Rating: 
Summary: Excellent management book, well worth reading and following
Review: The authors provide real insights into using a business model that highlights innovation throughout company processes as a primary strategic engine that drives and sustains industry leadership. Product innovation then becomes just that, a welcome product. The authors promote a company mantra that focuses on a business model that promotes innvation (and value) throughout all of the internal business processes. I found the book to be thoroughly readable. The Ultimate Competitive Advantage is filled with examples of leading companies that use a dynamic business model that adjusts to the ebb and flow of strategic issues through a company-wide adherence to understanding and delivering on the key customer value proposition. The book is filled with examples and CEO interviews of once small start-ups that are now large and prospering. It is easy to take away quite a few strategic and business process "nuggets" from the book.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimately the Best in the Biz
Review: The advantage in today's business world is extremely challenging. Are we willing to take the risk, evolve and change to become successful? If you answer yes, then where and how do you begin?First, buy The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, make it your bible for business. This is very readable, comprehensive and the ultimate authority with active plans, models and ideas to help you succeed beyond your own goals! To become effective, efficient and innovative- you need a great mentor. Don Mitchell and Carol Coles are your new mentors. Brilliantly orchestrated, realistic and completely compelling. You can't afford not to own and use this book!
Rating:
Summary: Context determines Content
Review: The Ultimate Competitive Advantage illustrates the classic case that the Context--the Business Model, must drive Content--the Business Strategy. Many business change initiatives fail because the focus is on content change--cutting cost, reorganizing the organization, process improvement, and culture change--when in fact the burning issue is an obsolete business model. The authors suggest that "innovation" of the business model is the answer to business success. Differentiating between Context and Content change are very confusing for many executives. It is important to know that we aren't sure who invented water, but we are sure that it wasn't the fish. When you are in "hot water" it makes little sense to try to change the behavior of the fish. To exhort workers to "go team" and "do more with less" is to fail to realize that the business model has a significant impact on the operation of every business. Furthermore it is important to realize that "innovation" of the business model can not be done by the workers (the fish). Senior leaders must learn to bring business modeling into prime time and acquire the skills necessary to make the "ultimate competitive advantage" of their organization a dynamic business model and help everyone understand how to execute their role (not just a job) in the process of serving customers. This books gives many examples of how this is done. Simple doctrine: not easy to execute: worthy of extensive study and attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Advice
Review: The lessons offered in The Ultimate Competitive Advantage (UCA) came alive for me on a particular visit recently. Two weeks ago I was walking the streets of Saugatuck, Michigan enjoying time with my wife. Saugatuck, which rests on the sandy duned shores of Lake Michigan, is the image of small town America. It is filled with small businesses to service the summer crowds escaping Chicago's concrete beasts of radiating heat. During our stroll we noticed a small, idependently owned music shop featuring relaxing instrumental music. The store offered samples of its selections through the outside speakers. Attracted to the sound, I ventured in to look at the selections. The owner offered to play any selection just to let me listen - there was absolutely no sales pressure in the offer. Most of my time with the owner was spent talking about the history of the music and styles. Further, it became a community gathering of strangers, each "stranger" asking for samples to be played. The owner (actually, our host now) could discuss in detail the specifics of any piece. I made my purchase and after walking two blocks it hit me: I just witnessed what Mitchell and Coles talk about in their book - the power of a business model! In this situation, the store owner buys what is considered outdated material on the market, probably at a cost lower than their original release. He gets a substantial markup and his customers understand this (we know it's cheaper off the internet) but we wanted him to succeed for several reasons: the siren sound of his music took us to him, his concern that we find something that pleased us, his genuine enthusiasm for the music and the sense of community he created within a moment. He sold us more than a CD - he sold us an experience! He understands what makes his customers tick and what they are willing to pay under the right conditions. I probably would not have picked up on this had I not been reading UCA. For this reason alone, I recommend it to
anyone contemplating a business, currently running one or middle managers supporting one. The UCA complements the works of Drucker, and "Built To Last" by James Collins and Jerry Porras. In a sense, UCA provides the foundational tactics to Drucker's theories and Collins/Porras' observations about preserving a visionary core. UCA summarizes lessons learned based on case studies, interviews and observations of a wide variety of businesses. Their points are substantiated by example mostly, and I found UCA to provide an effective use of analogy to bring its lessons across. I particularly like their holistic view of designing business models. For example, they urge cost cutting through improved processes and not by merely "cutting back." Much of their advice is also provided with an ever present sense of ethics. I only have two critcisms of the book, which is why I gave it four stars. I would have preferred some statistical analysis, or in other words more "hard numbers." Second, I thought the introduction, the prologue and the opening chapter were a bit lengthy for what was covered up to that point, but I do understand that the authors were trying to set the stage for their discussion as well as communicate their enthusiasm. (To be honest, this is a criticism I have of most books.) However, I do want to emphasize that the remainder of the book held my interest and it has valuable advice. Each remaining chapter stands on its own and I believe they are in that five star category. Further, there are some historical gems (e.g. Mr. Cogliandro's Harvard Barber Shop) worth reading. One key item of note was the list of questions provided at the end of each chapter. Having been a middle-manager, a senior analyst and also an observer of businesses in graduate school, I found these questions to be of value to anyone who has an interest in their company's survival whether they are the owner, a manager or first-line employee. These are questions all members in an organization should ask and reflect on. As Mitchell and Coles pointed out, many companies such as Southwest Airlines get their best advice from the rank and file. These questions give that rank and file a base to provide substantial feedback to "the top."
