Please feel free to browse through our Library of business strategy books. To make our Library more value-added and dynamic, we feature a separate page for each book with our three favourite quotes as well as links (if available) to the Author’s LinkedIn Profile, Twitter Feed, and Blog.
The Book “Momentum-deficient firms regard value as a bundle of functional benefits provided to customers at a price, and underestimate the intangible and emotional elements that actually drive customers’ behavior.” “emotional elements of customer value are often invisible to the analytical business world” “shift from a transaction-based mindset to a customer equity mindset” A few …
The Book “…where a connoisseur sees the differences, a novice sees the similarities” “Consumption has become the identity cloak of our generation.” “breakaway brands succeed in transforming their industries. They leave their imprint by expanding product definitions, by stretching category boundaries, and by forcing competitors to play catch-up for years to come.” If there is …
“the brands consumers swoon over, tell their friends about, and buy time and time again. These are the brands that drive a company’s stock price beyond the estimates of financial experts. These are the brands that create surprise earnings quarter after quarter.” “brand equity is simply a reflection of past accomplishments” “Many iconic brands originated …
The Book “Instead of focusing on the competition, you focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space.” “Value innovation is based on view that market boundaries and industry structure are not given and can be reconstructed by the …
The Book “FIDELITY vs CONVENIENCE Fidelity: being something special and hard to get Convenience: being easily accessible, even at expense of lower quality” “Any product or service that is neither extremely high-fidelity nor high-convenience risks sinking into fidelity belly – no-man’s land of consumer experience – ruled by apathy.” “EXPERIENCE + AURA + IDENTITY = …
The Book “Fast growth gets the attention of customers, both current and potential; it also boosts customer confidence and enhances a company’s reputation for excellence.” “Growth leads to new job opportunities within the organization, which, in turn, lead to higher morale. High morale makes it easier to achieve innovations and improve productivity, the fuel of …
The Book “Denial is seductive because it can work in the short term. Occasionally it works in the long term, but that is rarely true in business.” “…denial is interpretive. One accepts the facts but denies their implications: It doesn’t apply to us. It’s not a big deal. It’s not our problem. It’s never happened …
The Book “…knowing where you come from (your roots) will help you know who you are (authenticity) and where you’re going (your calling).” “Fear is the most prevalent and contagious emotion in most companies, especially in bad economic times. Fear is a demotivator, and it has a corrosive effect on creativity and innovation.” “…positivity influences …
The Book “I to the power of We: an individual’s power is raised exponentially with the help of a network.” “Today search literacy is not enough. The bigger advantage is gained by network literacy: knowing how to conceptualize, access, and benefit from the information flowing through your social network.” “Enlightened for-profit companies align their for-profit …
The Book “Genuine, organic values must come from the ground up.” “A company that lacks integrity will eventually lose its best employees.” “People need to have faith and pride in what a company promises to its customers, includes in contracts, or touts in its advertising. If they know there are falsehoods or deceptions, their willingness …
The Book “…as Maslow asked in his book Eupsychian Managament, “Where do you put consumer good will and consumer loyalty in your balance sheet?”” “Human capital, unlike other assets, does not depreciate over time. Like good wine, it actually improves with age.” “…great companies have great causes.” After fifteen years of rising to the pinnacle …
The Book “When did we stop hearing our own music? Was it in the march to 40,000 stores? When did we forget that our business is about the customer and our love and passion for the coffee? They had to believe in our brand. In our purpose.” “People want to do business with companies they …
The Book “Living proof that company can lead with its heart and nurture its soul and still make money.” “If people relate to the company they work for, if they form an emotional tie to it and buy into its dreams, they will pour their heart into making it better.” “Our goal was to build …
The Book “The idea that a company has obligations to stake-holding groups other than its shareholders is a relatively new one.” “They had connected with their customers, who felt like they were an integral part of what was happening, not merely a source of revenue to some faceless businessmen.” “The issues here are heart, soul, …
The Book“Brand is how your customers see your products. Reputation is about how all your stakeholders view your entire operation.” “…reputation is becoming as important as net income as the “bottom line” of your business.” “…org chart is losing its value along with a company’s financial statements – neither does a very good job at …
