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You've read the headlines: industry after
industry (airlines, automakers, drug companies, high tech)
battered by globalization, deregulation, and commoditization.
The Darwinian struggle to deliver profitable products and
services keeps getting more brutal as competitive advantage
gaps get narrower and narrower. Anything you invent today
will soon be copied by someone else -- probably better or
cheaper.
Many companies thrive during the early stages
of their life cycle, reveling in burst of energy and advancement,
only to fall slack during periods of inertia and die out
while others surge ahead. But some notable companies have
figured out how to deal with Darwin at every phase of their
evolution -- making changes on the fly while fending off
challenges from every quarter.
Dealing with Darwin will help you
understand your company's role in its market ecosystem:
where your competitive advantage came from in the past and
how it will change in the future; what kinds of differentiation
will be most rewarded in your current marketplace; and how
to transform your internal dynamics to overcome the inertia
that threatens every bold innovation.
Bestselling author Geoffrey Moore has consulted
for dozens of major companies on this challenge of innovation
versus inertia. But in the fall of 2002, he got an unprecedented
offer from John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco Systems: unlimited
access to Cisco's management processes, with permission
to reveal exactly how Cisco continues to innovate relentlessly
as a mature enterprise. This collaboration led to the case
study that forms the heart of the book -- not just an insider
story but a masterpiece of management analysis.
Dealing with Darwin, Moore's most ambitious
work to date, offers nothing less than a new unified theory
of the evolution of markets. Drawing on hundreds of different
examples, Moore illuminates how established companies can
prevent their own extinction -- not by throwing resources
wildly at every potential innovation, but by moving forward
with precision, courage, and smart timing. As he writes:
"Given the mounting pressures of global
competition, it is a rare business plan indeed that will
not have to rewrite itself from the ground up. And the sooner
you start, the sooner you will be able to extract yourself
from those commitments that make you vulnerable and establish
those commitments that will strengthen your new position."
Geoffrey A Moore is the author of four
bestselling, highly influential business books: Crossing
the Chasm, Inside the Tornado, The Gorilla
Game, and Living on the Fault Line. He has made
the understanding and effective exploitation of disruptive
technologies the core of his life's work. He is a managing
director with TCG Advisors, a consulting firm specializing
in strategy and business transformation services, and a
venture partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures. He lives in
San Mateo, California.
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