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The Upside: The 7 Strategies for Turning Big Threats into Growth Breakthroughs
Today, when your fortunes can literally change overnight, the new strategic imperative is making your moment of maximum risk your moment of maximum opportunity. In The Upside , Adrian Slywotzky provides bold and original ideas for growth breakthroughs as well as the practical tools to use Monday morning, such as
•How to change the odds for your next major initiative and create potential industry breakthroughs, as Toyota did with its expanding universe of Prius vehicles.
•Shape and exploit risk, don’t be shaped by it. Become a knowledge-intensive business and continuallyincrease the knowledge gap between yourself and rivals, as Coach and Tsutaya of Japan have convincingly done.
•A category killer can’t kill what’s not in its category. When basketball legend Bill Russell faced a taller, stronger Wilt Chamberlain, he led the Celtics to victory by inventing a different game. The same thinking lets Target prosper in a Wal-Mart world—and can help you outcompete the “unbeatable” rival in your own industry.
•When you come to a fork in the road—take it! Only a fraction of companies survive when industries experience technological or strategic transitions. To be a survivor, learn the secret that enabled Microsoft to weather the advent of the Internet—the art of the double bet.
•Stuckinabusinessbox? Findthebiggerbox—and then the biggest.When growth stagnates, capture more of your customer’s dollars through demand innovation and big-box thinking, as companies from Continental AG and Ikea to Procter & Gamble have done.
•Your competitors can also be your greatest enablers of profit. Stop competing yourself to death! The key is knowing when to compete and when to collaborate, as Apple has shown with its revolutionary approach to the music business.
In the 1980s conventional wisdom was that you could have high quality or low cost, but not both—until Japanese makers of cars and electronics showed otherwise. Now, high quality and low cost are required just to enter the marketplace. Today, we face a similar paradox when it comes to risk and reward. Rather than shrink from the high risk so integral to the tumultuous global economy, Adrian Slywotzky shows how it can be your greatest source of growth and future reward.
•How to change the odds for your next major initiative and create potential industry breakthroughs, as Toyota did with its expanding universe of Prius vehicles.
•Shape and exploit risk, don’t be shaped by it. Become a knowledge-intensive business and continuallyincrease the knowledge gap between yourself and rivals, as Coach and Tsutaya of Japan have convincingly done.
•A category killer can’t kill what’s not in its category. When basketball legend Bill Russell faced a taller, stronger Wilt Chamberlain, he led the Celtics to victory by inventing a different game. The same thinking lets Target prosper in a Wal-Mart world—and can help you outcompete the “unbeatable” rival in your own industry.
•When you come to a fork in the road—take it! Only a fraction of companies survive when industries experience technological or strategic transitions. To be a survivor, learn the secret that enabled Microsoft to weather the advent of the Internet—the art of the double bet.
•Stuckinabusinessbox? Findthebiggerbox—and then the biggest.When growth stagnates, capture more of your customer’s dollars through demand innovation and big-box thinking, as companies from Continental AG and Ikea to Procter & Gamble have done.
•Your competitors can also be your greatest enablers of profit. Stop competing yourself to death! The key is knowing when to compete and when to collaborate, as Apple has shown with its revolutionary approach to the music business.
In the 1980s conventional wisdom was that you could have high quality or low cost, but not both—until Japanese makers of cars and electronics showed otherwise. Now, high quality and low cost are required just to enter the marketplace. Today, we face a similar paradox when it comes to risk and reward. Rather than shrink from the high risk so integral to the tumultuous global economy, Adrian Slywotzky shows how it can be your greatest source of growth and future reward.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
5 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Adrian J. Slywotzky
26 books45 followersAdrian J. Slywotzky (born in 1951) is a consultant and author of several books on economic theory and management. Slywotzky graduated from Harvard College and holds a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has worked as a consultant since 1979 and is currently a partner at Oliver Wyman.
Slywotzky wrote several books on profitability and growth, namely the bestselling The Profit Zone'.' He is one of the most renowned consultants of the United States and was elected as one of the 25 best consultants in 2000 and 2008. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Slywotzky wrote several books on profitability and growth, namely the bestselling The Profit Zone'.' He is one of the most renowned consultants of the United States and was elected as one of the 25 best consultants in 2000 and 2008. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2019
This book was worth reading because the author tries to describe your actions in risky moments.
