandro, Harvard's longtime barber-philosopher, offers a shining example of innovation not only just within the business model, but also within the totality of everyday life. Mr. Cogliandro's business model has moved beyond the functional to the sublime. He is seen as a communicator, a facilitator, and a philosopher; in turn he approaches what for many would be a mundane occupation - barber - with a holistic sense of mission and grace. This is a lesson repeated in countless quiet corners of the world, and yet is one that is consistently missed by those who equate competitive advantage with endeavors of global proportion. As a reader of numerous books of business, religion, philosophy and other diverse areas, I have found THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE to be one of the most integrative and imaginative books in the area of business, looking at business model innovation as the journey, as well as the destination of an organization. To that end, it offers lessons in human behavior rarely covered in business texts. The reader will find many life lessons as well as business lessons in this book, and will find it well worth their investment of time and reflection.
Rating:
Summary: An Insightful and Engaging Analysis of Competitive Advantage
Review: THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE is a unique book that offers the reader, in a balanced blend of theory, example and anecdote, a comprehensive analysis of the importance of continual business model for all types of organizations. In today's rapidly changing world, the need for constant innovation in the many small things that make up an organization is key if a business is to remain fresh and creative. Whether the organization is a major global corporate force, a regional or local business, or even a not-for-profit religious, social service or community organization, the book offers the principles and ideas that can lead to greater competitive success. Building upon the 25+ years of successful consulting experience with their own strategic consulting firm, Mitchell and Company, Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles present a tightly focused examination of the various elements of business model innovation. The book is very well organized and I found "Part Two - Provide Sustained Benefits for All Stakeholders" to be most valuable. Too many managers view the development of the business model as a one-time achievement where the finished product is bronzed, tied up neatly in a little bow, then placed on a shelf where it remains unchallenged for all eternity. In contrast, the authors emphasize the need for continual innovation - to refine and renew the business model, often in numerous small ways, as a means to uplift all of those who have a stake in the ultimate success of the organization. This occurs when a person, as a leader, grows beyond his narrow-minded functional approach to business and views his role and organization with passion, dedication, and purpose. The story of Michael Cogliandro, Harvard's longtime barber-philosopher, offers a shining example of innovation not only just within the business model, but also within the totality of everyday life. Mr. Cogliandro's business model has moved beyond the functional to the sublime. He is seen as a communicator, a facilitator, and a philosopher; in turn he approaches what for many would be a mundane occupation - barber - with a holistic sense of mission and grace. This is a lesson repeated in countless quiet corners of the world, and yet is one that is consistently missed by those who equate competitive advantage with endeavors of global proportion. As a reader of numerous books of business, religion, philosophy and other diverse areas, I have found THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE to be one of the most integrative and imaginative books in the area of business, looking at business model innovation as the journey, as well as the destination of an organization. To that end, it offers lessons in human behavior rarely covered in business texts. The reader will find many life lessons as well as business lessons in this book, and will find it well worth their investment of time and reflection.
