Rating: 
Summary: Great book, application pays dividends!
Review: About five years ago my colleagues and I at a technology start-up called Inforte found this book. As we grew from 15 to 450 professionals the counsel in this book was a life saver! Inevitably new members of the executive team would want to execute line extensions, get into training, outsourcing, software development, etc. but we did as Al advised and stuck to our guns - focusing only on services. His point - focus is like the sun, as it spreads out it becomes weaker and diluted. On the other hand, concentrated like a laser it is at its strongest. This book was the best and easiest way to explain to new team members our philosophy. Three years later we were able to meet Al and ask him to join our Board - where his continued application of focus, the brand strength, the increased margins, the stability - all had tremendous payoff. I have read all of his books and if you can only read one - this is it! A great book to give starting Entrepreneurs and pays off large dividends for anyone running a business. It is also a quick read and keeps a fun, macro perspective on the topic.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, application pays dividends!
Review: About five years ago my colleagues and I at a technology start-up called Inforte found this book. As we grew from 15 to 450 professionals the counsel in this book was a life saver! Inevitably new members of the executive team would want to execute line extensions, get into training, outsourcing, software development, etc. but we did as Al advised and stuck to our guns - focusing only on services. His point - focus is like the sun, as it spreads out it becomes weaker and diluted. On the other hand, concentrated like a laser it is at its strongest. This book was the best and easiest way to explain to new team members our philosophy. Three years later we were able to meet Al and ask him to join our Board - where his continued application of focus, the brand strength, the increased margins, the stability - all had tremendous payoff. I have read all of his books and if you can only read one - this is it! A great book to give starting Entrepreneurs and pays off large dividends for anyone running a business. It is also a quick read and keeps a fun, macro perspective on the topic.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any CEO
Review: Al, Thank you, for writing this book! If you are a CEO or Marketing person you should read this book before you launch next business or marketing plan. This book is full of real examples about real companies (like IBM, Boston Market, Sony, and GE) who continue to fall in the trench when they cross over into a new product or service. The book isn't just rhetoric, but stuffed with practical advice on how to keep ahead of the competition by staying focused. One my favorite lines from the book (paraphased)- "Butterflies are not called flying caterpillars because, in the mind, you just don't think of a caterpillar as a butterfly. His point being, if you are the market for inexpensive automobile, you are more likely to look at Honda, than BMW's newest low-end car.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any CEO
Review: Al, Thank you, for writing this book! If you are a CEO or Marketing person you should read this book before you launch next business or marketing plan. This book is full of real examples about real companies (like IBM, Boston Market, Sony, and GE) who continue to fall in the trench when they cross over into a new product or service. The book isn't just rhetoric, but stuffed with practical advice on how to keep ahead of the competition by staying focused. One my favorite lines from the book (paraphased)- "Butterflies are not called flying caterpillars because, in the mind, you just don't think of a caterpillar as a butterfly. His point being, if you are the market for inexpensive automobile, you are more likely to look at Honda, than BMW's newest low-end car.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good data, but poor presentation
Review: by Ries, you can learn the marketing in two weeks without any certificate of any university, you learn how to market your product, how to under stand the market and the customer. in simple way you will love marketing even you do not working in marketing. so have fun.
Rating: 
Summary: Fluff
Review: For the most part, the ideas in this book are correct: the companies that identify their core businesses and focus on them exclusively are the ones that are most successful. PepsiCo is an often-used example of a company without focus because it is in both the soft-drink business and the restaurant business. Ries argues that this lack of focus causes companies to be valued less. Thus, even though PepsiCo's restaurant business is the largest in the world (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, etc.), it is valued less than McDonald's, which is smaller but focused. And, even though PepsiCo's revenues are higher than Coke's, again, it is valued less than Coke, Coke being a more focused company. The author outlines several specific problems unfocused companies face, like distracted management and competing against potential customers (e.g., PepsiCo would have a hard time selling soda to McDonald's because it competes against it in the fast-food business). There is also some good commentary about brand extensions and why they often don't work. For example, "Reebok" might be a great shoe brand, but carrying it over into other products, like Reebok fitness clubs, isn't likely to work. He gives lots of examples to think about, but his logic is sometimes faulty. For example, in trying to argue that Coke should have stuck with the separate "Coke" and "Tab" brands instead of launching "Diet Coke," he points out that the market share of the Coke-plus-Diet-Coke combination today is about the same as the original market share of the Coke-plus-Tab combination. In other words, there was no benefit to replacing Tab with Diet Coke. But this conclusion is invalid because it assumes that Tab could have held its market share. But maybe the only way that Coke could have kept its market share in the face of new competition from Diet Pepsi was to replace Tab with Diet Coke. Who knows? It's not so simple as the author would like us to believe. These are some other things I didn't like about the book: The author rarely gives data to back up his claims. You just have to take him at his word. When he does give data, it is hardly sufficient. Often when trying to "prove" that Company A's focused strategy is better than Company B's unfocused strategy, the only piece of data he offers is a comparison of the two companies' profits for the most recent year, like this: Company A earned $100 million last year, whereas Company B lost $20 million. Therefore, Company A's strategy is better. The problem is that so many things can influence profits year-to-year that such snapshot comparisons have little significance. If he had shown trends over several years, that would have been meaningful, but that, of course, takes a little more research. Many of the analogies in this book are way off the mark. For example, in one section, he is arguing that every company must be a niche company, since no company can expect to capture an entire market, or even close. His analogy? Franklin D. Roosevelt, our country's only four-term president, never got more than 61% of the vote in an election. How then, he asks, could a company capture 80 or 90% of a market? Huh? My other major complaint is with the style of the book. In a typical chapter, he introduces an idea and then gives literally dozens upon dozens of examples to illustrate it. But the examples are each just a paragraph or two long. No data, no in-depth analysis. Basically, this is a book with good ideas overall, but some ideas are suspect, and there is hardly any sound, quantitative data to back anything up. It's fitting that the cover has an endorsement from motivational guru Anthony Robbins, since the book is written very much in the motivational-speaker style: This is my idea, I'm saying it over and over, now you believe me.