The general concept is "Ride the risk". Seven strategies and cases are brilliant. This case about Toyota and Uchiamada Takeshi made up my day.
How to change the risks of the company next big intense and create potential industry breakthroughs.
•Ride the risk, don’t be shaped by it.
•A killer of the industry can’t kill what’s not his industry.
•"When you come to a fork in the road—take it!" From the book.
•Stuck in a business box? Find the bigger box—and then the biggest.
•Your enemies on the market can also be your greatest enablers of profit.
This book gives you the understanding of clearness and long-sightedness of the author's way of thinking. Every company should consider them. This book can show you how to use the current situation, and get much more profit than your opponents. This book can help businesses to go into long run and capitalise them. Slywotzkyy puts valuable effort into organisational design. Also, much of the book topics were related to decision making under uncertainty.
The general concept is "Ride the risk". Seven strategies and cases are brilliant. This case about Toyota and Uchiamada Takeshi made up my day.
How to change the risks of the company next big intense and create potential industry breakthroughs.
•Ride the risk, don’t be shaped by it.
•A killer of the industry can’t kill what’s not his industry.
•"When you come to a fork in the road—take it!" From the book.
•Stuck in a business box? Find the bigger box—and then the biggest.
•Your enemies on the market can also be your greatest enablers of profit.
This book gives you the understanding of clearness and long-sightedness of the author's way of thinking. Every company should consider them. This book can show you how to use the current situation, and get much more profit than your opponents. This book can help businesses to go into long run and capitalise them. Slywotzkyy puts valuable effort into organisational design. Also, much of the book topics were related to decision making under uncertainty.
August 25, 2008
What we have in Upside is a continuation of Slywotzky's emphasis on the importance of measuring what really matters, especially insofar as value migration during paradigm shifts within competitive markets are concerned, but I think there are some intriguing differences between this book and those which precede it. For example, Slywotzky establishes and then sustains throughout his narrative a conversational, at times almost (not quite) playful tone...certainly his tone is much less formal than in earlier works. Also, and more to the point, he devotes less attention to the "what" (i.e. seven strategies), preferring to focus primarily on the "why" and "how" of strategic risk management which enables just about any organization (regardless of size or nature) to "turn big threats into growth breakthroughs."
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
August 25, 2008
What we have in Upside is a continuation of Slywotzky's emphasis on the importance of measuring what really matters, especially insofar as value migration during paradigm shifts within competitive markets are concerned, but I think there are some intriguing differences between this book and those which precede it. For example, Slywotzky establishes and then sustains throughout his narrative a conversational, at times almost (not quite) playful tone...certainly his tone is much less formal than in earlier works. Also, and more to the point, he devotes less attention to the "what" (i.e. seven strategies), preferring to focus primarily on the "why" and "how" of strategic risk management which enables just about any organization (regardless of size or nature) to "turn big threats into growth breakthroughs."
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
More specifically, a major initiative fails or at least falls far short of high hopes and great expectations; there is a significant loss of customer revenue; there is an paradigm, shift within the given industry; a seeming unbeatable competitor appears; loss of brand power and leverage; the given industry has become a no-profit zone; zero or insignificant organizational growth. "The first two jobs of strategic management are to sidestep the unnecessary blows [i.e. self-inflicted wounds] and mitigate the blows you can't avoid. You can avoid the biggest hits to your company's value through as strategic risk management system that uses the principles and techniques described in the rest of this book." Slywotzky then goes on to suggest: "Remember Warren Buffett's first rule: Preserve your capital. And also his second rule: See the first rule."
According to Slywotzky, "The first step in de-risking your product is to recognize the true odds of success; the second is to change them." He explains how in the first chapter, citing Toyota as an exemplary company and its development of the Prius as a case in point. I especially appreciate that, on page 32 and throughout the book, Slywotzky includes a checklist of key points within the given context. These are action steps for his reader to consider. "How many of these types of moves can you adapt for your next big project?" (The key words are "moves" and "adapt.") In fact, later in the same chapter and throughout his subsequent narrative, Slywotzky makes brilliant use of a reader-friendly device, "[name of company's] Moves to [name of initiative]."H e uses a variation of it (e.g. "Toyota's Further Moves to Change the Odds") to indicate that effective strategic risk management, responding effectively to "big threats," is an on-going process.
March 29, 2013
A should-read book on strategy for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews