Intelligent Manufacturing € December € 1996 € Vol. 2 € No. 12

Manufacturer's Library

Cooperate to Compete: Building Agile Business Relationships, by Kenneth Preiss, Steven L. Goldman and Roger N. Nagel, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 313 pages, $24.95, ISBN 0-442-02253-0

The day of the stand-alone business is over, according to the authors of this book. Today, a decision in one company immediately affects decisions in other businesses all over the world. In little more than a heartbeat, even the best-laid strategies can crumble.

To thrive in such a volatile environment, this book recommends the adoption of a new strategy: operate your business as an "interprise" -- forming closer, more interactive relationships with customers, suppliers and even competitors. The book shows the reader how to transform their company into an agile business that can adapt quickly as the pace of change continues to accelerate.

A successful interprise can: offer new combinations of product, series and information to become an integral part of customers' businesses; forge strong, mutually rewarding bonds with suppliers; and build an adaptive, entrepreneurial culture based on the recognition that long-term success comes from how well you support your customers.

The book describes how to: fragment product and service offerings to increase markets; apply the price-follows-value concept to build mutually profitable partnerships with customers and suppliers; use new costing methods that give a true picture of how you're doing; prioritize your improvement activities around an understandable strategic goal; and scrap the old "command and control" management approach as you lead your interprise to success.

Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition, by Adrian L. Slywotzky, Harvard Business School Press, 326 pages, $24.95, ISBN 0-87584-632-7

This book attempts to set the agenda for business strategy in the next decade by helping the reader understand where value resides in their industry today and where it will move in days to come. It's important that manufacturers are able to anticipate what their customers will want in the future, how to deliver it to them ahead of the competition, and even how to determine who their major competitors will be.

The book identifies a dramatic shift in the business landscape: new, aggressive and successful companies have taken on the giants and are winning. Companies like Microsoft, Nucor and Starbucks have captured growth in revenue, profits and market value from previously dominant competitors like IBM, U.S. Steel and General Foods. This success has come primarily thanks to superior business designs in terms of how they select customers, differentiate their offerings, configure their resources, go to market, and capture value, all based on a strategic understanding of their customers' highest priorities.

The book charts the path of value migration from obsolete to new business designs, and identifies several patterns of value migration that every manager should know. The author demonstrates the step-by-step process by which a manager can evaluate his/her own company's situation. The book reveals the specific strategic tools the reader can use to anticipate customer changes and then design a business that will capitalize on the inevitable migration of value.

Intelligent Business Alliances: How to Profit Using Today's Most Important Strategic Tool, by Larraine Segil, Times Business, 251 pages, $25, ISBN 0-8129-2466-5

Alliances between companies have become a crucial weapon in the battle for competitive advantage, according to this book. Managed wisely, a strategic alliance can help companies develop and exploit their unique strengths. For example, a large company can break down the marketing barriers that face a small company, which in turn brings entrepreneurial creativity to the partnership. An alliance can also be a powerful tool for accessing new technology and developing domestic or international opportunities.

Yet many companies mismanage their alliances, leading to wasted money, time and effort, sometimes with disastrous results. This book shows how to establish and manage winning alliances, starting with the crucial process of picking the right partner and creating realistic expectations on both sides. The book then explains how to analyze the corporate and individual personality types involved in an alliance, and how to forecast and avoid problems due to miscommunication or mismatched value systems.

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