Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It - Softcover

Ries, Al

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887308635 ISBN 13: 9780887308635

Publisher: Harperbusiness, 1997

Synopsis

How can IBM have $65 billion in revenues and still lose money? Although PepsiCo has nearly twice the sales and assets of Coca-Cola, Coke's stock is worth more than twice as much. Again and again, the financial pages report similar stories. In plain and effective language, internationally known marketing expert and bestselling author Al Ries explains why IBM, PepsiCo and other revenue-rich companies often fail to perform on the balance sheet. His common-sense approach to business management focuses on keeping a business doing what it does best, eschewing the temptation to diversify into unrelated enterprises.

Using real-world examples, Ries shows that in industry after industry, it is the companies that resist diversification, and focus instead on owning a category in consumers' minds, that dominate their markets. He offers solid guidance to get companies back on target, explaining how to get focused and how to stay focused. His no-nonsense advice lays out a workable blueprint for any company's evolution that can increase market share and shareholder value while keeping an eye squarely on the future.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

FOCUSED OR UNFOCUSED?
GENERAL MOTORS, PORSCHE, BMW, IBM, KODAK, HEINZ, TANDY, PEPSICO, COCA COLA, LEVI STRAUSS, TOYS 'R' US, BLOCKBUSTER, CANON, MICROSOFT, AMERICAN EXPRESS AND MANY MORE...

IBM had 465 billion in revenues and was still losing money. PepsiCo has almost twice the sales and assets of Coca-Cola, but its stock is worth less than half. What is their problem, shared by hundreds of other business world-wide?

'Focus' has the answer. With practical, no-nonsense advise, Al Ries guides managers back on track and explains why companies that focus on core products and get rid of extraneous, resource-wasting areas are the most successful.

With hard examples from a wide variety of industries, Ries analyses corporations that are focused, and many that are not. He predicts the kind of corporate thinking that is destined to fail, and looks at companies such as Volvo, Blockbuster, Federal Express, Toys 'R' US, American Express and many more.

In today's cut-throat markets, the 'refocusing' issue can make or break a company. This book is vital to chief executives, entrepreneurs, marketing managers and managers of all divisions.

About the Author:

Al Ries’s previous books are The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Bottom-Up Marketing, Marketing Warfare and Postitioning. He is one of the world’s best-known marketing strategists and consults for some of the largest corporations in North America, South America and the Far East. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harperbusiness
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0887308635
• ISBN 13: 9780887308635
• Binding: Paperback