Rating: 
Summary: Great book!
Review: Mr. Mitchell, et al have written a phenomenal book. This book opens every entrepreneurs eyes to what it takes to get big and stay big. This author leaves no stone unturned. He examines various forms of business and what models are most effective for them. He also goes on to explain the thought process, probably the most important aspect of this book, that major corporations go throught in order to stay ahead of the competition.There is a redundancy to his stlye, the classic formula of "tell them what you are going to say, say it, and tell them what you said". But in a book so densely packed with ideas this is an important message. One of the best examples of the book is the "lemonade stand" example. Mr.Mitchell takes this classic business, the childhood lemonade stand, and applies many of his principles and ideas, that are expressed in the book, and literally turns it into a well diversified Fortune 1000 conglomerate style company using simple strategic building blocks. At the end of the day I was impressed and found many ideas to improve both my writing style and my business.
Rating:
Summary: Innovation for the 21st Century Business
Review: Gadzooks man! When I first started this book and read the business models of the featured companies and I thought "What?! These people are literally gambling at the way they do business!" But the more I read, the more convincing it was to understand that to have the competitive edge in today's business world, you've got the option to think outside of the box. Using real world business models, author's Mitchell & Coles explain how you can cause your company to have the competitive advantage by simply changing your company's business model. No matter what the size of your company, this book is a definite tool in creating your business model. Most companies restructure and reorganize, hoping to attain business effectiveness & success. Yet the "Ultimate Competitors Advantage" will help you discover ways to reinvent your business model that will not only meet the needs of your customers, but bring strong profitability's back into the company and spread from the employees to the shareholders. All around success! So put an end to the business model that says, "We've always done it this way." Buy this book, and allow it to help mold and guide your imaginations into 21st century business model innovation!
Rating:
Summary: Innovation for the 21st Century Business
Review: Gadzooks man! When I first started this book and read the business models of the featured companies and I thought "What?! These people are literally gambling at the way they do business!" But the more I read, the more convincing it was to understand that to have the competitive edge in today's business world, you've got the option to think outside of the box. Using real world business models, author's Mitchell & Coles explain how you can cause your company to have the competitive advantage by simply changing your company's business model. No matter what the size of your company, this book is a definite tool in creating your business model. Most companies restructure and reorganize, hoping to attain business effectiveness & success. Yet the "Ultimate Competitors Advantage" will help you discover ways to reinvent your business model that will not only meet the needs of your customers, but bring strong profitability back into the company and spread from the employees to the shareholders. All around success! So put an end to the business model that says, "We've always done it this way." Buy this book, and allow it to help mold and guide your imaginations into 21st century business model innovation!
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate advantage?
Review: Mitchell and Coles don't fool around in this book with underestimations but ask the straightforward question we actually ask ourselves when we compete. The two basic answers they provide are impressively honest and realistic: 1. keep thinking about your business model and 2. go on by changing it. (It all reminds me Charles Darwin, who said "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.") However, the book doesn't leave you alone with these general ideas, they put the answers into context, provide illustrative examples from their consulting experience (no fake or imaginary ones), and support you in thinking in the appropriate paradigms. An intelligent, clear and practical book. Five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: distinctive advantage
Review: Business intricacies have spawned a plethora of "how to" models that managers may interpret as panaceas for sustained profitability and growth. Mitchell's book attempts to give the distinctive ultimate solution - adopt a good business model and continually revise it. This might appear self-evident and simplistic but the book deserved a closer reading. I find Mitchell's book engaging except for the following concerns: First, a model in a business parlance normally suggests a quantitative or statistical approach to cope with uncertainties. A model exists not in a static but in a highly dynamic environment - the model should adjust to these simultaneously changing variables. The approach should be strategic, not tactical. Likewise, resources have to be deployed in response to these changes. However, the cost-effectiveness of continually "re-tooling" in response to the continually changing model appears to be a major issue. Mitchell's approach is non-quantitative but a conceptual framework based on case studies of other companies. I just hoped that Mitchell used a recurring unifying theme to hold the book together (i.e. a SWOT analysis). Nevertheless the book will easily catch a manager's attention with some 'novelties': Increase Value without raising Prices and Costs, Adjust Prices to Increase Sales, Share Benefits Fairly with all who create them. In addition to your Drucker and Porter business collections, I would consider this book a recommended reading.
