Marketbusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth [Hardcover]

Ignore the glitzy title and concentrate on the solid material which is provided. As the subtitle of this volume correctly indicates, McGrath and MacMillan identify and then explain "40 strategic moves that drive exceptional business growth." Decision-makers in many organizations still do not understand that strategies resemble hammers in that they "drive" tactics which are comparable with nails. Of course, both strategies and tactics must be selected with meticulous care, then implemented effectively. The core of this book involves five strategies to create "marketbusters": Transform the customers' experience, transform your offerings, redefine profit drivers, exploit industry shifts, and consider entering (for you) new markets. No news there. The value of this book is derived from McGrath and MacMillan's explanations of (a) HOW to select the strategies which are most appropriate to your organization's current and imminent needs and (b) WHAT to do when coordinating those strategies with tactics (or "moves") during the implementation process.

To assist that process, they provide "Preparing Yourself: Audit Your Strategy and Clarify Your Process," a self-dianostic which poses most (if not all) of the key questions to be answered and most (if not all) of the key issues to be addressed. Of special interest to me is the provision, also, of a set of "Action Steps" at the conclusion of each chapter. With regard to the "40 Moves," they are organized as follows, accompanied by specific examples: Numbers 1-5 which involve changing the consumption chain (pages 25-39), Numbers 6-12 which various companies have used to shift the attribute maps for their offerings and create marketbusters (pages 54-76, Numbers 13-20 which suggest potential alternatives to a current unit of business (pages 92-113), Numbers 21-32 which can help to structure (or restructure) consideration of possible industrywide shifts (pages 119-148), and Numbers 33-40 which can assist the formulation of a typology of potential opportunity types and an understanding of what achieving success with each may require (pages 156-179).

McGrath and MacMillan then provide a "MarketBuster Case Study" of Royal Insurance Italy in which they demonstrate at least some of the potentialities of the cohesive and comprehensive process previously discussed, followed by an Appendix in which all 40 "Moves" are briefly but thoughtfully reiterated. I strongly recommend to those who read this book that they re-read the Appendix at least monthly so as to be prepared to recognize whichever new growth options and opportunities may emerge since first reading this book.

When concluding this brief commentary, I presume to offer a few caveats. First, beware of what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton characterize as "The Knowing-Doing Gap" in the book which bears that title. More often than not, decision-makers fail to convert knowledge into action to achieve the desired results. In this context, I am reminded of Coach Darrell Royal's assertion that "potential" means "you ain't done it yet." Also, expect to encounter substantial resistance to change initiatives. For example, what Jim O'Toole characterizes in his book, Leading Change, as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Moreover, once you have selected the most appropriate strategies, you must obtain buy-in and then maintain a steadfast commitment to them but be prepared to change tactics. Hence the importance of having an early-warning system as you rigorously measure organizational and individual performance. Finally, have a contingency plan in place so that you can respond immediately and effectively whenever new or revised tactics are required.

Better than "Ghostbusters!", this book is most valuable due to its sharp questions and pointed advice to chase away the ghost of slow growth. I'm professionally involved in Private Equity and Venture Capital investing in Germany and internationally. For an investor it is crucial to understand growth drivers and the future growth potential of portfolio companies. The 40 strategic moves and the framework for MarketBusters offer practical guidelines - far more helpful in the day to day business than for example the rather conceptional books of Clayton Christensen. I would highly recommend this book not only to top executives for structuring their companies' growth efforts, but also for investors as guidelines for due diligence questions and better comprehension of growth potentials. Clearly 5 Stars!

If business growth or commercial development is in your job description, then you will want to keep this book at hand. In the first place, it has been written for the practitioner (a point which is deeply appreciated by those of us who hate to wade through heavily footnoted academic works in order to ferret out what might be of practical use). In fact, it almost reminds me of a cookbook - a list of tested recipes you might use to prepare some business growth depending on what materials you have on hand. That is why I keep the book on my desk - it allows me to make a quick assessment of just what I am dealing with along with ways to go about it. The book does assume a certain familiarity with the activities/scenarios that surround growing a business. For a rookie, I'd recommend reading "The Entrepreneurial Mindset" first. Finally, there is a real nugget in this book, which, in my opinion, should not have been relegated to the second-to-the-last chapter. However, starting on page 181, there is a discussion on what it is really like to try to implement these market-busting moves inside a company. Having spent 17 years in industry, most of it in early stage development, I find the organizational difficulties of executing outside the normal parameters to be much harder than any technical or market challenge. This book is one of the few that even begins to address that difficulty and provides strategies to deal with it. This chapter proves that the authors know about the workings of large companies beyond the conceptual level.

In summary, this is a readable, practical, useful, and insightful book - you will not get tired of it.

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