Winning Market Leadership: Strategic Market Planning for Technology-Driven Businesses

Strategic market planning in technology-intensive businesses is more complex and is less manageable than in most other organizations. The technology-driven business environment is intensely competitive, complex, and dynamic, and planning needs to be done quickly and often.

Winning Market Leadership offers a refreshing new approach to strategic market planning in these very demanding technology-intensive markets. It provides a systematic and highly integrated process for evaluating market opportunities and for developing strategies to lead in chosen markets. Its proven, highly practical approach to strategic market planning has allowed leading companies worldwide to: plan faster, focus on cash-flow and profitability, create "living plans" that reflect changing market conditions and competitive dynamics, involve cross-functional teams effectively, and drive to "yes/no" decisions. The book resulted from project-based executive programs developed by the authors for corporate clients such as IBM, Nortel Networks, National Semiconductor, and General Electric. This strategic market planning process has been refined and tested with over a thousand managers and executives in North America, Europe, and Asia. Winning Market Leadership:

• Is targeted at managers in technology-intensive businesses such as computers, telecommunications, software, biotechnology, semiconductors, instruments, pharmaceuticals, and advanced materials.
• Focuses on the key issues and tough choices faced by executives in very demanding technology-intensive markets.
• Outlines a clear 10-step process for building winning market plans, including: identifying opportunities, understanding the competition, managing critical relationships, understanding the profit dynamic, and more.
• Features examples from high-tech companies such as Intel, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Glaxo Wellcome, and General Electric.
• Includes "Key Questions for Executives and Managers" at the end of each chapter that help eliminate "blind spots" in the planning process.

Winning Market Leadership is relevant to all executives and managers who play a significant role in developing cross-functional strategic market plans for their business: general managers; marketing managers; strategic planners; managers in business development, engineering, and R&D; and project team leaders.

The authors are on the faculty of the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario, Canada’s leading business school. They have worked as a team on school and private consulting initiatives for over a decade.

Adrian B. Ryans is Professor of Business Administration. He has served as Dean and Director of Executive Education, and has also taught at Stanford, INSEAD, and IMD. He has served as a marketing strategy and management development consultant to a number of leading companies around the world, including General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel Networks, IBM, Varian, Fluke, and National Semiconductor. He currently directs the American Electronics Association/Ivey Executive Marketing Program for executives in high-technology companies.

Roger A. More is Associate Professor of Business Administration and former Hewlett-Packard Professor of Marketing and New Technology. He has been a professor at the Harvard Business School, and taught at INSEAD and Penn State. A professional engineer and marketing planning and strategy consultant, his clients include General Electric, Nortel Networks, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Uddeholm Steel, and ICI.

Donald W. Barclay is George and Mary Turnbull Professor. He teaches Marketing Management and Sales Management and is Director, Marketing Management Program at Ivey. He has also taught at Thunderbird and at Memorial University, Newfoundland. Formerly with IBM in sales and national account positions, he now consults to clients such as 3M, Novartis, and the Royal Bank of Canada.

Terry H. Deutscher is Professor of Business Administration. During his time at the School, he has served as Associate Dean, Director of Research, and founding director of Ivey’s Executive MBA Program via video-conferencing. He has also held appointments at Cornell University, Ohio State University, the University of British Columbia, and IMD. His consulting clients include IBM, General Electric, Nortel Networks, Philips, and ICI.