Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win

by George Stalk Jr., Rob Lachenauer, Robert Lachenauer

Great companies stumble and fall when they lose it. Highfliers crash when a competitor notices they don't have it. Start-ups shut down if they can't develop it. "It" is a strategy so powerful and an execution-driven mindset so relentless that companies use it to gain more than just competitive advantage--they achieve an industry dominance that is virtually unassailable and that competitors often try to explain away as unfair. In their "hardball manifesto," authors George Stalk and Rob Lachenauer of the leading strategy consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group show how hardball competitors can build or maintain an enviable competitive edge by pursuing one or more of the classic "hardball strategies": unleash massive and overwhelming force, exploit anomalies, devastate profit sanctuaries, raise competitors' costs, and break compromises.

Based on 25 years of experience advising and observing a range of companies, the authors argue that hardball competitors can gain extreme competitive advantage--neutralizing, marginalizing, or even destroying competitors--without violating their contracts with customers or employees and without breaking the rules. A clear-eyed paean to the timeless strategies that have driven the world's winning companies, Hardball Strategy redefines and reinterprets the meaning of competition for a new generation of business players. George Stalk and Rob Lachenauer are directors of The Boston Consulting Group. Stalk is the author of Competing Against Time, the classic work on time-based competition.

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Startup

192 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2004

About the author

George Stalk Jr. is Senior Partner and Managing Director for The Boston Consulting Group as well as an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Management for the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto. He joined BCG in 1978 and has worked in its Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and Toronto offices. His professional practice focuses on international and time-based competition. He holds a BSEM from the University of Michigan, an MSA&AE MIT and MBA from Harvard Business School. George Stalk Jr. co-authored a best-seller on “time-based” competition, Competing Against Time, and Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation. A somewhat controversial book, Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or to Playing to Win? was published in October of 2004. George Stalk Jr.’s latest book: Memos to the CEO: Strategies in Our Future was published in early 2008. He has also been published in several business publications, including the Harvard Business Review where he has won the McKinsey Award for the best article.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

First - a disclaimer - I'm not really anybody, but let me say that Stalk and Lachenauer have written a phenomenal book on business strategy that applies at any scale.

The lessons in each of the book's chapters are clear and the case studies do an excellent job of illustrating the impact. By framing strategy in terms of a competitive mindset, and distilling it through the lens of competition, they have produce a short and clear set of instructions for winning in the market.

This book had a profound impact on how I see business unfolding and helped me to critically analyze business decisions in my own work and in the businesses around me. Its tremendous.

If you take anything from it, it is that softball competition serves no one and that businesses practice softball strategy are not built to last in the long term. A hardball competitor will come and displace them every time.

Great book.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hardball's aim is to help deliver decisive strategies to businesses in order to gain a competitive advantage in a difficult business world. The book does a good job at detailing, with real life examples, strategies one can use to get an edge over competition. However, more often than not I found myself feeling like examples were used more than once and the material to be somewhat obvious. Maybe, its because the book is now almost 15 years old and the business landscape has changed drastically, although a good business book should be able to stand the test of time.

I picked Hardball up for £1 and I got great value for money.

[Aden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Will save you a few hours of reading by summarizing all the substance of this book in one sentence: to win, a company must make aggressive moves and attack competition. Book lacks insight (cliches galore), misunderstands ultimate business objectives (profit maximization, not simply top line growth or market share expansion), and provides contradictory advice without meaningful, distinguishing nuance.

[Henrique Soarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice concept, poor implementation. Treatment of GM highly biased by client-consultant perspective.

[VENKATRAMAN C K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise volume listing all the classic competitive strategies.

[Bayard Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tidbits but a little too agro for me

[Philip Philipovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make your-company-name Great Again.

If you are managing a company which has lost—or is about to lose—its competitive advantage, this book might be just the thing you need.

Hardball is a collection of principles and tricks that one could apply when attempting to turn a company around: to regain a competitive advantage, bring the company into a virtuous cycle, and ultimately reach a decisive advantage.

“Companies that play ‘hardball’ focus relentlessly on competitive advantage. They are impatient with the status quo, act swiftly, and execute with urgency. In doing so, they reshape industries and create enormous benefits for their customers, employees, and shareholders.”

While I enjoyed reading Hardball, there are many books I would recommend reading before this one. If you have already read a handful of business biographies, this book might feel a bit superficial, because many of the examples and ideas may already be familiar to you.

A few “hardball players” (some mentioned in the book, others that came to mind while reading it):

Jeff Bezos
Sam Walton
Michael Dell
Joe Coulombe
John Mackey
Steve Jobs
Napoleon
Michael Jordan
Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus


If you have the time, I would recommend first reading the biographies of these people. Having done that, Hardball would be a nice addition.

[Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good for a management book. The strategies they talk about owe a lot to GE, or at least to Jack Welch's summary of what GE did:

* Find some positioning (price, quality, customization, speed) where you can be #1 or #2.
* Be #1 or #2 at that.
* Use M&A judiciously to expand your lead in adjacent areas.
* If you're not paying antitrust lawyers to vet your behavior, you're not being as competitive as you could be.

[Omar M. Khateeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book with concepts that are not commonly found in business books. I would compare this as the modern day translation of Sun Tzu's "Art of War". The chapters layout specific ways for businesses to attack the competition and defend their business. I would recommend reading this along with "Crossing the Chasm" as the D-Day analogy used in it will have an actionable framework from this book.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feel like a book report, the experience is written very linearly and just as facts rather than a story. Are the techniques of other companies revealed? At a surface level. It’s hard to read this book and get many whiffs of inspiration to run your company or develop corporate strategy.

I imagine this is what consultants package together to present to execs at big companies.

[Alejandro Portellano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a clear and compelling description of what 'Playing to Win' truly means. While most companies and institutions settle for mediocrity, it explores how the best ones rise above and consistently excel.

[Fan Jianjia frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on how to fight battles

This is a great book on the fundamentals of the business battles. Put together in a very simple and concise way.

[Greg Streech · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting investigation into successful hardball business tactics designed around competition.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the examples are dated but overall this was a mildly entertaining business read

[Shivaraj Challapalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice set of case studies and examples to go through different ways to achieve edge in a business and managing turnarounds.

[Jacob Boone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good business anecdotes and epitaphs… will def pick this one up again later when I am running a business.

[Daren Draper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently one of Ken Griffin's most recommended books but didn't love it.

[Patrick Monahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth reading, especially if you identify as an entrepreneur. Decent book. Somewhat underwhelming relative to hype from podcasts and founders. Strong principles and adequate examples.

[Alex Orap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loosely coupled set of business cases from several industries (some are too much detailed)