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Summary: Updating Business Models
Review: This is a thought provoking read on how and why your Business Model should constantly be updated and changed. Now, that can be a very dry subject if you are not focused on learning. But the authors do a good job of using examples of other companies so it constantly reads like a business biography and is much more interesting than reading a college textbook.Did I learn something? Yes. By the fourth chapter I was applying the principals discussed to how I could change my business model. Overall I found this to be an excellent read. But you must bring something to the table for this book. For example, most books I read are for entertainment. This book is work. Come prepared to learn and this book will teach
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Summary: Re-Invent Your Business!
Review: This book follows a basic principle of re-invention. Going back and looking to see where you can improve to make your business more profitable. The are several examples of companies who have done just that. Giving you a practical model to succeed. Well worth the price to give your business what it needs to compete in the Global Marketplace.
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Summary: The book your business competitors don't want you to read...
Review: Mitchell and Coles successfully present the argument for "why" to focus on continuous business model innovation and then show you "where" and "how" to work the model in your own company... But don't think that this book is just another dumbed down, hastily written business book from some wishful management guru. It's not. THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE is solidly researched and thoughtfully written. It's a serious book for people who are serious about creating a successful business for the long term. The 3rd chapter alone is one of the best examinations of cost-cutting techniques you'll ever find and well worth the price of the book, but happily the entire book is just as useful, applicable, and valuable, which indeed makes it a rarity. Mitchell and Coles have created one of those infrequent stars in the business book constellation that deserve 'must-read' status. And it's definitely a book you'll want to read before your competitors do.
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Summary: If you are serious about your business...you must read this!
Review: One of the reasons so many businesses fail is due to the owners or managers implementing outdated ideas, systems, marketing practices and business concepts.
The authors of The Ultimate Competitive Advantage have done a great job researching what highly successful companies do and they share it in a very compelling way that will force anyone to really look at, and alter the way they are running their business today. I love the exapmples in the book and definetly recommend it!
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Summary: Five stars.
Review: I always approach business books with a healthy amount of skepticism. I've simply seen too many fairytale business fad books promising everything, only to fall short during implementation, long after the energetic sales pitch has faded. So, with a lot of hesitation, I sat down a read the ULTIMATE COMPETITVE BUSINESS ADVANTAGE. Fortunately for me, I did. Once I got past the first few chapters I found it difficult to put it down. The ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE BUSINESS ADVANTAGE, by Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles is different from most books in the genre. Mitchell and Carol researched some of the most successful businesses around over a ten-year period to figure out what they did right, and what made them exceptional companies while their competitors languished. They also interviewed successful CEOs to see what set them apart. Filled with countless anecdotes, the authors touch on key business ideas and present concrete examples. Along the way there are nuggets of interesting information that you simply won't find anywhere else. Highly recommended for someone who is starting his or her own business or leading an existing one. Five stars.
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Summary: An Informative Journey
Review: With penetrating sapience, Mitchell and Coles take readers on an informative journey exploring the dynamics of successful business. Indeed successful business is a dynamic process of continuous evaluation of consumer needs and preferences, as well as cognition of the ever present competition. The key to this unique business book is in the message it carries of the importance of attending to "business model innovation." What worked ten years ago may no longer be viable in light of what competitive companies may be initiating and undertaking as they move forward to gain ever increasing shares of the marketplace. In short, company leaders must be amenable to ongoing learning and introduction of successful innovation. "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage," is a gem in providing the seeds necessary for effective model innovation for both small and large businesses. The authors, with breviloquent aplomb, present cases of successful business innovation in diverse companies. This work is a must read for the enterprising entrepreneur.
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Summary: Jam-Packed with Great Information!
Review: In The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Don Mitchell and Carol Coles give you a book that is jam-packed with ideas that will help you take your company to the next level and beyond! Their book will teach you to go from good to great - or better yet: from great to greater! Their easy to understand methods of continual innovation and improvement will give you what you need to do it better and more efficiently - and increase the bottom line while you do!
