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Product Description

What's the secret to a company's continued growth and prosperity? Internationally known marketing expert Al Ries has the answer: focus. His commonsense approach to business management is founded on the premise that long-lasting success depends on focusing on core products and eschewing the temptation to diversify into unrelated enterprises.

Using real-world examples, Ries shows that in industry after industry, it is the companies that resist diversification, and focus instead on owning a category in consumers' minds, that dominate their markets. He offers solid guidance on how to get focused and how to stay focused, laying out a workable blueprint for any company's evolution that will increase market share and shareholder value while ensuring future success.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98095 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-27
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .77" h x 5.34" w x 8.12" l, .53 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
While he doesn't go so far as to say that small is beautiful, Ries (Positioning) levels a commonsense critique at the compulsion for growth that drives corporate America. Growth for its own sake, particularly when it involves diversification into products unrelated to a company's original business, Ries says, causes many companies to become unfocused, confuses customers and loses money. The frenzy for acquisitions that spread many a well-known brand name over a diversity of products has proved untenable, with the result that companies that grew fat are regaining their original focus by slimming down. Sears, Roebuck, a once focused retailer that expanded unwisely into real estate, stock brokering, business system centers and credit cards, is having to divest itself of all but its original retail chain. Managers seeking to focus or refocus their companies will find helpful examples here, drawn from a broad range of enterprises. $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Ries, whose previous books were authored with Jack Trout, writes his latest with research assistance from his daughter. Together they go after the management of some of the world's most easily recognized firms, including PepsiCo and IBM. The authors use companies' experience as evidence that "focus" on the core businesses or products is the key to success in today's business environment, arguing that companies that remain focused, e.g., Volvo or McDonald's, have a substantially better track record than those that have strayed from their "core" businesses. This thesis, which is illustrated liberally with examples from the business world, is thoroughly developed. The reader may not always agree with the authors' statements, but they are well made and worth considering. For all management collections and for libraries that support all types of business, large or small.
Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American
Ries also shows companies how to focus. He advises that in order to focus, it may necessarily involve sacrifice - giving up some portion of the market, some versions of the product, or some distribution channel. Although such strategies strike many managers as illogical or counter-intuitive, Ries marshals an overwhelming number of examples to prove his case. As long as competition exists, Ries notes, it is impossible to win 100% of any market. From debunking The Quality Axiom to detailing the importance of perception, from describing the five strategies for coping with change to showing how a company can "own" a word in the customer's mind, Al Ries brings his extensive marketing expertise to bear on the problem of competition and the importance of focus.

Today's rapidly changing, technology-driven marketplace mandates constant quick thinking and reassessment by managers throughout the corporation. This book lays out the smart way for your company to evolve, increase market share, and enhance shareholder value without sacrificing the key assets you'll need in the long term. Focus is the key to getting your company back on track.

About the Author:

Al Ries is one of the world's best known marketing strategists and consults for some of the largest corporations in North America, South America, and the Far East. His previous books, written with Jack Trout, include The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Bottom-Up Marketing, Marketing Warfare, and Positioning. He lives in Great Neck, New York.