Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continuosly Developing a More Profitable Business Model

by Donald Mitchell

Authors Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles conducted a ten-year study of companies that had grown the fastest over a three-year period. Their research reveals that while unsuccessful companies doggedly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576751678
• ISBN13: 9781576751671
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Innovative thinking backed up with a coherent approach

This book does two things - (1) it describes how to achieve and sustain competitive advantage by examining your current business model and refactoring it to take advantage of emergent opportunities or changing business climates, and (2) it teaches you how to think out of the box.Thinking out of the box is a prerequisite for refactoring your business model, and unlike the plethora of books on this seemingly ineffable topic, this book will provide you with the knowledge and skills to do just that. Excellent example of thinking out of the box are immediately given in the introduction - each mini study set in text boxes is anchored to one of more factors in business model innovation, and illustrate how thinking out of the box by individuals led to radically new ways of viewing their business, and the successes that came from acting on these insights. Everyone will find at least one inspiring case study in this book that elicits an Eureka! Mine was the GoldCorp case.However, case studies--no matter how inspiring--are nothing more than interesting reading without knowing the common critical success factors in detail. This is where the book shines, because these details are exposed, analyzed and the reasons why they are important are given in a compelling way. Part One, which addresses value, cost and price is by far the most influential 114 pages I have read in any book. Most of the techniques can be found in any college-level text book, but the manner in which it's presented, and especially the chapter on eliminating costs that reduce customer and end user benefits, will inspire you to think broadly and deeply about these issues. Part Two covers how to provide sustained benefits to all stakeholders. In theory this seems easy, but too many organizations acknowledge the benefits without acting. The authors show you how to transform the theory into action and results. They also tackle the messages in Parts Three (Expand Business Model Innovation) and Four (Pursue Higher-Potential Business Model Improvement) with the same painstaking detail as in the first two parts.This book has clear, lively writing that will hold your interest from the first page. In fact, it is so well written that you may easily overlook the experience, knowledge and skill that is woven into this excellent book through carefully chosen case studies, key questions that cause you to think, and copious use of text boxes to highlight key points or impart quick pieces of essential information. In that respect not only is this book a valuable addition to any executive's reading list, but it's a masterpiece. It deserves a place alongside the works of Michael Porter, Kaplan & Norton, and Drucker.

Don't open the store without it

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 stil

excellent source to learn the concept of business models

I was not specically looking for a book on business models and got my hands on this one by chance. After I read the first ten pages (an example of a caddy, a guy who helps golf players by carrying their clubs, who developed his own business model and become prosperous), my understanding of what business models are and who can use them was turned upside down. In my ignorance, I thought that business models are used primarily by medium to large companies. It turned out to be completely wrong. A business model is a vision, an idea, a concept which distingusihes a business, gives it an edge over the competitors, and ultimately leads to commercial success of their business, be it a huge corporation or a small one-self-employed-person company. We all heard stories of successful enterpreneurs who changed the way how the business is done. With the benefit of hindsight, their ideas appear very simple, straightforward, and even self-evident. And yet, for each great success there are probably hundreds of unsuccessful busness models which led to failures. How can one predict which model will work? D.Mitchell and C.Coles believe that one can learn from both the good and the bad experience of hundreds of people, ranking from CEOs of major corporation to tiny business. They spent years talking to people who made fortunes on their successful ideas, and to those who tried and failed. They accumulated, distilled, and analyzed in their book what they learned about the business models, the ways how they were developed, and the errors which are commonly made. While I am not in the position to judge whether "The ultimate compeitive advantage" may be of value to professionals (probably it is), I can see two groups of readers which can definitely benefit from reading it. They are owners of small businesses striving to get a greater share of the market or improve their profitability, and curious people who do not run businesses, but want to understand the way how the competitive economy works, and why some companies are doing better than the others. The book contains numerous examples which we all heard about, or even dealt with as customers (although did not necessarily understand WHY it works this way, and how it was related to the business models) - e.g., why GM was consistently loosing its market share and dropped the Oldsmobile line, or why it was good for Disney to introduce multi-day passports to Disneyland, or how Southwest airlines adjusts its destinations and pricing policy to maximize profits and customer satisfaction. The examples are mixed with discussions how to critically review the existing models and develop new ones, how to test the ideas, and how to implement them. Each chapter ends with stimulating questions and suggestions. The book is not an easy reading, be prepared to spend hours reading and thinking, but the information and knowledge gained from it is well worth the effort.