The Book“More and more it is becoming abundantly evident that in today’s economy, the bottom line is directly connected to trust.” “…fruits of high trust (prosperity, energy, and joy) are sustainable only when organizations and industries act in ways that benefit all stakeholders, not merely shareholders.” “…transparency and authenticity build trust.” Smart Trust has met …
The Book “Win by being more ordinary, more standard, and cheaper. Or win by being faster, more remarkable, and more human.” “When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. And that creates even more value.” “We’ve been taught to be a replaceable cog in a giant machine… We’ve been taught …
The Book “Huge corporations still stalk the earth. We still report to hierarchical structures that cut us paychecks in exchange for obedience.” “…companies still speak of “acquiring,” “owning,” “controlling,” and “locking in” customers as if they were slaves.” “The only advertising that was ever truly effective was word of mouth, which is nothing more than …
The Book “Substantive missions are not concocted by some strategic planner, nor are they financially driven. They flow from values.” “Loyalty is largely a function of trust, which turns ever more on transparency.” “…genuine stewards don’t need their names on computer rooms or on big banners touting their sponsorship of cancer fund-raising races. Gifts given …
The Book “A collaborative model also assumes that stakeholder relationships can be a source of opportunity and competitive advantage.” “With a strong web of relationships, companies can anticipate, understand, and respond faster and more easily to changes in the external environment.” “A company’s social mission, values, and ethical principles provides employees with a solid foundation …
The Book “In business as in life, the difference between “insipid” and “inspired” is passion. With returns to mediocrity rapidly declining, passion matters now more than ever.” “Today’s most successful business models rely on value-creating networks and forms of social production that transcend organizational boundaries.” “We don’t have to live with organizations that are ethically …
The Book “Today’s most valuable corporate assets are intangible. They now comprise around 70% of the median value of publicly traded companies on the U.S. markets. These assets are known by many names—intellectual capital, intellectual assets…” “Small actors and individual events are stretching companies’ boundaries of responsibility, which is increasing the risks they face in …
The Book “…if we want that bonus, that promotion, that raise, or that corner office, then what really counts is seeking Ricardian profit through Fordist work in Sloanite organizations that sell Marshallian products to be mutely consumed.” “Betterness isn’t merely social enterprise, impact investing, or socially responsible business…It’s not about sustainability reports, corporate governance audits, …
The Book “Our corporate manifesto is not about quarterly earnings, return on equity, or market share; it’s about creating a just and equitable world, inspiring conscious consumption, and building coalitions that create new possibilities. Our name comes from the Iroquois, not an ad agency.” “Bloodless buzzwords like “corporate responsibility” and “ecoefficiency” are being supplanted by …
The Book “…firms and their brands are no longer in the B2C (Business to Consumer) business. Everyone’s now in the B2Ci (Business to Citizen) business.” “…prospect of measuring social capital – and the effects of social capital – is quite daunting, primarily because it is something that has not really been measured before.” “…many of …
The Book “Our businesses are living beings. They are not soulless machines that are only concerned with maximizing production and shareholder value. Yet that is what they have become. They have honed their ability to produce but lost their ability to contribute.” “…much of what happens in business cannot be explained by our existing models, …
The Book“…low-trust taxes don’t conveniently show up on your income statement as a “cost of low trust.” But just because they’re hidden doesn’t mean they’re not there… They’re quantifiable. And they’re often extremely high.” “In a company, high trust materially improves communication, collaboration, execution, innovation, strategy, engagement, partnering, and relationships with all stakeholders.” “A company …
The Book “…true source of a company’s growth: solutions for customers who have a human need… Companies that quantify these values and understand how they drive financial value are well positioned for bigger profits and help to create a better world.” “New liabilities can emerge when businesses ignore the true costs of their actions.” “…Typically, …
The Book “Corporations have no choice but to rethink their values and behaviors – for the better. If you’re going to be naked, you’d better be buff!” “Today’s economy depends on knowledge, human intelligence, agility, and relationships inside and outside the firm. The fuel is information, and the lubricant is trust.” “The Malboro Man was …
