The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Adrian J. Slywotzky

Description

Why do some companies create sustained, superior profits year after year? Why are they always far ahead of competitors in discovering the ever-changing profit zones of their industry? Why do others languish as their traditional way of doing business turns into a no-profit zone?

The Profit Zone provides the answers. It is an original and practical explanation of how and why high profit happens, revealing the strategies of twelve of today's great success stories–a group of companies and executives that have created over $700 billion in market value for their shareholders. More importantly, it shows the lessons that can be learned from the business design of these companies–adaptations that enabled them to always be several steps ahead of competitors in meeting customer priorities. Some examples:
The profit lessons any product company can learn from Jack Welch's “sell solution, not just the box” business design at GE.
How Nicholas Hayek's creation of low-end, profitable firewall brand–the Swatch–protects the rich profitability of the high-end products at his company
How Roberto Goizueta's decision that the consumer was not the only important customer created the basis for Coke's triumph's over Pepsi.
Why Charles Schwab's switchboard business design created a new way of doing business for millions of new customers in financial services.
How managers of small and mid-size businesses such as Madden Communications and middle managers in large companies have used Slywotzky and Morrison's ideas to move their companies to the profit zone.

Editorial Review

For years, the prevailing wisdom in business was that profitability was a byproduct of market share; get the biggest piece of the market and profit will surely follow. But in the last 10 years, this formula has time and again proved itself wrong. Companies such as DEC, GM, Ford, United Airlines, Kodak, and Sears have all demonstrated that market share does not necessarily lead to profitability.

The Profit Zone looks at how profit happens in today's customer-driven economy. The authors demonstrate why market share often leads to a “no-profit zone” and identify 22 profit models that have helped dozens of companies consistently make money. Included are in-depth looks at companies–Disney, GE, Microsoft, Intel, Charles Schwab–that have successfully redesigned their businesses and dramatically increased the value of their companies. Instead of focusing on market share, these innovators first looked at their customers' needs and how they could profit from fulfilling them. The book considers example after example of how the profit zone works, from Disney's theme parks to Schwab's marketing and selling of mutual funds. The final chapter is a handbook that allows managers to apply the ideas to their own companies. Clearly written and immensely practical, The Profit Zone deserves a place on every manager's bookshelf.