Rating:
Summary: Straight from the Winning Boardrooms
Review: For those who have wondered what it would be like to sit in the boardroom of a highly successful corporation and digest the pearls of winning wisdom being dispensed, this is the book for you. Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles are successful strategy consultants who have cherry picked success solutions from the leading companies. As you read the examples set forth which have led to dynamic economic achievements, including such shapers and movers as Microsoft, Paychex, Mandalay Resorts, Walt Disney and many others, use your imagination and listen to the experts provide winning formulas to achieve results as they exchange ideas in a creative boardroom atmosphere. As Mitchell and Coles note, to operate a successful business during this competitive period necessitates embodying the talent of a world class chess player, the ability to think not one but many moves ahead. Each level scaled on the competitive ladder precipitates new challenges which need to be met. In a bygone period, notably the fifties, the old rules could often be successfully applied of building the best possible mousetrap, then play it close to the vest as profits accelerated. As the authors warn, following such a recipe in present circumstances can be a prompt one way ticket to extinction. The key word mentioned over and over is innovation, the necessary element for continuing success. With many companies building superior mousetraps, success often relates to who is willing to supply additional services, or create a more comfortable atmosphere for shopping. This example is discussed in the fascinating history of Jordan's Furniture of the Boston suburb of Natick. To entice shoppers to browse in their showrooms on Saturday evenings they began with an entertaining television advertisement spoofing "Saturday Night Live." When one arrived to shop the atmosphere was friendly and then some, involving a reasonably priced delicious sandwich shop and music. In addition, sales personnel were on salary and not commission. High pressure tactics were forbidden and customers were encouraged to browse, relax, and enjoy themselves. As a result of following the aforementioned strategy Jordan's surged to the top in the competitive furniture field. This book reminds me a great deal of those written by standard bestsellers of the success field, Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie. In the manner of these popular authors, Mitchell and Coles, rather than presenting a series of dry facts in textbook fashion, humanize the fascinating world of business by providing numerous examples of how success was achieved. Two of the most interesting human interest accounts are how a golf caddy from Pebble Beach, California and a barber with a shop next door to the Harvard University campus each obtained success through following a human interest approach, interacting successfully by exhibiting genuine personal concern for their customers. This humanistic factor is cited repeatedly as a strong element in the successes of many large corporations and independent entrepreneurs at every level. One of the most salient messages extolled in the pages of this fascinating book is the importance of teamwork. The authors stress that by sticking together and seeing that all members of the team are fairly enriched a company is far more likely to achieve longstanding success. It is hoped that this message will be heeded. If it is then future horror stories such as Enron can be eliminated.
