The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value With Customers

Description

When the landmark strategy book Competing for the Future was published in 1994, it redefined strategy and set the course of business for the next decade. The book has sold over 380,000 copies in hardcover and paperback, and helped cement authors Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad's reputations as the world's leading strategy experts. Now, C.K. Prahalad - teaming with marketing expert Venkat Ramaswamy - presents a new vision of the future for executives struggling to compete in a world radically changed by the Internet and digital technologies. The Future of Competition argues that in a world in which information is readily available to everyone, the role of the customer has changed dramatically. Once passive recipients of the products and services companies created for them - customers are now active participants who actually co-create the value they receive, from products and services they help develop, test, and distribute. Whereas in the 1990s competitive advantage was derived from the authors' landmark notion of "core competencies" (those activities a company does better than anyone else), in the future it will come from how proficient companies are at providing opportunities for customers to co-create unique experiences. Prahalad and Ramaswamy present four key building blocks that will enable companies to co-create the future with customers - transparency, access, dialogues, and risk management - and illustrate them through rich examples from a wide range of companies. As bold and far-reaching as Competing for the Future a decade ago, this book will redefine strategy for the Information Age.

C.K. Prahalad is the Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration and Chairman of the Board of Praja, a technology management company in San Diego. He lives in San Diego but travels extensively. Venkat Ramaswamy is a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.