Edge Strategy: A New Mindset for Profitable Growth

Description

Stay focused. Stick to your knitting. Go with what works. In today's volatile economic environment, filled with uncertainty and sudden change, the forces pushing us to keep focused on the core business become extremely powerful. And, of course, profiting from the core is crucial. But the danger is, over-focus on the core can blind companies to the substantial opportunities for growth that are often hidden in plain sight, at the edge of the core business. Edge Strategy is uniquely positioned at the intersection of marketing and strategy, focusing on the myriad opportunities that are internal to the business, and showing leaders how to recognize and then leverage these opportunities at the margins. Crucially, the customer's experience of a company and its products is central to what makes the Edge Strategy work. With engaging examples from across many industries, Lewis and McKone coach readers on how to identify and assess each of the different edges and then provide concrete insights and advice on Edge Strategy and tactics in specific business contexts. The book concludes with a ten-step process to help executives and managers to find and leverage the edge opportunities in their own companies. Edge Strategy is the concise, hands-on guide for growing your business by getting more yield from assets already in place, access already established, investments already made.

Alan Lewis is a managing director and partner in L.E.K. Consulting's Boston office. He has spent the last twelve years helping companies large and small identify new growth opportunities and realize the benefits. He started his career as a professional engineer, commercializing new technologies in the chemicals sector. Dan McKone is a managing director and partner at L.E.K. Consulting and a member of L.E.K.'s global leadership team. He has led hundreds of client engagements across many industries and has spent the last two decades advising on corporate strategy and growth, business model evolution, and value-based decision making.

"CEOs need to abandon bold strategies for life on the Edge... Alan Lewis and Dan McKone of L.E.K. Consulting believe that taking a more pragmatic approach could pay dividends." -- Forbes "Edge strategies" describe the process of finding new opportunities at the edge of the existing ones... It is refreshing to read a new strategy book that does not make grand gestures... And this is a book that the CFO will love too because it's not going to cost the earth! 5/6 Stars" -- Borsen, Denmark "In its customer-friendly forms...Edge Strategy is a valuable corrective to the obsession with transformational ideas." -- The Economist "Here is the main premise of Edge Strategy: Companies can accelerate growth by finding new uses for their existing assets. Sounds simple but it's not." -- Consulting magazine "...clearly written... and offers many examples of how to apply these ideas to your own company." -- The Globe and Mail ADVANCE PRAISE for Edge Strategy: John Tague, President and CEO, Hertz Corporation-- "Alan Lewis and Dan McKone offer an alternate path to growth and show how implementing an 'edge strategy' creates value in a sustainable way. To presume it doesn't apply to your industry or situation would be missing a great opportunity." Kevin Mayer, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, The Walt Disney Company-- "We all need peripheral vision. Edge Strategy offers a clear and powerful framework for identifying and leveraging opportunities for growth that can sometimes be hard to see--at the edges of your core business. A must-read." Darrell Webb, President and CEO, Guitar Center-- "Refreshingly pragmatic advice for driving growth, with a strong ROI, in any business." John Rainey, CFO, PayPal-- "Edge Strategy flips the conventional notion of strategy on its head and provides an insightful take on where some of the best value-creating innovations come from." Robin Hayes, President and CEO, JetBlue-- "Edge Strategy will help you and your business pull some of the most powerful levers at your disposal. Lewis and McKone outline a clear, smart approach to driving new--and greater--yield from assets you already manage ... and delighting customers in the process." Tom Polen, Executive Vice President and President, Medical Segment, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD)-- "If you're looking for a playbook to higher growth and customer loyalty, Edge Strategy hits the mark. I expect every reader will take away new ideas to put into practice and improve their company's performance."