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Summary: Don't open the store without it
Review: The central message of this book is that you have to continually reinvent the way you do business in order to stay ahead of the competition. Mitchell and Coles call this "continuing business model innovation." It's very much like the experience of the Red Queen in Alice and Wonderland: you have to keep moving just to stay in the same place, and if you want to get ahead, you better start running. Well, what's new about this? What's new is that everything in our world is now changing so fast that it is no longer enough to simply find a need and fill it, or to discover how to do something better than those who are currently doing it, and for less. You got to do that again and again, year in and year out, and you have to constantly be looking for ways to expand your services and improve your products. In short, it has to be the continuing policy and practice of your company to work toward developing a more profitable business model. This is especially true for successful companies since you WILL be imitated. Okay, this sounds right, but just how do I go about reinventing my business model? Well, that's what Mitchell and Coles wanted to know, and so beginning in 1992 they went out and studied 100 successful companies and especially their CEOs, including such stalwarts as Clear Channel Communications, EMC, Dell Computers, Paychex, Goldcorp, etc. They asked questions and they listened. They realized that many of the business models that once worked would not work today, and that what worked today would fall behind tomorrow. They learned that gaining a competitive advantage through management effectiveness became more important than ever in the go-go nineties. But the biggest lesson they learned is that "business model obsolescence" is the greatest threat to all businesses now. Of course, they reverse this negative perception and point out that avoiding business model obsolescence is the greatest opportunity now available to your business. This way of thinking is sure to provide excitement in many stagnating businesses today, and is sure to set a fire under somebody's derriere. It might as well be yours, is the message the authors want to get across. They support this message with a slew of examples from the companies they studied, showing how innovations in pricing, in expanding customer benefits, in creating reductions in costs, in coming up with new ways to increase market share, in adding customer value for the same or a lower price, etc. have worked for others and how they might work for you. They note that "business model innovation usually requires more mental agility than resources..." (p. 218) That's good news to hear since resources are often limited. They give case histories and recount in detail how some of the inventive CEOs took their companies from share prices in the pennies to share prices in the hundreds of dollars(!). Of course some people got lucky and expanded with the bubble, but others didn't, and those that are still successful today have innovated and are continuing to innovate. Mitchell and Coles document this truth. The densely-packed material in the book is handsomely presented, exceptionally well-edited, and the book's design is first class. There are sidebars highlighting key information and ideas, and subtitles that allow the reader to focus quickly on areas of especial interest. Chapters typically begin with a well-chosen key-note quotation from authorities as diverse as the Bible, Sun-Tzu and Irving Berlin. The style is clear and business-like. The authors are seasoned business strategy consultants who are working on a series of books to help improve your business. This the third in the series, and the one that the authors recommend you read first. There are "Key Questions" at the end of chapters to keep you focused and to highlight and further explain ideas. The authors emphasize looking back objectively at both your company's successes and failures with the time-honored realization that we can often learn more from our failures than from our successes; and indeed the difference between a successful innovation and an unsuccessful one can be as narrow as the razor's edge. One of the things that most impressed me about this book is the way the authors emphasize the positive aspects of being successful in business, sharing benefits, increasing not just shareholder value, but value to the customer and to those who work for and with you. This kind of enlightened self-interest approach to business is not only a pleasant departure from the Machiavellian model that one so often sees presented, but is a surer way to success, not only to success in business, but to success in life. I know from my experience with Don Mitchell that he is a wise and considerate person who understands the business world and what it takes to get ahead. This book will surely set you in the right direction, and most likely will stimulate you to do even better than you are doing, and especially help you anticipate and indeed create tomorrow's business climate.
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Summary: Solid, usable content. Get this book now!
Review: This is a book I will refer to often in my work as a management consultant. It contains such solid advice, backed up by real world examples, that it is hard to put down. If you read only one book in the next twelve months, then make it this one...please! Authors Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles have put together a powerful and convincing manual for those weary managers who want to get away from the incessant rants of the various management 'gurus' and get back to the basics. And if 'the basics' sound dull let me quickly inform you that this book is far from being dull. The advice given by the authors represent the 'new basics'. This book is of the calibre of the advice normally given by such greats as Peter Drucker...in other words it's solid and will stand the test of time. Enhancing your company's Business Model Innovation Capability amounts to taking the high road to performance improvement. So if you find yourself tinkering around the edges, get straight in and tackle your business model and watch as you provide better value, faster and cheaper than your competitors. Chapters 1 - 3 cover the most productive areas for business model innovation, and in themselves are worth the price of the book. You will want to start making changes to your business (value, prices, cost) by the end of chapter three. Many thanks to the authors for such a solid work.
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Summary: No cheese here! This book has an altogether different scent
Review: It's been quite some time that i've wanted to write a review of this fine book. I should state from the outset that I'm not a business person. My motivations and opinions on this book derive form a more literary interest and, more significantly, from having read other business books only to find them utterly disappointing. So why do I find this one different? For one thing, it's well written and avoids much of the common jargon that is so fashionable in more popular quick tips and quick fix books that have sold millions of copies and been translated in countless languages form Spanish to eastern Mongolian Dialect. Speking of Mongolia, this book will not inspire you with the leadership skills of Genghis Khan, not will it offer metaphors of mice, fish and other fauna. No, Donald Mitchell and carol Coles deal exclusively in common sense examples of how the competitive structure of your organization - and by extension your own personal attitude - may benefit from clearly explained principles and case studies.
I have actually sought advice form this book in organizing the contents of a conference on an entirely different, and find its general usefulness such to wrrant me keeping my copy of the book at my desk in my office for reference. i believe this is the first time that I can actually use rather than berate the advice contained in a business book.
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