Rating:
Summary: Fluff
Review: For the most part, the ideas in this book are correct: the companies that identify their core businesses and focus on them exclusively are the ones that are most successful. PepsiCo is an often-used example of a company without focus because it is in both the soft-drink business and the restaurant business. Ries argues that this lack of focus causes companies to be valued less. Thus, even though PepsiCo's restaurant business is the largest in the world (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, etc.), it is valued less than McDonald's, which is smaller but focused. And, even though PepsiCo's revenues are higher than Coke's, again, it is valued less than Coke, Coke being a more focused company. The author outlines several specific problems unfocused companies face, like distracted management and competing against potential customers (e.g., PepsiCo would have a hard time selling soda to McDonald's because it competes against it in the fast-food business). There is also some good commentary about brand extensions and why they often don't work. For example, "Reebok" might be a great shoe brand, but carrying it over into other products, like Reebok fitness clubs, isn't likely to work. He gives lots of examples to think about, but his logic is sometimes faulty. For example, in trying to argue that Coke should have stuck with the separate "Coke" and "Tab" brands instead of launching "Diet Coke," he points out that the market share of the Coke-plus-Diet-Coke combination today is about the same as the original market share of the Coke-plus-Tab combination. In other words, there was no benefit to replacing Tab with Diet Coke. But this conclusion is invalid because it assumes that Tab could have held its market share. But maybe the only way that Coke could have kept its market share in the face of new competition from Diet Pepsi was to replace Tab with Diet Coke. Who knows? It's not so simple as the author would like us to believe. These are some other things I didn't like about the book: The author rarely gives data to back up his claims. You just have to take him at his word. When he does give data, it is hardly sufficient. Often when trying to "prove" that Company A's focused strategy is better than Company B's unfocused strategy, the only piece of data he offers is a comparison of the two companies' profits for the most recent year, like this: Company A earned $100 million last year, whereas Company B lost $20 million. Therefore, Company A's strategy is better. The problem is that so many things can influence profits year-to-year that such snapshot comparisons have little significance. If he had shown trends over several years, that would have been meaningful, but that, of course, takes a little more research. Many of the analogies in this book are way off the mark. For example, in one section, he is arguing that every company must be a niche company, since no company can expect to capture an entire market, or even close. His analogy? Franklin D. Roosevelt, our country's only four-term president, never got more than 61% of the vote in an election. How then, he asks, could a company capture 80 or 90% of a market? Huh? My other major complaint is with the style of the book. In a typical chapter, he introduces an idea and then gives literally dozens upon dozens of examples to illustrate it. But the examples are each just a paragraph or two long. No data, no in-depth analysis. Basically, this is a book with good ideas overall, but some ideas are suspect, and there is hardly any sound, quantitative data to back anything up. It's fitting that the cover has an endorsement from motivational guru Anthony Robbins, since the book is written very much in the motivational-speaker style: This is my idea, I'm saying it over and over, now you believe me.
Rating:
Summary: Focused, but undisiplined
Review: I believe this book makes a valid point for the pularity of companies today. There are just enough tidbits to make the read worthwhile. However, I found the book frustrating. The author suffers from disclipine. He makes poor use of analogies and the book, while chock full of examples, could many times be examples of the contra opionion: diversification. The author would benifit from application of scientific rigor that would add depth and credibility to his copious but superficial use of examples. Perhaps exploring a corporate strategy of diversification would of given him the credibility I needed to swallow all his claims. Without it he comes off as someone who makes up his mind what position he wants and then grasps anything possible to support his ideal. For those interested in the subject I relay the maxim, "Concentrate when in control otherwise diversify."
Rating:
Summary: Focused, but undisiplined
Review: I believe this book makes a valid point for the pularity of companies today. There are just enough tidbits to make the read worthwhile. However, I found the book frustrating. The author suffers from disclipine. He makes poor use of analogies and the book, while chock full of examples, could many times be examples of the contra opionion: diversification. The author would benifit from application of scientific rigor that would add depth and credibility to his copious but superficial use of examples. Perhaps exploring a corporate strategy of diversification would of given him the credibility I needed to swallow all his claims. Without it he comes off as someone who makes up his mind what position he wants and then grasps anything possible to support his ideal. For those interested in the subject I relay the maxim, "Concentrate when in control otherwise diversify."
Rating:
Summary: A very good book
Review: I have not finished this book yet, but I believe I am already benefited from the book. I won't be as puzzled and frustrated as I was, facing distractions and many seemingly attractive oppotunities in life and work. It lets me to realize the harmful effects of unfocused efforts. This is enough for me to rate this book 5 stars. However, I also believe focus in real life is not a static thing. You have to focus in a way that does not lose the sight of what is happening around you. In other words, you have to re-evaluate your focusing path from time to time. By the way, I got this book from a library book sale. It was an unfocused effort -- I was just out there trying to find something interesting.
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