How to effectively manage business model improvement(s)

Donald W. Mitchell is Chairman and CEO of Mitchell & Co., a Boston-based management consulting firm. Carol Bruckner Coles is cofounder, president and COO of the same company. They are the authors of 'The 2,000 Percent Solution' (1999) and 'The Irresistible Growth Enterprise' (2000). This book on is split up in four parts, whereby each part consists of 2-to-3 chapters, plus an useful introduction, prologue, and epilogue. In this book the authors aim to answer one of the ultimate business' questions of all time: "What one thing can most improve a company's growth and profitability?" The authors believe that the answer is: "having the best process in your industry for continuing business model innovation." The improvement tips in book are based on research into 100 CEOs and their companies, who (1) had been publicly held for several years and above a certain market capitalization size; (2) fastest growing stock prices during the previous three years; and (3) the same CEO was in place throughout the three years. Some additional examples were taken from the 'Value Line Investment Survey' between 1989 and fall 2000. The 'Introduction' discusses business model innovation and the race for leadership and prosperity. "It is that business model obsolescence is THE major unperceived opportunity for and threat to all businesses now." In the 'Prologue' they introduce some great examples of business model innovators, ranging from gold-mining Goldcorp to entertainment giant Disney(land). In Part I - 'The Most Productive Areas for Business Model Innovation' the pleasure of this book really starts. Mitchell and Coles start discussing the areas where companies can improve their operations. They split these areas up in three. The first is increasing value without raising prices and costs; the second is to adjust pricing to increase sales profitably; and third, reduction of costs that reduce customers benefits. The authors use a wide range of examples to explain their points. Part II - 'Provide Sustained Benefits for All Stakeholders' discusses the difficult stage after the initial success of a business model innovation: The view that one success can threaten to dismantle the foundation of that success. The authors discuss methods for building a buffer for lean times and establishing a good ethical base for the company. They also discuss how leading business model innovators reward all stakeholders fairly in ways the stakeholders prefer. In Part III - 'Expand Business Model Innovation', Mitchell and Coles explain that companies should never be satisfied with their current business model and should keep innovating. "Start first and stay focused on adding business model innovations to gain and keep a profitable competitive advantage." There is also advise how to create a culture for nurturing ongoing business model innovation within organizations. These two issues should be seen as one of the highest priority on an executive's agenda. The final part, 'Pursue Hi

Fresh Look at Business Success

Some wag, a few years ago, audaciously claimed that there really was no such thing as a "business model." It is probably true that many businesses aren't so much the realization of a carefully designed model as they are the products of happenstance, survival-driven evolution, and habit. And it's probably also true that many top executives cannot articulate the model upon which their business is based. But, of course, every business is most definitely based upon a model (intentionally crafted or not).Authors Mitchell and Coles both define what a business model is, and declare that continually tinkering with your business's model gives you the Ultimate Competitive Advantage (which is, in their words, "products and services [that] can be provided in ways that deliver more sales, higher profitability and greater cash flow than would occur if a competitor supplied the same customer"). They proclaim that the "big idea" of their book "is that business model obsolescence is *the* major unperceived opportunity for and threat to all businesses now."Innovation, the authors argue, belongs not only in the R & D lab but in every facet of your operation. This constant reinvention, the authors argue, truly is a matter of survival: Businesses too easily get trapped by their own traditions inhibiting growth or responsiveness to changing conditions, or they fail to distinguish themselves from equally capable and awfully similar purveyors of goods and services.Drawing on research spanning more than a decade, the authors tracked companies that performed above their competitors for at least three years under the same CEO. Interviews with CEOs provide many of the "secrets" offered by the book. The topics span pricing, corporate values, financial management, rewards for various stockholders, innovation, and many of the multiple facets that go into creating a distinct and successful business model.In addition to providing examples from traditional corporations, Mitchell and Coles also draw insights from philosophers, point to a few examples from the not-for-profit world (e.g., Habitat for Humanity), and provide case studies of individual innovators (such as chronicling an enterprising golf caddy, tracing the exemplary evolution of Peter Drucker as a thought leader and consultant, and reviewing the career of the avant garde architect Frank Lloyd Wright). In presenting their concepts, the authors also employ devices and metaphors such as the familiar child's lemonade stand, an orchard, and a (thoroughly tortured) lily pond.This book doesn't fall prey to the all too common ploy of promising "three easy steps to instant success," but neither does it present a linear, prescribed methodology for a reader who is eager to implement The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Yet the book is still process-oriented. There are plenty of insights and relevant inferences waiting to be drawn, and there is considerable practical information available to someone willing to meander through the m