Rating:
Summary: Improve your company, not just your product
Review: Incremental improvements in your company's products (and services) produce incremental increases in revenue, profits, and market share... maybe. And once your competitors match or improve on your ideas, where is your advantage? Consumers respond to continuous improvement in the products they buy. But making small improvements isn't enough. To position your organization for excellence in the marketplace, you must not only embrace change in your products, you must continuously examine and improve your business model -- every aspect of how you conduct business, define your market, and deliver your products to your customers. In The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Mitchell and Coles walk you through a process of analyzing your business model. The text begins by describing dozens of examples of companies that rethought the traditional business model for their market and delivered breakthrough performance and service for their customers. Bookstores are my favorite example -- changing from a corner shop where you'd spend a few minutes selecting and purchasing a book or two, to a library-sized facility that provides comfortable chairs for reading, a coffee shop for snacking while you read, and even entertainment on the weekends. Customers now spend hours in the bookstore, many finally being shoo-ed out at 11PM! Mitchell and Coles describe how to analyze customer opportunities, your company's operation, and organizing around flexibility in products, delivery, and markets. What does this mean to you and your company? Rather than making incremental improvements to your product, you are focusing on your customers' needs and how to fulfill them. Whether an individual contributor, a department manager, or the leader of your business, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage will give you new perspectives on going to market and staying ahead of the competition.
Rating:
Summary: This Book is Ridiculous!
Review: I have been trying to finish this book for weeks now, but have been unable to. Not because it is difficult to read, but because I have to put it down to think about my own business, take notes and let the ideas roll around. In fact, I have not finished it yet, but felt compelled to write a review and tell everyone that is is a book that should not be missed or overlooked if you want to find business opportunities within your current environment. The best part of the book is that it not only gives you the background to understand the theory, but it also brings it down to earth using easy-to-understand examples like how to find innovation within a lemonade stand and grow the business. Another great aspect is that the information is just as applicable to a small business like mine, or to an executive of a Fortune 50 company. Kudos around for Mitchel and Coles for somehow writing a meaningful from from such a difficult topic to make simple. I would highly recommend this to anyone as a MUST BUY. But keep it close, because you will need to continue to look back at it to keep you focused on innovating your business. I fully plan on updating this review with actual results that I am putting into place as I write this to tell you how my own innovations that were inspired by this book are working out.
Rating:
Summary: Business advice that is always valuable, only now more so.
Review: There is no single ultimate competitive advantage, except perhaps to know that none exists and that to stay static is to perish. While some concepts are universal to business, there are so many niche-specific strategies, that few approaches work everywhere. The authors of this book understand that, and most of their ideas are based on the simple concept that one must always be business-savvy paranoid. This means that you should never assume without proof that a customer will remain a loyal one, that your products are of adequate quality, that your current business model is sound and will remain so, that new customers can be easily found, that there is no way to reduce your costs of doing business, and that there are no new markets to enter. All of these assumptions are usually wrong, and making even one of them can put your business at risk.
Avoiding each of these mistakes is the topic of a chapter, with sound advice on how to stay focused while having enough peripheral vision to spot new trends in the business. Each chapter also ends with a set of key questions (with answers) that you need to ask your organization regarding your current way of doing things. Simple questions such as: * "What is the stupidest thing our company does that reduces the purchase and consumption of our offerings?" *"How can we get suppliers to pay us?" *" How can you be sure that the benefits that are received are the ones that stakeholders most appreciate?" asked and honestly answered can often lead to increasing profit margins. While the answers given in the book are generally correct, there is always the problem of organizational inertia.
