Authors: Rosenau, Milton D.; Bayus, Barry L.

Source: Journal of Product Innovation Management, Volume 16, Number 2, March 1999 , pp. 215-217(3)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Books reviewed in this issue:

Shona L. Brown and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt

Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos

Michael Michalko

Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius

Brief note in this issue:

Joe Sherman

Charging Ahead

Books received for possible review in a future issue:

Eric J. Bolland and Charles W. Hofer

Future Firms: How Americas High Technology Companies Work

Sigvald J.Harryson

Japanese Technology and Innovation Management: From Know-How to Know-Who

Dudley Jackson

Technological Change, The Learning Curve and Profitability

Philip Kotler

Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets

David Matheson and Jim Matheson

The Smart Organization

Rajan Suri

Quick Response Manufacturing: A Companywide Approach to Reducing Lead Times

James Brian Quinn, Jordan J. Baruch, and Karen A. Zien

Innovation Explosion: Using Intellect and Software to Revolutionize Growth

Book Reviews

Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos, by Shona L. Brown and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1998. 299 1 xii pages. $27.95.

Competing on the Edge is a novel approach to strategy development, with particular relevance to those managers who are in rapid-growth industries or who feel the need to be at the cutting edge of whatever industry they are in. As such, it is a worthwhile acquisition for senior executives responsible for strategic decisions as well as for middle-level managers and product managers concerned with the issues of developing and introducing new products into volatile markets.

There are numerous tables and figures to support the text material, making this an easy-to-read book.

This is text aimed at the practitioner, not the academic. Those in high-tech industries have the most to gain from the examples cited, because they seem to come, in large part, from the computer and computer software fields. Still, there are lessons to be learned even for those in service or low-tech businesses. The reader should be aware that the data on which this book is based come from a sample of only 12 firms, specifically six pairs of businesses in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Each pair comprised what Brown and Eisenhardt considered to be a “dominant” player and a “very good” player in the same industry. Although they conducted some 100 executive interviews, the fact remains that these firms are not necessarily representative of their own industries. This inductive approach of going from the particular to the general is a debatable issue. That said, the authors have developed an interesting theory that most likely will be quickly embraced by both business and academe, whether the basis for it is sound or not.

In essence this book is about the management of change. As the authors point out, change can occur at three levels. The lowest level is change forced upon you by competitive moves or some other environmental factor. You react, hence you change! At a higher level change is anticipated by the organization. But, change does not occur unless the anticipated event takes place. So it is a defensive form of change. At the highest level, change is induced by management. This is an aggressive form of change in that you force your competitors to follow your lead, otherwise they fall behind. This is what is termed “competing on the edge.” How to compete at the edge of technology, how to look to the future while still maintaining your main focus on todays products and markets (and sometimes yesterdays products) is the challenge of businesses that want to retain their leadership role or establish themselves as market leaders. It is a matter of developing an organizational structure capable of dealing with the chaos that living on the edge produces. Brown and Eisenhardt contend that there are five essential building blocks to developing a dynamic strategy for, as they term it, “structured chaos.” These blocks are:

Improvisation innovating and consistently executing

Coadaptation-achieving intercompany collaboratio

Regeneration-exploitation of old products

Experimentation/low-cost probing to test the future

Time pacing/developing a corporate rhythm.

Each block and its component parts are extensively treated in successive chapters of the book. Examples are given of successful applications of each of these concepts, as well as unsuccessful ones. One shortcoming of these examples is that the authors invariably give the real names of the companies that are successful (Intel, for one), but use pseudonyms for those that failed to measure up. Understandable, but it leaves the reader wondering who these companies are that appear to be so badly run.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0737-6782(98)00064-2

Publication date: 1999-03-01

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