Rating:
Summary: excellent source to learn the concept of business models
Review: I was not specically looking for a book on business models and got my hands on this one by chance. After I read the first ten pages (an example of a caddy, a guy who helps golf players by carrying their clubs, who developed his own business model and become prosperous), my understanding of what business models are and who can use them was turned upside down. In my ignorance, I thought that business models are used primarily by medium to large companies. It turned out to be completely wrong. A business model is a vision, an idea, a concept which distingusihes a business, gives it an edge over the competitors, and ultimately leads to commercial success of their business, be it a huge corporation or a small one-self-employed-person company. We all heard stories of successful enterpreneurs who changed the way how the business is done. With the benefit of hindsight, their ideas appear very simple, straightforward, and even self-evident. And yet, for each great success there are probably hundreds of unsuccessful busness models which led to failures. How can one predict which model will work? D.Mitchell and C.Coles believe that one can learn from both the good and the bad experience of hundreds of people, ranking from CEOs of major corporation to tiny business. They spent years talking to people who made fortunes on their successful ideas, and to those who tried and failed. They accumulated, distilled, and analyzed in their book what they learned about the business models, the ways how they were developed, and the errors which are commonly made. While I am not in the position to judge whether "The ultimate compeitive advantage" may be of value to professionals (probably it is), I can see two groups of readers which can definitely benefit from reading it. They are owners of small businesses striving to get a greater share of the market or improve their profitability, and curious people who do not run businesses, but want to understand the way how the competitive economy works, and why some companies are doing better than the others. The book contains numerous examples which we all heard about, or even dealt with as customers (although did not necessarily understand WHY it works this way, and how it was related to the business models) - e.g., why GM was consistently loosing its market share and dropped the Oldsmobile line, or why it was good for Disney to introduce multi-day passports to Disneyland, or how Southwest airlines adjusts its destinations and pricing policy to maximize profits and customer satisfaction. The examples are mixed with discussions how to critically review the existing models and develop new ones, how to test the ideas, and how to implement them. Each chapter ends with stimulating questions and suggestions. The book is not an easy reading, be prepared to spend hours reading and thinking, but the information and knowledge gained from it is well worth the effort.
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Summary: A New Business Bible Born For Global Mercantile Perfection!
Review: All companies are composed of three things, Manpower, Machines and Money. Yet, having them work together to benefit any organization is the goal of all CEO's. The "Ultimate Competitive Advantage" provides precise reasoning and valid workable business models in a straightforward realistic way for anyone to understand. I earned a Master of Science in Economics over 20 years ago. I found this book updating my abilities by increasing my knowledge of today built on yesterday. I am not ashamed to say, my ego is humble today from this book. In chorus, I am deeply grateful to see just how much of a refresher my own basic business theories and practices were in need of revisions, to say the least. All of us are struggling with the changes of Globalization. Globalization is based upon making everyone more interdependent by opening markets and competitive by lowering products prices at the same time. Since Globalization is the new force behind increased competition, this book is about making sure your business maintains that edge every day so your weeks, months and yearly earning take care of themselves. The authors' meet head-on those very obstacles by attacking your own reasoning on adjusting to these new times out of the necessity to survive and prosper. Today the entire world is in a quasi-state of expansion or contraction. Terrorism has changed the marketplace, corporate greed has created loyal skeptics, and health plagues like S.A.R.S can cause unexpected economic downturns in a wide variety of outcomes few can anticipate. Every business needs to watch its bottom line and become its own antibodies against waste, mismanagement and routine costly rituals that permit competitors to gain an edge on your survival. The CEO's that concentrates on finding the various business models in this book will not have to worry about his stock options and the strike point to exercise them. Plus they will always achieve a higher salary and better benefits than imagined, because of gaining a decisive enhancement for the company by dissecting this book. Ultimately, good business takes care of its management and employees by earning more than the competition. The text focuses on the business as a whole in the marketplace of the global economy. The book uses "Cafeteria Business Buffet Models," of real life examples on how any company over the next 6 to 12 months can beat any rivalry. It does so by having you spotlight business models to meet your challenges whether in a growth mode or wholesale downturn. The authors' focus on the Gross Margin, the difference between sales revenues and the cost of the goods sold, Book Value, the value of all the assets and EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and buying in and out of the market. I was very pleased to see this book written from a male and female viewpoint too. I found Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles combined wisdom, insights, concepts, techniques, and business foresight revelations teaching me aspects I never learned in Business School. I became enamored by the concise and easy to read guidelines that any industry can achieve with the simplicity of just absorbing a few pages that apply to each operation in this book. At this time, 40% of all businesses are own by women but only 20% of the revenues are produced by women. Enhancing a company by controlling its costs and improving its marketing is a far better undertaking from a male and female aspect too. All organizations benefit from this dual view because this is 100% of any market everywhere. The "Ultimate Competitive Advantage" brings into play how much women can contribute to succeeding in the marketplace and advance corporate boards rooms. This is evident by the paradigms in the book combining intuitions with the certainty of perceptions that women tend to use more in everyday activities plus comparing these with the sine qua non numbers. Any CEO knows the secret to hiring the best employees is really the art of engaging and retaining people smarter than him or her for the good of the organization. Thus, only the best and brightest will recognize the value of this book and that led me to an extraordinary finale on how to apply this book to your business or organization. The book should be purchased in bulk and passed out to as many key managers and employees that impact on the organization. Tell them to highlight in detail what practices they can see will increase the Firms' end result. Request them to write a report on their feelings and findings on how to lower costs but advance value. Wait one week to see who submits such a plan of action to promote, adopt and achieve these practices. This will separate the right guys & gals who took the time to read and care about their own organizations' people, costs, prices and profits from those enjoying the passing of time. As a final point, I bought 2 copies for friends at MIT and Silicon Valley to be passed to others at Penn's Wharton and the Eller School at the University of Arizona and to others in business. This action speaks more volumes of what I thought about this book better than any mere words of praise here. In summary, a new bible for global business has just been born for any business from Multi-Nationals, Non-Profits, Small Business and Start-Ups. If you read the "Ultimate Competitive Advantage," it will help anyone to Re-Conceptualize, Re-Energize and Right-size any organization. I highly recommend this outstanding book!
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Summary: Different Strokes
Review: I was torn between 4 and 5 stars, but decided to give 5 stars primarily because it fights against some of the common dredge coming from business schools. In my years of reading "Harvard Business Review", only about 1 in 6 of the articles were worth reading. This book, at least parts of it (more later), were like those good articles. However, some of the are counter to the typical BS (i.e., Business School) mantras. Did the book have a silver bullet? No. But there are a lot of good ideas within the covers. Certainly, those can be expanded to different industries, but the concept is what is important. If just one person in senior management reads the core of this book during a cross-country flight, it will be worth distributing a copy to each person in senior management. That being said, skip the introductory stuff and start at chapter one. I typically do not do that, while my wife always does. I almost wish I had with this book. I expect a page of praise from readers in books of this type. Instead, there are four pages of quotes, making some of my red flags go up. Followed by a two-page Forward, which I expected. I did not expect a second two-page Forward. Certainly did not expect the seven page Preface to follow that. Then to be topped off with twenty-two page Introduction. You got it -- there is more. A twenty-one page Prologue followed all of that. I was flabbergasted. If it weren't for the expectations to follow, I would have stopped before chapter one. I was encouraged that the authors mentioned books like "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox -- a classic. I was also encouraged with the references to chess and that they were accurate, not the typical drivel from non-players who want to "name drop" the game into their books. So, what is the ultimate competitive advantage? Not something simple enough for me to include here. However, if you look at the Table of Contents (from Amazon), you will get a good idea of quick concepts that they promote. Many of these are good ones that the good competition is using now. Many more will use them in the future or fall behind and probably go out of business in ten or twenty years (a "long time" for many people, but for successful corporations, it is just around the corner). Here are some of those chapter titles: + Increase value without raising prices and costs.
+ Adjust prices to increase sales profitability.
+ Eliminate costs that reduce custer and end-user benefits.
+ Provide sustained benefits for all stakeholders.
+ Share benefits fairly with all who create them. Many of the excellent comments are boxed into one or two sentences on some pages, making it easy for an executive to skim during a one-hour or two-hour flight or some other time of waiting. For that next trip, throw this book into your luggage.
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Summary: A Distilled MBA Course
Review: Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of "This is the Place" and "Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered" The Ultimate Competitive Advantage by Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles is an unexpected treasure. It will benefit anyone in the business world who wants to improve their chances for success.
Using case studies the tried and true MBA way, this book offers more because it cuts a broad swath across the fabric of the business world. There will probably not be an example or model presented that can not be adapted to any business, large or small, from manufacturing to retail.
This is a book that talks about customer value and reducing the cost of service like many good business books might. Unlike some others, this one takes the reader from principles to adapting those principles to the business-at-hand-whatever that might be. These authors use all the right words-profit, benefits, innovation; the difference is that when a reader finishes this book she'll walk away with some concrete ideas that she's adapted to fit her own needs. (Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.Her newly released Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered has won three.Both give an insider's view of Salt Lake City at a time when the Elizabeth Smart case is in the news.
