Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win?

Hardback

Main Details

Title Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win?
Authors and Contributors      By (author) George Stalk
By (author) Rob Lachenauer
By (author) John Butman
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:192
Dimensions(mm): Height 243,Width 162
Category/GenreBusiness and management
ISBN/Barcode 9781591391678
ClassificationsDewey:658.001
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Harvard Business Review Press
Imprint Harvard Business Review Press
Publication Date 1 October 2004
Publication Country United States

Description

Classic Strategies for Unapologetic Winners "It" is a strategy so powerful and an execution-driven mind-set 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 twenty-five 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.

Author Biography

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.