Answering the first question in the affirmative means that someone must admit to having been stupid. Since this person is probably a decision maker with authority, they either must admit it or have someone else point it out to them. Since the pointer is most unlikely to be an underling, the primary acquirer of such answers has to be someone in high authority. Therefore, this book is of necessity meant for those in a position to make decisions that force change and see to it that the desired change takes place. That can be hard for people, even when it is obvious that there are benefits to the change.
Interspersed with examples from a basic lemonade stand to some of the largest companies in the world, this book will help managers adopt the mindset of constantly re-evaluating their business processes looking for an edge that they currently are not taking advantage of. In the current business climate, this is necessary, for if you do not apply an advantage, someone else will and use it against you.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best business books I have read
Review: This is one of the best business books I have picked up. Often they seem to boil down to armchair philosophy, stating the obvious, and the trite phrases that people like to cling to. This book goes much deeper, through case studies, examples, and real life experiences this book easily surpases most books about growing a business through leadership.
The Ulitmate Competitive Advantage is filled with more information in its 250 pages of text that you will be able to digest your first time through. This book provides a logical, concise, and efficient way to grow a business from conception through its maturity. Concepts covered are Business Model Innovation, Increasing value to customers without other increased costs, adjusting prices, eliminating unneeded costs.
Through the growth stage topics covered are sustaining benefits for stakeholders, improving your business model, sharing benefits with those that create them, expanding through innovation, staying ahead of competition, and enhancing your organizations busines model innovation capability.
Much more is covered.
What strikes me most about this book unlike others, it gives clear guidelines, for increasing and growing your business. It isn't a lot of theory that basically states the obvious. I would recommend this book to those in business that want to succeede and students for a more indept and a richer understanding of strategic planning for business.
Rating:
Summary: Learning to see what is right in front of you
Review: Business strategists Don Mitchell and Carol Coles do a remarkable job of demystifying business model innovation by breaking it down into its basic components and offering example after example from successful business model innovators. Mitchell and Coles distinguish true business model innovators from companies that focus on improving their existing business models or that play "catch up" with companies that have successfully implemented a true business model innovation. Focusing on the true innovators, Mitchell and Coles found a pattern of behavior that was consistent across these companies. Key strategies of business model innovators include:
1. Establishing business model innovation as a primary task of the organization.
2. Accurately focusing on where valuable competitive advantages can be developed.
3. Encouraging employees, partners, suppliers, distributors, customers,and end users to propose and deliver business model innovations.
4. Regularly producing large numbers of inexpensive, low risk experiments to test out the potential of possible business model innovations.
5. Focusing the attention of the company's most talented leaders on developing and implementing business model improvements and
replacements.
6. Using the cash benefits of business model improvements and replacements to expand and strengthen business model innovation before sharing the benefits with stakeholders.
7. Sharing available cash flow and profits above and beyond what is needed for continuing business model innovations among all stakeholders.
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These insights are backed with rigorous research and pithy examples from a wide range of businesses. The book engages readers and like all good books sparks the imagination. Business leaders reading this book will find themselves looking at their businesses through new eyes and learning to see what has been right in front of them all along. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to get off the fence and participate in the very important work of creating the next generation of successful business models.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Advantage
Review: Books are practical either because they provide answers and insights or because they help us pose the right questions. Don and Carol do both, and their well structured and formulated questions alone are absolutely enough to justify your investment in dollars and time. The subject is daunting: the essentials of continual renewal and ongoing attention to the complex process of innovation. And even though enough concrete advice is given throughout the book, it has not become one of those (too many) books that claim the ultimate and yet simple answer to it all. So the challenge remained to be: giving the right assistance to the process while leaving the ultimate content of the answers to each unique-to-be enterprise. The result is just great because Don and Carol did not fall into that pit of quick-fix answers but remained faithful to both their convictions and the subject (competitive advantage), as well as to reality, by sticking to the right questions. And by leaving the task of finding the unique answers to the seriously willing and able leadership of that enterprise that seeks to become and remain 'ahead'. In fact, this book provides a concise and basic guide for those who aim just to survive and offers too the next step into becoming and remaining ahead of competition. A good test-question for books on business subjects is: "If everybody would buy, read and put into action what's inside the book, would that fact alone eliminate the 'competitive advantage' of the book itself?" and for most books the answer would be: yes. Not with this book: it remains at the centre of the subject and, while still very practical, would not diminish in content value even if all enterprises would practice its teachings. Some advice: I already said that many books are bought and even read as a quick fix to complex challenges. Buy this book only if you are serious and then be assured it will prove to be a serious book to help you 'get real' with the future of your company.
Sir Francis Bacon once said: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." This book is definitively of the latter category.
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