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Hypercompetition—Managing the dynamics of strategic manoeuvring
the line; giving the employees something to believe in; that the value system is a vital element in motivation. Then providing a structure that makes a challenge easy to find. Finally, there are both similarities and differences across organizations, and it is the need to integrate the two pressures that really make the difference. It is much more than just getting the structure right for some specific strategy. For example, Tom Peters and I make a good writing combination, but you could not imagine two more different people. So it is a matter of organizing around things that are motivating. Then ensuring that the organization focuses on inventing and developing things that customers want and emphasizing the importance of relationships. Of course, costs also have to be effectively managed. You cannot just be innovative, or concerned with quality, without a focus on the cost base. Robert Waterman is the author of the new book entitled The Frontiers of Excellence the follow-up to In Search of Excellence which he co-authored with Tom Peters. Bruce Lloyd is the Book Review Editor of LongRange Planning. He is also Head of Strategic and International Management at South Bank University, London.
Hypercompetition--Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Manoeuvring, RICHA~ A. D'AVEN~, Free Press (1994), 250 pp., $29.95 Richard D'Aveni's book is one of those books which is so gripping that you tear through it to seize the concepts and then savour it at a slower speed to grasp the full detail and depth of research and analysis. It is without question the most fascinating and useful strategy book since Porter's Competitive Advantage codified and rationalized much of the then current strategic thinking and popularized it for a business audience. The most exciting thing about this book is that it links a whole raft of concepts from other authors, which are themselves useful, but static like the balls at the start of a pool or billiards game, and sends them spinning and rebounding dynamically. D'Aveni argues that competitive advantage can only exist in the short term, core competencies and competitive advantages have finite lives and usefulness. Focusing or today's core competencies and advantages can be counter productive, locking companies into today's battle ground, while competition bypasses and Book Reviews and Review Briefs
outflanks current advantages and competence with evermore innovative ones. His theories transform the corporate battlefield from one of building and defending barriers to entry to one of rapid manoeuvre and shock action. Barriers to entry are temporary, like a Roman night camp, to be thrown up and abandoned when appropriate as too limiting for serious competitive generalization. Like all the very best strategists D'Aveni presents a series of practical guidelines, 'The New Seven Ss', which can be used by business leaders to question and re-energize their companies' strategies. They focus on the dynamic virtues of speed, surprise and manoeuvre rather than on building trenches. Moves which seem initially counter-intuitive, such as destroying one's own current advantage, competence and product line in favour of the next ones are well explained. If we do not do it, others will. Like William the Conqueror burning his fleet, it encourages the business to move aggressively forward. The tailpiece of the book focuses on the role of government and regulation in this hypercompetitive maelstrom. D'Aveni comes close to arguing that there should not be one. Recent discussions with CEOs in three major industries where 'Everyone knows that there are practices in restraint of trade, but no-one talks about it', do indicate both the limits to hypercompetition and the need for public policy. CHRIS CLARKE ney Ltd.
Vice President Strategy, A. T. Kear-
Succesful Change Strategies: Chief Executives in Action, BERNARDTAYLOR(ed.J, Director Books (1994), 248 pp., £19.95 The pressure facing organizations in the 1990s are familiar-increasing internationalization, advances in technology, a turbulent political environment, downsizing, delayering, faster product cycles--and the key message distilled from a burgeoning change management literature is that if organizations are to compete effectively, they have to be faster, sharper, more focused and, crucially, flexible and responsive to change. This macro message only gains real content, however, when individual cases, reflecting different
Hypercompetition--Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Manoeuvring, RICHA~ A. D'AVEN~, Free Press (1994), 250 pp., $29.95 Richard D'Aveni's book is one of those books which is so gripping that you tear through it to seize the concepts and then savour it at a slower speed to grasp the full detail and depth of research and analysis. It is without question the most fascinating and useful strategy book since Porter's Competitive Advantage codified and rationalized much of the then current strategic thinking and popularized it for a business audience. The most exciting thing about this book is that it links a whole raft of concepts from other authors, which are themselves useful, but static like the balls at the start of a pool or billiards game, and sends them spinning and rebounding dynamically. D'Aveni argues that competitive advantage can only exist in the short term, core competencies and competitive advantages have finite lives and usefulness. Focusing or today's core competencies and advantages can be counter productive, locking companies into today's battle ground, while competition bypasses and Book Reviews and Review Briefs
outflanks current advantages and competence with evermore innovative ones. His theories transform the corporate battlefield from one of building and defending barriers to entry to one of rapid manoeuvre and shock action. Barriers to entry are temporary, like a Roman night camp, to be thrown up and abandoned when appropriate as too limiting for serious competitive generalization. Like all the very best strategists D'Aveni presents a series of practical guidelines, 'The New Seven Ss', which can be used by business leaders to question and re-energize their companies' strategies. They focus on the dynamic virtues of speed, surprise and manoeuvre rather than on building trenches. Moves which seem initially counter-intuitive, such as destroying one's own current advantage, competence and product line in favour of the next ones are well explained. If we do not do it, others will. Like William the Conqueror burning his fleet, it encourages the business to move aggressively forward. The tailpiece of the book focuses on the role of government and regulation in this hypercompetitive maelstrom. D'Aveni comes close to arguing that there should not be one. Recent discussions with CEOs in three major industries where 'Everyone knows that there are practices in restraint of trade, but no-one talks about it', do indicate both the limits to hypercompetition and the need for public policy. CHRIS CLARKE ney Ltd.
Vice President Strategy, A. T. Kear-
Succesful Change Strategies: Chief Executives in Action, BERNARDTAYLOR(ed.J, Director Books (1994), 248 pp., £19.95 The pressure facing organizations in the 1990s are familiar-increasing internationalization, advances in technology, a turbulent political environment, downsizing, delayering, faster product cycles--and the key message distilled from a burgeoning change management literature is that if organizations are to compete effectively, they have to be faster, sharper, more focused and, crucially, flexible and responsive to change. This macro message only gains real content, however, when individual cases, reflecting different