The Book “A central task of management is to refrain from making it [good work] even more difficult to pursue by emphasizing greed, cutting corners in quality, ignoring the needs of workers and customers, and generally transforming the organization into a soulless, valueless enterprise.” “…we infer the existence of soul when a system uses some …
The Book “Markets are pitiless. They reward whatever creates value and ignore or punish whatever does not.” “The hard assets of a knowledge company contribute far less to the value of its ultimate product (or service) than the intangible assets – the talents of its people, the efficacy of its management systems, the character of …
The Book “Looking for ideas in unfamiliar fields is not just about relocating what works from one industry to another. It is also about reimagining what’s possible in an industry.” “Customers are looking for companies whose beliefs align with theirs.” “…behind every great brand is an authentic sense of purpose—“a definitive statement about the difference …
The Book “Clif Bar became not only a lifestyle product but a grassroots phenomenon as they promoted their energy bars “at the point of passion”: at climbing crags, bike events, marathons, triathlons, and more.” “Today Chipotle’s manifesto is “no less ambitious than revolutionizing the way America grows, gathers, serves, and eats its food.”” “There is …
The Book “Because it focuses on those things that bring greater meaning, value, and health to individuals and societies, a Responsible Business never struggles to connect responsibility and profitability.” “Best practices are a substitute for innovation and relevance.” “…when a business understands itself as nested within a larger whole, a mental shift occurs.” “When most …
The Book “…endearing companies tend to be enduring companies.” “…in many instances, qualitative factors may be more revealing than quantitative factors in drawing a picture of a company’s future performance.” “…the accounting profession has yet to come up with a way of assigning economic value to employees and corporate cultures.” We’re entering an Age of …
The Book “I realized that I was under no obligation to frame business “success” solely in financial terms, and that it might be useful to explore the connections among values, character, social responsibility and the bottom line.” “strong argument to be made that companies driven by strong values will endure and prevail.” “a willingness to …
The Book “…shift from a focus on consumer transactions to a focus on long-term, one-to-one customer relationships…” “When the community associated with the product or service is as important as the product or service, customers will continue to purchase from the firm to maintain “membership” in the community.” “Customer Equity is a long-term financial concept, …
The Book“When people in an organization develop a shared and intuitive vibe for what’s going on in the world, they’re able to see new opportunities faster than their competitors” “Without a limbic system, companies lack any sense of empathy or courage. They’re either all neocortex, analyzing thoughtfully without the motivation to act, or reptilian, caught …
The Book “Purpose is your moral DNA” “…evolution in the way people think about competition – winner has gone from the one with the most tangible assets to intangible assets to primarily moral ideas” “When a company is driven by a Purpose, the vision, mission, and values flow naturally from that” In Purpose, world-renowned thought …
The Book “Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do.” “Knowing WHY is essential for lasting success and the ability to avoid being lumped in with others. It is the cause represented by the company, brand, product, or person that inspires loyalty.” “…they become markers of symbols of the …
The Book “…innovation is a process that combines discovering an opportunity, blueprinting an idea to seize that opportunity, and implementing that idea to achieve results.” “If you do not innovate, you are sowing the seeds of your own destruction.” “Success requires waking up every day and realizing that today’s sources of competitive advantage will not …
The Book “Intersectional innovations…change the world in leaps along new directions.” “By breaking down associative barriers and stepping into intersection between fields, the number of available idea combinations increases beyond anything we can achieve in a single area.” “Sometimes an intersectional idea can threated an established field.” Why do so many world-changing insights come from …
The Book “”The Digital Revolution”… It’s an actual revolution, yielding revolutionary changes, thousands or millions of victims and an entirely new way of life.” “…oldest communication channel in the world—word of mouth—has been supercharged by the internet, rendering much traditional marketing irrelevant on credibility grounds.” “…a mindset shift from ‘telling and selling’ to building relationships.”” …
The Book “We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.” “After decades of pursuing riches, wealth seems less alluring. For them …
