Monopoly Rules: How to Find, Capture, and Control the Most Lucrative Markets in Any Business

"Competition is the bane of the free enterprise system." --Anonymous business mogul What people on the front lines--making, marketing, and selling products and services--really want is to be alone in the marketplace, to have a space that they own for a long enough period of time so they can make some real money. In this short, powerful book, Milind Lele shows you how. Conventional wisdom attributes winning to having the best products at the lowest prices, a great brand, superior management, and the lowest overhead. All are obviously of great importance, but in actuality anyone can achieve them. Dr. Lele shows that winning comes from focusing on these monopoly rules: - What patch of open market space does this business own--or could it own? - Is the space really open or is it wishful thinking? - Are there enough customers whose needs are not being met and are they willing to spend money to have those needs met? - How long will this space remain open and why? - What do you have to do to capture it and wall it off? - When will the party end and what do we do next? For example, for many coffee lovers there is no one but Starbucks. The moment people found out what coffee could, and should, taste like it was as if a giant lightbulb went off inside their heads--and Starbucks had a monopoly. The best monopoly opportunities are situational, often soft and intangible. They're segments, not the mass market, and often in the customer's mind. For the customer there is no one but you, since what you provide can't be easily copied, duplicated, or ripped off. "Monopoly Rules" couldn't come at a better time, as an almost perfect storm seems to be hitting everybusiness. Customers are changing and the homogenous mass market has gone the way of the nickel soda. Now the game is winning market segments. In this world, Monopoly Rules provides a new way to think and take action and stay ahead of the game. Also available as an eBook

Review :
""Monopoly Rules" is a truly outstanding book--an example of a simple-sounding concept that has enormous power when fully explored, developed, and customized. The art form of financially successful companies is differentiation. Milind Lele adds a clear new meaning to the concept of differentiation, providing powerful insight into strategic thought and positioning applicable to every type of business. "Monopoly Rules "should be required reading for anyone participating in strategic thinking or planning activities. To build and sustain high-performance business cultures requires injecting a process of new thinking on a regular basis, and Monopoly Rules brings a new thought pattern capable of stimulating new direction and strategy." --Robert Jenkins, former chairman and CEO of Sundstrand Corporation ""Monopoly Rules" provides a fresh way of thinking about why companies succeed and where to look for new, breakthrough opportunities. Milind Lele's book is critical for anyone interested in sustaining differentiation in businesses; the monopoly rules are the step-by-step guidelines for success in a world in which the mass market is in tatters." --Dipak C. Jain, dean of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University "In "Monopoly Rules," Milind Lele captures the missing link in the evolution of our understanding of how superior economic value is created. Milind calls it 'monopoly'; Buffett 'the franchise'; we at Briggs refer to it as 'our sandbox.' It is the legally ownable space in a market that the superior-value creator identifies, claims, and holds for a significant period of time. In so doing, Lele exposes one of the two great frauds perpetrated on American management: that 'sustainable competitive advantage' is a guarantee of superior profitability (the other is 'best practices' as a source of enhanced profitability)." --John. S. Shiely, chairman, president, and CEO of the Briggs and Stratton Corporation ""Monopoly Rules" provides a really useful framework for sorting strategies that work from those that don't. It is exactly how successful entrepreneurs' minds work." --Alfred R. Berkeley, former president of NASDAQ "(A) powerful challenge to the established business literature that tends to consider sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) the key to success. . . If you want to compete, get a competitive advantage, but if you want to make "money," get a monopoly. . . "Monopoly Rules" presents some powerful and innovative concepts coupled with practical guidance." --"Financial Times" ""Monopoly Rules is a truly outstanding book--an example of a simple-sounding concept that has enormous power when fully explored, developed, and customized. The art form of financially successful companies is differentiation. Milind Lele adds a clear new meaning to the concept of differentiation, providing powerful insight into strategic thought and positioning applicable to every type of business. "Monopoly Rules should be required reading for anyone participating in strategic thinking or planning activities. To build and sustain high-performance business cultures requires injecting a process of new thinking on a regular basis, and Monopoly Rules brings a new thought pattern capable of stimulating new direction and strategy." --Robert Jenkins, former chairman and CEO of Sundstrand Corporation ""Monopoly Rules provides a fresh way of thinking about why companies succeed and where to look for new, breakthrough opportunities. Milind Lele's book is critical for anyone interested in sustaining differentiation in businesses; the monopoly rules are the step-by-step guidelines for success in a world in which the mass market is in tatters." --Dipak C. Jain, dean of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University "In "Monopoly Rules, Milind Lele captures the missing link in the evolution of our understanding of how superior economic value is created. Milind calls it 'monopoly'; Buffett 'the franchise'; we at Briggs refer to it as 'our sandbox.' It is the legally ownable space in a market that the superior-value creator identifies, claims, and holds for a significant period of time. In so doing, Lele exposes one of the two great frauds perpetrated on American management: that'sustainable competitive advantage' is a guarantee of superior profitability (the other is 'best practices' as a source of enhanced profitability)." --John. S. Shiely, chairman, president, and CEO of the Briggs and Stratton Corporation ""Monopoly Rules provides a really useful framework for sorting strategies that work from those that don't. It is exactly how successful entrepreneurs' minds work." --Alfred R. Berkeley, former president of NASDAQ