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Summary: Needed By Us All
Review: This is an excellent business book written in a fun, informative, reader-friendly and down-to-Earth manner. Don Mitchell and Carol Coles are experienced business people who provide positive and helpful ways to remind us that innovative thinking and actions put us on the road to achieving better results in today's competitive marketplace. With the foundations of the basic models we have, and putting creative and innovative strategies to work in our own environment: industry, location, competitors, employee relations, putting our ideas to work, and much more. This is of high value for middle and upper managers in large companies, and in particular helfpul for the small and medium sized proprietor or manager. Some of the best models, ideas, and real-life experiences are illustrated, and can be used by anyone who wants more customers, more loyal employees, higher sales, or more traffic. The ideas here can get you to think outside of the box. This is important, because after a period of time, people start thinking less about slight changes, innovations, or implementing new ideas, no matter how small, cost-effective, or profitable. The innovations don't have to be expensive. Oft-times they won't cost you a dime, and they'll increase your bottom line. Here's an example. Note that it's a simple one. An interesting example of "Adjusting Prices to Increase Sales" in chapter 2, reveals the story of a couple who owned a small, struggling roadside store. In 1936, After 5 years of trying to stay afloat, they thought of an idea that made their store famous. Offer free cold water to folks driving pass them on interstate hiway close to their store. Their struggling little store was called "Wall Drug," in Wall, South Dakota. In the year 2000 I actually stopped in and spent money on my cross-country trip, because of the billboards, name recognition, and so many people telling me "you have stop at Wall Drug." This simple idea in 1936 garnered this store income 64 years later. I stopped there.
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Summary: FANTASTIC TOOLKIT FOR AUDITING YOUR CAREER
Review: The key strength of this book lies into two things. Firstly, the questions at the end of each chapter followed by a brief to engage the reader in critical self-examination and reflection is a tool most can use in auditing their own personal careers. Today, as careers become increasingly businesslike, the questions are useful in career exploration. Secondly, in describing 'reinvention' of many companies, one would clearly realise the importance and need of re-inventing oneself with innovation constantly. Readers would come to realise fast that just as there are no perfect businesses and people, there are no perfect careers......thereby emphasising the need for constant reinvention with innovation.
The simplicity of the book is reflected in a simple illustration - the children's lemonade stand. We all have at one time or another been involved in the 'lemonade business'. The authors use this business to illustrate their ideas and concepts. The 'lemonade business' pops up several times in the book but clearly is illustrative of the principles propounded by the authors.
Quoting the story of Mr Michael Cogliandro, the humble barber, the authors clearly bring out an important aspect of business and careers. What you give away, comes back many times over in ways you never though possible. In a world dominated by extrinsic show of wealth, Mr Cogliandro's conduct is something many leaders can emulate - avoid business and career models that harm more than help any stakeholder!
Peppered throughtout the book are little 'toolkits' like how to improve intrinsic satisfaction of working with improved models and how to launch a more successful career. This as a career guidance consultant I thought is a very helpful idea. They are also thought provoking and helps in charting paths.
The authors share wisdom which many may think is common-sense. The book is a refresher in commonsense insight and is substantiated extensively with short narratives of many companies - good and bad examples. An illustrative example quoted is Polaroid - a company that failed to recognise the changing times, the arrival of digital tecknology and the electronic age! A success story quoted is Virgin (Sir Richard Branson's story) and how its founder continues to innovate and do the unthinkable like wearing a bridal gown to launch a business!
I would strongly encourage those interested in either their personal careers or their employers' business to take time to read the book. This book is for business owners (particularly the small and medium-sized businesses who often do not have recourse to consultants frequently and are in constant need for ideas and innovations), employers, employees and 'entreployees' (individuals with a mindset of being an employee & entrepreneur who have an intrapeneurial attitude.) An excellent book not to be missed - it is indeed 'The Ultimate Competitive Advantage' for readers!
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