The Book “Difference between an expert and a novice is the ability to think abstractly.” “Researchers get excited about making products that are complex and sophisticated – while customers generally seek out products that are easy and reliable.” “Companies often emphasize features when they should be emphasizing benefits.” Why do some ideas thrive while others …
The Book “If you want to deliver the right idea at the right moment, you must begin the process far upstream from when you need that idea.” “The time between your active moments is when ideas are formed, insights are gained, mental connections are forged.” “Cover bands don’t change the world.” It isn’t enough to …
The Book “… companies that compete on a disruptive point of view are defined as much by the opportunities they choose not to pursue as by the businesses they do enter.” “Maverick leaders don’t just strive to build high-performance companies. They champion high-stakes agendas. They create a competitive edge around an edgy critique of their …
The Book “…tendency to operate the future in the terms of the past is precisely what we see today on the net.” “The internet…is not just a means of data exchange but of cultural exchange. It is not, in my view, a medium but instead a connection machine.” “I believe the internet could prove to …
The Book “Relationships may be more telling about a company’s prospects than quarterly income (for relationships build real long-term value and create a true barrier to entry for others).” “I’d buy the stocks of companies that know me well and play well with others. I’d short the companies that build walls around themselves.” “Corporations, governments, …
The Book “Spider organizations weave their webs over long periods of time, slowly amassing resources and becoming more centralized. But the starfish can take over an entire industry in the blink of an eye.” “…as industries become decentralized, overall profits decrease. Introduce starfish into the equation and wave good-bye to high profits. It’s why you …
The Book “It’s not the number of followers you have or “likes” you get, it’s the strength of your bond with your followers that indicates how much anyone cares about what you have to say. In this game, the one with the most real relationships wins.” “In the future, the companies with tremendous “relationship capital” …
The Book “…creative ideas of innovative entrepreneurs produced powerful competitive advantages and tremendous wealth for the pioneering company.” “…innovation premium is the proportion of a company’s market value that cannot be accounted for from cash flows of its current products or businesses in its current markets.” “…founder innovators typically imprint their organizations with their own …
“…the “Big Shift,” a fundamental reordering of the way we live, learn, socialize, play, and work that is now taking place, driven by a new technology infrastructure and public policy changes.” “Companies are discovering that their best employees leave in dissatisfaction if the company is not in tune with the changes taking place; their customers …
The Book “Networks are built atop platforms…A platform enables. It helps others build value. Any company can be a platform… Platforms help users create products, businesses, communities, and networks of their own.” “… if you work in a closed marketplace where information and choice are controlled and value is obscured, then your days are numbered.” …
The Book “Our culture and economy are shifting away from focus on relatively number of hits (mainstream products and markets) at head of demand curve and moving toward huge number of niches in the tail.” “…thesis: a Long Tail is just a culture unfiltered by economic scarcity.” “Long Tail promises to become crucible of creativity …
The Book “21st century free is driven by extraordinary new ability to lower COGS close to zero.” “Sooner or later every company is going to have to figure out how to use Free to compete with Free.” “Most disruptive way to enter a market is to vaporize the economics of existing business models. Charge nothing …
The Book “the Mesh is based on network-enabled sharing – on access rather than ownership” “…distrust of old-model companies is fueling people’s willingness to consider alternative business models, brands, and lifestyles” “brand is defined more by how people experience it, and what they say about it, than what the company says about itself” Traditional businesses …
The Book “Exciting growth markets of tomorrow are small today.” “In disruptive circumstances – commercialize simpler, more convenient product that sells for less money and appeal to new or unattractive customer set – so entrants likely to beat incumbents.” “…disruptors – when gain foothold in new or low-end markets, improvement cycle begins – on path …
The Book “With digitization, content has become independent from specific physical delivery formats.” “All industry incumbents fear cannibalizing their existing revenues through new revenue model innovations. Delaying innovation in order to protect current revenue streams is simply capitulation to the faster-moving competition.” “It is one thing to see Roger Federer wearing an expensive watch in …