Breaking Compromises: Opportunities for Action in Consumer Markets from the Boston Consulting Group

By b521

Praise for Breaking Compromises "Take this book along on your next business trip. In about the time it takes to jet from New York to Chicago, you will gain fresh, practical insights into today's most challenging consumer goods topics, from e-commerce to globalization." -Robert A. Eckert, President and CEO, Kraft Foods, Inc. "These essays detail how successful companies find ideas, bring together resources to test them, learn from their mistakes, and, ultimately, how they succeed." -Steven S Reinemund, President and COO, PepsiCo, Inc. "Branded manufacturers need to refocus on developing new products to fend off consolidating retailers and private labels. Retailers need to uncover the missing link between the company's strategy and its implementation at the front line to provide the kind of service customers are demanding. The challenge is continuous innovation, which is about ideas and process, not one or the other. The essays in Breaking Compromises speak to the most pressing issues across the entire range of consumer businesses today." -William D. Perez, President and COO Worldwide Consumer Products, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. "The consumer industry is undergoing a revolution, not only in how its products and services are made, distributed, marketed, and sold, but also in how consumers learn about, shop for, purchase, and repurchase them. The ideas in Breaking Compromises will help you not only to survive the upheaval in your environment but ultimately to leverage it for improved performance and the highest returns." -Indra K. Nooyi, Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy and Development, PepsiCo, Inc. "If the past decade has taught us anything about retail, it is that change is not only inevitable, it is imperative. To stand still is to declare defeat. To overcome complacency, outsmart and outexecute the competition, and stay ahead of shifting markets, a business must constantly and consistently replenish its stock of fresh insights. This compendium of business practices and wisdom is a very good first step." -Dan Finkelman, Senior Vice President Brand and Business Planning, The Limited, Inc.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 047138433X
• ISBN13: 9780471384335
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Lots of Valuable Best Practices and Mini Case Histories!

The essays in this book were originally published over the last 10 years and present many coordinated perspectives on key consumer issues. In some consumer products and service companies, the functional silos argue over what to do and reach internal compromises that ignore providing customers, purchasers, and consumers with what they want. You would have to work in a dozen companies over a number of years to capture all of the useful observations in these essays. I found the work to be solid except for an emphasis on overly coordinating brand activities within a sector, and perhaps a little too much of a focus on the financial value of all this. The sections cover Operating Efficiency, Retailing, Marketing and Selling, the Consumer, the Brand, E-Commerce, Global Markets, and Staying Ahead. I thought that the best sections were the first four. My favorite essays were:Don't Get Trapped in the Skills Gap;Make in a Week What You Sell in a Week;Price by Design;The Power of Direct Store Delivery;Inner Cities Are the Next Retailing Frontier; Levels of the Game in Frequency Marketing;The Research Advantage;Winning a Segment-of-One at a Time;Customer Retention; One Size Doesn't Fit All;Total Brand Management;Winning on the Net;Meeting the Local Challenge in China;The Paradox of Success.Whenever we address basic consumer issues, we should all be sure to remember the bad experiences we have every day: The line that doesn't move for 15 minutes; the person who cannot help you; the endless telephone menus; on-line help menus that don't help; and out of stocks. And that's before we get to rude and annoying service. It is easy to forget how bad things are. I recently went to a seminar where the panelists discussed how they spent their time waiting for slow Web pages to load. If you are in a consumer products or services company, at least one of these essays will immediately improve your business. Only you will know which one!Go beyond hitting budgets to building purchases and experiences that consumers look forward to!

Thought provoking and solid

A collection of papers from the Boston Consulting Group from the past four years. They have not dated which is nice.Occasionally reads a little like a BCG presentation so can be a bit dry - but the CONTENT is great. Has chapters of related material ie. REAL brand management for the 21st century; dealing with e-commerce effectively and strategically without wasting money.Nice big picture stuff but with meat - you could actually use the material to kick start some thinking in your company.Good stuff!