Create Marketplace Disruption: How to Stay Ahead of the Competition

Master the #1 Principle for Long-Term Market Dominance! The Phoenix Principle “Create Marketplace Disruption is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. Adam Hartung offers business managers and leaders new insights to long-term success that apply across markets and industries.” –Steve Burke, President, Comcast Cable Communications, Philadelphia, PA   "Talking innovation is easier than practicing innovation. Adam offers an excellent approach for corporations to identify how to innovate to gain competitive advantage. A must read.” –Praveen Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Innovation Science and Chairman, Accelper Consulting, Schaumburg, IL   Some companies can’t change in response to market disruptions. Those companies die. Other companies do respond...eventually. They survive, but they see their profits squeezed, their growth flattened. Then,there are the long-term winners: companies that create their own disruptions and thrive on change. In Create Marketplace Disruption, Adam Hartung shows how to become one of those rare companies, creating lasting growth and profits. This book reveals why so many companies behave in ways that are utterly incompatible with long-term success...and why even “good to great” companies are struggling for air. You’ll discover how to reposition your organization away from the Flats and Swamps of traditional Defend and Extend Management and back into the Rapids of accelerated growth. Hartung demonstrates how to attack competitors’ Lock-ins, make their Success Formulas obsolete, and create the White Space needed to invent your own new formulas for success. Create Marketplace Disruption shows how disrupting yourself is critical to reaping the benefits of market changes, and part of a process that executives and strategists can reproduce over and over again for improved results.   How we got into this mess—and how to get out of it The myth of perpetuity and the dark side of success   Reinventing success: no more Defend and Extend Creating your new Success Formulas and keeping them competitively advantaged   Why “thinking outside the box” doesn’t work First, get outside the box. Then, think!   Maintaining ”The Phoenix Principle” for long-term success Practicing Disruption until it comes naturally

Table of Contents:
Fo>     About the Author xviii     Preface xix   Part I Understanding How We Got Into This Mess 1     Introduction Overcoming Schumpeter 3         Who Is Schumpeter, and What Did He Say? 3         What Is Business Success, and What Creates It? 5         The Sad Tale of AM 6         AM Is Not Alone 10     Chapter 1 The Myth of Perpetuity and Lifecycle Realities 17         The “S” Curve Theory of Business Lifecycle 17         The Myth of Perpetuity 19         We Keep Repeating the Same Cycle 32       Chapter 2 The Value and Power of Success Formulas 35         Companies Rise in the Rapids on the Strength of Their Success Formulas 35         Strategies and Tactics Come from Identity 39         Winners Create Success Formulas in the Rapids 40         Vertical Success Formula Alignment Leads to Great Results 42         Success Formulas Are Very Good Things—and Define Success 45       Chapter 3 The Power of Lock-in 47         Businesses Use Lock-in to Implement Their Success Formulas 47         Success Formulas Are Locked-in Behaviorally and Structurally 51         Understanding the Status Quo Police 63         The Really BIG Environmental Shift 68       Chapter 4 The Dark Side of Success—Defend & Extend Management 71         The Focus on Defend & Extend Management 74         The Road to D&E Management Acceptance 77         The Outcome of D&E Management 83         The Lock-in Cycle 86         The New Definition of Business Success 93         Information Transparency Affects Everyone 95   Part II Reinventing Success 97     Introduction The Phoenix Principle for Managing in an Uncertain World 99         There Is a Better Approach to Management 99         Success Today Is About Keeping a Success Formula Evergreen—Rather Than Defending & Extending It 101         Four Steps to Achieving Sustained Success in a Dynamic World 104         Organizations of Any Age or Size Can Utilize The Phoenix Principle to Achieve Breakthrough Performance 106       Chapter 5 Don’t Defend and Extend 111         Recognize the Problem 111         Plan for the Future Rather Than the Past 114         It’s Not Hard to Stop Defending & Extending if You Change Your Planning Approach 129       Chapter 6 Attack Competitors’ Lock-in 131         It’s Easier to See Problems in Others’ Success Formulas Than in Your Own 131         Seek Out Alternative Competitive Tactics Rather Than Compete Head-to-Head 134         Look at How Competitors Define Their Business 138         Identify Your Competitor’s Advantage and Do Something Else 140         When Competitors Lock-in to Differentiating Features, Use Standards 143         Stall Competitors Whenever Possible 147       Chapter 7 Disruptions Are Key to Becoming a Phoenix Principle Organization 151         Disruptions Enable Long-Term Superior Performance 151         It’s Not Possible to Change a Success Formula Directly 153         Disruptions Are Not Well Understood nor Taught 153         Good Leaders Are Good Disruptors 157         Avoiding Disruptions Creates Long-term Problems 166         Disruptions Produce Anxiety But Are Necessary 168       Chapter 8 Develop New Success Formulas via White Space 171         Develop New Success Formulas via White Space 171         White Space Is Where Success Formulas Evolve or Are Created Anew 171         There Are Requirements for Effective White Space 176         White Space Management Must Be Accountable for Results 185         White Space Is Not the Wellspring 186         Old Success Formulas Must Migrate Toward White Space 189         Endnotes 192       Chapter 9 Maintain the Phoenix Principle for Long-Term Success 193         Practice Makes Perfect 193         Phoenix Principle Companies Are Often Hard to Define Traditionally 194         Phoenix Principle Companies Are Willing to Fail 196         Disruptions Only Appear Painful 197         Strategists Must Change Their Roles to Promote The Phoenix Principle 199         Phoenix Principle Companies Help Customers Find and Use White Space 202         The Phoenix Principle Isn’t Hard to Practice—It’s Just Different 205         Now Is the Time to Implement The Phoenix Principle 206       Epilogue Phoenix Principle People 209         You Are the Top of the Pyramid 211         Do You Disrupt Your Lock-in and Use Personal White Space 214         Applying Personal Disruptions and White Space to Work 219         Organizations Can Help Develop Phoenix Principle People 221         The Phoenix Principle Is Available to All of Us 222       Index 223

About the Author :
Adam Hartung has been a successful entrepreneur, executive in three Fortune 100 companies, and business consultant with leading firms such as Boston Consulting Group, Coopers & Lybrand, and Index. For 30 years he has created growth through innovation and breakthrough strategy in positions from middle management to CEO. Currently a strategy consultant and public speaker, he is Managing Partner of Spark Partners strategy and organizational transformation consultancy. He holds an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School. He lives in suburban Chicago.