Rating:
Summary: Good for companies of all sizes
Review: "This is the book you didn't know you need" are the words that begin this book. The core theme is The Ultimate Competitive Advantage comes from constantly improving the business model, a task that reaps high rewards for those who do it well. The authors point out "... there are no perfect companies, just as there are no perfect people... In some instances the firms {highlighted in the book} have stumbled... We expect that more stumbles and questionable actions will be ahead..." This confirms the practicality which the authors weave throughout; companies don't bat 1000, mistakes are made, momentum gets lost. A wide range of examples are given from a golf caddy expanding into travel and meeting consulting, to some of the largest and most well known companies. A recurring hypothetical example that is developed throughout the book is a kid's lemonade stand that takes on global proportions. The book continues with the following statements
"...you may only need to apply a small portion of what you learn here to outperform your competitors." "...a good business model identifies and directs a company to do multiple, appropriate things well in serving customers and other important stakeholders, compared to competitors." "...the world champion chess player will not win every chess game, the champion will win more than anyone else by applying well-developed talent and experience...But unlike chess, each competitive improvement helps lock out competitors and creates ongoing advantages that push the business model innovator ahead in future competitive tussles." "What's missing to succeed with business model innovation is imagination and commitment, not opportunity." One of the keys is recognizing the roles that stakeholders have in the process - customers, employees, suppliers, customers of customers, and in some cases competitors. The best benefit for your customers is sometimes going through them to see what their customers need. There is a lot of discussion of cost reduction and pricing; although this is just one of several components presented as part of a business model. The overall strategy should be to lower costs to provide better value to customers. There is obviously no cookbook method of this and the book discusses what has worked and not worked with various firms. Often companies can capitalize on price/volume trade-offs to reduce cost and price thus increasing volume and gaining market share. Also discussed are strategies of handling pricing when resources are scarce - sometimes it's better to start with the price high to limit demand and build the image of value. When the supply eases, prices can be adjusted downwards and customers will have the perception of getting increased value for their money. This is an excellent book for a strategic planning point of view and should be carefully studied.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading!
Review: Rather than give a lengthy review that attempts to match the excellence in the book, let me just offer a brief summary and my highest recommendation: What you did in business last decade, last year and last month may be the very thing that puts you into the red ink. Changes that used to take place across lifetimes are now taking place in a matter of decades, years, even months. (For instance, in 1980, there were 300,000 people in the U.S. making mechanical carburetors. In just five years, the entire industry disappeared because someone invented a $25 fuel injector that replaced the $300 carburetor). With that said, tumbleweeds are rolling up to the doors of businesses that were thriving just months ago. And you can no longer afford to "keep doing things the way you've been doing". There are too many other people who are out there who are building the better mousetrap and will make your product/service look like a rotary telephone if you're not paying attention. Mitchell's book is a shortcut. It explains in plain language t he principles you have to know in order to stay ahead of your competition. But, unlike so much of the "trendy" books on the market, this one is a startling display of just good, solid practical advice. Every page has a nugget of information that you can stick in your pocket and put to use in your business right now. No fluff here -- it's pragmatism at its best without the usual doses of fad management. Ignore this one at your own peril -- it's excellent!
Rating:
Summary: Never Ending Business Development is a Must
Review: Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles present a thorough argument that all companies, large and small, are compelled to improve upon their current business model. If it works, don't fix it, is not a viable mindset in a age where competitive challenges are always right around the corner. The major idea behind this superb book "is that business model obsolescence is the major unperceived opportunity and threat to all businesses now." Human beings are inclined to play it safe and take few risks. What was considered prudent behavior a few generations ago will likely doom one to irrelevance in a future shock environment. Many companies are regretfully similar to the frog who is unaware that he is slowly being boiled alive. If you did not improve your business model in the last five years---then almost certainly you have missed out on some golden opportunities. Mitchell and Coles aptly deal with issues concerning pricing a company's products and services. How do business leaders distinguish between winning and losing business models? What role does the low level employee play in this regard? "What is the stupidest thing our company does that reduces the purchase and consumption of our offerings?" is a question best not left unanswered. Try pretending "for several hours that you are a specific person who doesn't buy from your company (or even your customer's customer)" is also not advice which should be ignored. Ecolab, Iron Mountain, Business Objects and Paychex are among the companies cited that refuse to be seduced by complacency. Even a humble barber who cut the hair of many of Harvard University's leading teachers and students is a quintessential example of a business owner who never took anything for granted. I have already spent countless hours reading "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage." Alas, there are still more gems of wisdom that I've yet to internalize. This book will continue to enrich my understanding of business models long into the distant future. I'm sure that you also will find it of great value.
