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

The concepts presented in the book are deceptively easy to gloss over. I do not blame the reviewers at this site who did not 'get it'. This is not something one can expect to read and understand over a coast-to-coast flight like most of the popular business books one tends to find at the airport book stores. It is heavily intellectual content and for those who do 'get it', the payoffs can be huge, as have been documented by the real-life examples presented in the book. There are no quick fixes here and no 'if you have problem A, do X' type remedies, nor the 'company A did X and it worked for them' type anecdotal evidence. Real-life examples have been used to demonstrate the backbone of the theory. This is necessary because there is no evidence of the concept of co-creation present yet in the collective *consciousness* of the managers today (it does happen accidentally, though). Now you must be wondering how I can be so emphatic about stating my opinion. Well, I have had the fantastic opportunity to do some work on this subject during my MBA program through the B-school class offered by one of the authors at Ross Business School, as well as the opportunity of doing independent research on the subject matter of this book. I can assure the prospective reader that the material requires serious mental exercise, and the theory and frameworks are not easy to grasp or implement. The reason for this is that the implementation of the concepts being presented requires some serious inside-out redesign of the organization, processes, systems as well as value appropriation contracts.. However, for those interested in finding out about which direction to look to innovate, especially the entrepreneurial types, this is an excellent opportunity to learn something new and apply it to the extent your own organizational processes, systems and capabilities will allow, or create ground-up organizations, processes, systems and capabilities to take advantage of the opportunities to the fullest. Sunil Chhaya, Ph.D.

These two professors from the University of Michigan Business School have written a great business strategy book. In our World, every products and services appear to become commoditized at the speed of light shortly after their innovation. These two authors show how a business can differentiate itself and offer a substantial value added. By delivering superior goods and services, these will not be subject to commodity pricing anymore, and will reward their respective companies with premium pricing, higher ROE, and higher shareholder value. The value added comes from involving the customer in co-designing the product he wants, and servicing the product with the customer's ongoing online feedback. The author gives several examples of companies that are using these practices of the future today. Sumerset Houseboats, a houseboat construction company, actively engages its customers in the boat designing process. Deere, the farming equipment manufacturer, has developed a GPS system that monitors and diagnoses farming equipment usage and equipment problems by its farming customers. There is no question that such intense customer centric practices represent substantial competitive edges. The companies that can innovate and deliver such services at a profit will become the winners of tomorrow. Imagine if nowadays you could truly benefit of such troubleshooting services on your home PC. Offsite, the computer manufacturer would monitor that the latest virus, bugs, spyware have not infected your system. If it did, it would clean up your system automatically and restore it to health. Would not you think that such a PC would be worth a 100% mark up over the current commoditized PC that typically falls apart within months after being attacked endlessly by bugs. The type of co-created added value the two authors talk about is the best step forward in protecting the U.S. technological lead going forward. The companies that do that well will survive and thrive. The ones who do not will see their products being taken away by lower cost competitors delivering the same commoditized products utilizing Chinese manufacturing and Indian programming. Given that the two professors are of Indian origins, no one can argue they did not give us a fair warning.This book is well written and very innovative. If you are an entrepreneur, business strategist, business consultant, MBA student or professor, this is a must read. If you are none of those, it is still a very interesting and important book showing a good roadmap on how the U.S. can maintain its technological leadership.

Preceding review by that "reader from Dallas" simply demonstrates how sometimes consumers from outside of the target market of an offering might mistakenly mix into the community to misrepresent and bad-mouth the premise and potential of a genuinely well-meaning product/service/idea. It's especially sad because the authors explicitly state in the preface of the book, who the book is for, what it tries to achieve, and what it does not claim to be. Such frank disclosures and disclaimers are not something we are accustomed to in this crowded yet-another-snake-oil business books marketplace. How often do we come across a business book that is as deeply engaging, intellectual, coherent, and provocative as this one? At any rate, we live in a connected world and it is simply impossible to predict where, how, what your intended (and non-intended) consumers are saying about your product. By the way, this insight itself is one of the central points the authors make in that book.Contrary to what that reader from Dallas argues, the book actually meets and exceeds the premise and objectives it sets for itself. Let me highlight some of these: "This book sets the agenda for top management for co-creating the future.""Our task is here to 'amplify weak signals' from a diversity of institutions, industries, and countries, and to represent readers with a new frame of reference for value creation.""While we do not suggest a revolution, we do see wide departures from traditional ways of sensing, thinking, and doing.""Throughout this book, we use a lot of examples as thinking props to convey our perspective and key ideas, not to illustrate best practices."Given all these disclaimers, it is not fair to criticize a book for not being what it never claims to be in the first place. I advise the readers to carefully read the preface before considering buying or reading the book. If you determine you fit the profile of the intended readers and engage the book with the right mind set, you will be well rewarded with your investment.

This book takes the concept of sense-and-respond to a new level. Filled with relevant and supportive examples, the authors compel us to move away from traditional "company think" to "customer think." From the dated notions of value embedded products and services to crafting heterogeneous customer experiences. They not only explain why but how--how refreshing.