The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market

Even years later the discipline’s hold true. Many business book authors and podcast hosts refer to The Disciplines of Market Leaders. I know now where to focus. Great read.

As the title suggests this book is about what sets leading companies apart from the average ones. According to the authors, there are three dimensions along which companies can focus on: cost, innovation, or service. Leading companies are ones that focus all their efforts and resources to excel in one of these dimensions while being average on the others. Operational excellence (cost leadership) is achieved by making the operations of the company as efficient as can be. These are companies such as WalMart that constantly find ways to reduce their Opex and pass these savings to their customers. Their customers are always looking for the lowest price. Product leadership (innovation) is achieved by continually pushing to the market place new products. These are companies such as Intel which constantly release new products into the marketplace to displace their own products and remain ahead of everyone else. Finally, customer intimacy (service leadership) is achieved by companies that make customer service exceptional. These are companies such as Southwestern airlines which have an extreme focus on their customers and have understood to the nth degree their needs and desires.The most important concept is that leading companies must never loose focus along the chosen dimension. If they do, companies can quickly loose their leadership position and eventually perish. The authors do provide numerous examples of companies that have gone on this journey.A very insightful and highly recommended business/marketing book that brings execution back to its basics. If I had to add/change something in it, it would be to add more details to the journeys that some companies took from being market leaders to followers. The learnings on the business strategy side through such experience would be very valuable.

I'm leaning towards 4 1/2 stars but I have to hand it to this book that it clarifies the three main ways of greatness. This book is dated, very dated. However, the principles remain the same and it's sorta eerie that some of the firms that are discussed have recently went out of business. The good news is that book predicted the demise based on the premises of the book. In my two main businesses, I have so many traits of all three which is great. In my other business, I focus on customer intimacy. Great gook, get it and things will be much more clear for you.

Back in 1994, when this book was first published, the president of the company I was working for bought a copy of this book for every member of the executive team. After we read it, he held a roundtable discussion to determine how we were going to apply the principles to OUR business. To this day, I still remember the lessons and preach them in my present company. I just wish people would listen.

Purchased this as a requirement for a graduate level course. I had 2 months to read the book before any material related to the book would be due. I ended up finishing the book within a few hours of starting it and got ahead in that class.

Treacy and Wiersema make the case that the value of a product or service to a customer can be categorized in terms of efficiency (eg. low cost, on-time delivery), innovation (eg. latest technology or fashion) and/or customer intimacy (eg. customized solutions). They go on to argue that delivering each kind of value requires a different organization and culture, and hence the most successful companies are those whose business strategy is focused on delivering a particular kind of value to the customers that appreciate it the most, while remaining competitive in other areas. The analysis is accompanied by case studies of AT&T Universal Card, Intel and Airborne Express. The core idea of the book is valuable and 200 pages is plenty to explore it in detail.

Insightful reading on basic views in developing a select value based marketing effort. This book does an excellent job defining three distinctive consumer markets and their underlying drivers, I have to say the usual marketing hype does manage to sneek in on some pages. What it offers isn't found on any business plan and a must read for anyone starting or running their own business.

The information (specifically the examples) is/are dated. The book could benefit from an updating. With that said, the three concepts presented in the book continue to be relevant. If you can get through the dated examples and just focus on the three key concepts the book is worth quick read. My company adopted the Operational Excellence model and it proved very beneficial. We now are focusing more on the Client Centered concepts in the book.

Livro excelente com bom conceitos.para serem aplicados

Must read for L and D professionals

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Great book. Fundamental read for anyone building a business

La base delle strategie. Il padre delle filosofie aziendali. Il mio PhD parte da questo libro. Semplice da capire, illuminato e piacevole. Il 98% di PMI italiane dovrebbero darlo in lettura ai propri manager il primo giorno.