The Impossible Advantage: Winning the Competitive Game by Changing the Rules - Hardcover

Wördemann, Wolfram; Buchholz, Andreas; Wiley, Ned

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470717122 ISBN 13: 9780470717127

Publisher: Wiley, 2009

Synopsis

Conventional business strategies tell you that differentiation, the right positioning, and defining your superior edge will turn you into the ‘best player’ in your market – but this is wrong. The Impossible Advantage reveals that success can be achieved by changing the market in which you operate, rather than trying to beat the competition.  The authors illustrate that the biggest, most spectacular and groundbreaking business success stories feature companies that make the rules – instead of just following them. The best companies seem to know how to break, change, or reinvent the rules of the market that everyone else follows.

This book:

• Will help you to break through to an entirely new level of thinking: winning the game by changing the rules in your own favour.
• Explains that you don’t need a technological breakthrough, product innovation or a massive marketing budget to change the rules of the competition.
• Shows you that you can become a ′game changer′ and gain a seemingly ‘impossible’ advantage even over far larger competitors, no matter how large your market or how small your segment is.
• Introduces you to four compelling ‘Game Changing Strategies’ that work for managers from any industry or business sector.

For more information on The Impossible Advantage, go to the official website: http://www.impossible-advantage.com

About this title

About the Author

Andreas Buchholz, an engineer, and Wolfram Wördemann, a communication specialist, first met at Procter & Gamble in Schwalbach, Germany. After earning their marketing spurs at P&G, they jointly founded the marketing strategy consultancy ‘Buchholz Wördemann Partners’ located in Königstein near Frankfurt am Main. Together with the team they have assembled, BW Partners have served a large number of multinational corporations across Europe and beyond, always with a focus on breakthrough, “out of the box” strategic thinking. Their extensive list of clients includes Amexco, Bayer Schering, IBM Lenovo, Nestlé, Pepsico, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Sanofi-Aventis, Siemens, T-Mobile, and World Vision. Andreas and Wolfram co-authored the Financial Times bestseller ‘What Makes Winning Brands Different: The hidden method behind the world’s most successful brands’ (John Wiley & Sons 2000).

Ned Wiley first made a mark in the world of television thirty years ago when, as Procter and Gamble’s first European Brand Manager, he introduced Italian television audiences to the soap opera. His career spans consumer marketing, advertising and interactive digital communications, at firms including Foote, Cone & Belding, Publicis Group and Gist Communications.

Today, Ned is with one of the world’s largest media companies, Axel Springer. As a Managing Director of Axel Springer Digital TV Guide, he is once again working to revolutionize the way advertisers engage consumers by helping consumers navigate the ever-changing landscape of television and video entertainment. Ned is an alumnus of The University of Chicago College and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

From the Back Cover

The competition in the marketplace is a game, no doubt, much like any other game… except for one small, but most significant difference: in the market, some of the players are also the rule makers. From a classic game perspective, these rule makers or Game Changers enjoy nothing less than an ‘impossible advantage’ over the vast majority of their competitors who are happy to simply play along by the rules.

Few managers truly understand the fine art of how to control the intangible and somehow enigmatic ‘laws and rules’ of the competition in the marketplace. And hardly anybody knows about the compelling and proven techniques of how to purposefully change them in their own favour.

The Impossible Advantage reveals some surprising news: how virtually anybody can learn the art of the Game Masters and Game Changers. There are no demanding prerequisites: just get ready to engage in a mind-opening and provocatively different way of thinking.

From the Inside Flap

The competition in the marketplace is a game, no doubt, much like any other game… except for one small, but most significant difference: in the market, some of the players are also the rule makers.

From a classic game perspective, these rule makers or Game Changers enjoy nothing less than an ‘impossible advantage’ over the vast majority of their competitors who are happy to simply play along by the rules.

Few managers truly understand the fine art of how to control the intangible and somehow enigmatic ‘laws and rules’ of the competition in the marketplace. And hardly anybody knows about the compelling and proven techniques of how to purposefully change them in their own favour.

‘The Impossible Advantage’ reveals some surprising news: how virtually anybody can learn the art of the Game Masters and Game Changers. There are no demanding prerequisites: just get ready to engage in a mind-opening and provocatively different way of thinking.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470717122
• ISBN 13: 9780470717127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224