Additional information
by Bernard Jaworski (Author), David Sprott (Author)
A powerful and original new take on business strategy--with the customer at the center of it--designed to generate enduring competitive advantage
When setting strategy, organizations typically spend too much time thinking about the competition and resources within the firm and not enough time on the customer--the soul of any organization. Such an approach is reflected in the fact that most popular theories of business strategy have focused on resource- and capability-based perspectives of the firm. Real-world businesses embracing and applying these intuitively attractive theories have struggled to compete, however, exactly because those theories fail to adequately account for the most important actor in all commercial transactions: the customer.
In The Soul of Strategy, two veteran strategists and academics deliver a straightforward new approach to business strategy--one that builds and expands on the classic work of Peter Drucker--recognizing the inescapable reality, faced by every organization, that a firm's primary job is to create and keep customers.
The book offers a comprehensive customer-centric strategy framework, a set of fresh perspectives and tools, and step-by-step guides to implementing the leadership styles, governance structures, and technology that companies require to outcompete their rivals in attracting and retaining customers. The book brings to life these key principles by using case studies and examples of organizations in a variety of industries. You'll find:
- A clear description of the concept of customer centricity and its value to the organization.
- A new consumer behavior framework that will enable you to ask the right questions to elicit unique, actionable customer insights
- A "Customer Choice Cascade" that details how to select, prioritize, and deliver value for both customers and the firm.
- A balanced perspective on how to both find sources of innovation and systematically abandon activities, products, structures and systems that no longer add value to customers.
- The key role that customer insight data play in setting customer-centered strategy.
- Expansions on Drucker's proven strategic insights and ideas that go beyond well-worn frameworks like Porter's Five Forces.
Perfect for managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, The Soul of Strategy is also a can't-miss resource for strategy consultants and advisors and anyone else interested in effective new ways of thinking about difficult and long-standing strategic problems.
Front Jacket
Organizations applying traditional approaches to setting strategy have long struggled to compete effectively. This book tells you why that is. Strategy frameworks that we all know typically focus on the competition or internal resources but fail to account for the central importance of the most important decision maker in every transaction: the customer.
In The Soul of Strategy, a team of veteran strategists and researchers delivers an eye-opening new approach to organizational strategy. The authors build on the classic work of Peter Drucker while expanding in a current fashion on the inescapable reality that the prime directive of every firm is to create and keep its customers--whether it be a commercial business, a nonprofit, NGO, or public sector organization.
The book walks you through a comprehensive customer acquisition and retention strategy framework, grounding the reader in core concepts related to intelligence gathering and customer behavior.
Reflecting the core of the book, you'll discover how to acquire, understand, and share customer data that will enable you to build or refine your customer-centered strategies. It offers original and fresh perspectives, practical tools, and step-by-step guides to build the leadership competencies, governance structures, and technology that companies need to outcompete their rivals. It also provides real-world case studies and hands-on examples of companies from a wide variety of organizations that have effectively implemented the lessons contained in the book.
The Soul of Strategy explains how to select, prioritize, and deliver value for customers, as well as how to retain some of that value in the firm. You'll learn how to find new sources of innovation and how to identify activities, products, structures, and systems that no longer provide sufficient value for anyone.
The need for this book has never been greater with increased power that customers exert on organizations due to a variety of societal pressures ranging from big data to challenges to our lived environment. Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders, The Soul of Strategy is a must-read book for strategists, consultants, advisors, and anyone else with an interest in finding effective new ways of thinking about complicated, difficult, and long-standing strategic challenges.
Back Jacket
Praise for The Soul of Strategy
"The Soul of Strategy is a straightforward and practical book on customer-centricity; a topic that is easy to conceptualize yet extraordinarily difficult to implement in practice, and at scale."
--Mick Farrell, CEO, Resmed
"The Soul of Strategy shares abundant guidance for firms wise enough to grasp the importance of orienting their operations around the soul of the customer. That is no easy feat, yet this book is a clear recipe for achieving that goal."
--Gerald Zaltman, Joseph C. Wilson Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School and Author, Dare to Think Differently
"This is the definitive guide to becoming customer centric. Compelling, comprehensive, and thoroughly practical."
--Rajesh Chandy, Tony and Maureen Wheeler Chair in Entrepreneurship, London Business School
Author Biography
BERNARD J. JAWORSKI, PHD, is the Drucker Chair in Management and the Liberal Arts in the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, as well as an ISBM and AMA Marketing Fellow. He has authored seven books on leadership, corporate strategy, and service management.
DAVID E. SPROTT, PHD, is the Henry Y. Hwang Dean and a Professor of Marketing in the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management. He's authored dozens of articles exploring various factors exploring why consumers behave as they do.