Rating:
Summary: The ROI of Ability and Integrity
Review: This is the latest of three business books co-authored by Don Mitchell and Carol Coles. In my opinion, none offers "cutting edge thinking" but each provides an abundance of valuable information, thoughtful analysis, and practical (i.e. doable) recommendations which are directly, indeed urgently relevant to any organization, regardless of its size, nature or current circumstances. In this volume, as he and Coles suggest, the message is "to develop and implement a superior management process that continually improves an organization's business model -- its ways of serving customers and outperforming competitors -- as well as fairly and appropriately rewarding all stakeholders." That message is delivered with both precision and eloquence. After an exceptionally thoughtful and well-written Prologue, Mitchell and Coles carefully organize their material within four Parts: The Most Productive Areas for Business Model Innovation, [How to] Provide Substantial Benefits for All Stakeholders, [How to] Expand Business Model Innovation, and finally, [How to] Pursue Higher-Potential Business Model Improvement. I have presumed to add the [How to] prefixes because Mitchell and Coles attach so much importance to execution, obviously agreeing with Bossidy and Charan (among others) that the success or failure of any organization is ultimately determined by its performance. As the Yoda insists, "Do or do not. There is no try." Frankly, I am amazed by the number of companies which either have no business model or have one which is wholly inappropriate to their resources and objectives. For those companies, Part One all by itself is worth far more than the cost of this book. However, it is absolutely essential to understand that even the best (i.e. most appropriate) business model is necessarily a work in progress. Hence the importance of what Mitchell and Coles characterize as "business model innovation." By avoiding business model obsolescence, an organization can sustain what is more often than not a decisive competitive advantage. Mitchell and Coles direct their reader's attention to more than on hundred real-world examples of business model innovation. They also include a number of examples of "bad" business models whose worst deficiency is the fact that scarce resources are rapidly drained, thereby severely damaging both current and future performance. They explain both how to avoid such a model and how to repair (perhaps even replace) it. Obviously, Mitchell and Coles cannot meet with each reader and conduct a rigorous and comprehensive interrogation. They include a "Key Questions" section (with each question followed by a brief discussion) at the end of each chapter. For example, here are the first three from the cluster at the end of Chapter 4, Further Improve Your Business Model and Build a Buffer for Lean Times: • Do you feel inspired by your company's current business model? • Does your company's business model provide greater economic and nonmonetary benefits for all stakeholders than the alternative of not doing business with your company? • What could have to change for economic and nonmonetary stakeholders' benefits to double? I strongly recommend that all of the "Key Questions" and (especially) previously formulated answers to them be carefully reviewed at least quarterly but preferably at least once a month. It may be of interest to those who read this review to read a brief excerpt in which Mitchell and Coles invoke two metaphors, one of a forced march (i.e. rapid and unsustainable growth) and the other of a pond whose surface eventually becomes covered by water lillies. (pages 267-268) "A business model innovation that enlarges and improves your competitive environment, your pond of opportunity, while adding competitive advantages can expand your unencumbered potential. Then your growth can continue rapidly to a much larger size. Always look to expand your opportunities to locate and follow unimpeded pathways to progress by simplifying your tasks and inexpensively testing more competitively advantaged ways to improve the stakeholder environment." Earlier in this review, I was not damning with faint praise when commending Mitchell and Coles on the practicality of their books while suggesting that they do not provide cutting-edge thinking. The best ideas need landing gear and brakes as well as wings. In this volume, Mitchell and Coles are wholly preoccupied with helping their reader to execute effectively those strategies and tactics which will nourish and sustain business model innovation. They conclude their book by identifying and then briefly discussing five principles by which to build a healthy and productive life as well as a principled and profitable organization: 1) Serve more people with what they will perceive as improved performance, more rapidly and in more ways with fewer resources, 2) Make each thought and activity apply to people and their purposes who are not now being served, 3) Involve more people when considering each thought and activity, 4) Start each morning with the thought that you are beginning a company, and 5) Strengthen your stakeholders' commitment to these principles. Idealistic or even corny as it may sound, impeccable character in combination high levels of energy and enthusiasm, guided by intelligence and informed by experience, really do offer the ultimate competitive advantage, whatever the human enterprise may be.
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