Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth

In an age of ever-shortening corporate life-cycles, Chris Zook examines the way in which some companies have successfully adapted to a harsher and more investor and public conscious corporate environment by expanding, redefining and reinventing their core businesses. As the future of large successful corporate conglomerates becomes increasingly uncertain in the wake of market forces, such as private equity buyouts, hostile or activist shareholder activity and other evolving market forces, which threaten to undermine long-standing successful market strategies, some companies somehow emerge from the shark-infested waters with little resemblance of their former selves and do so with greater vitality, profitability and vigor than ever before. Never before has one author caused a reader to re-examine the strategies that have shaped the global corporate atmosphere for so many years. Companies can no longer simply search for traditional market synergies among affordable competitors, or simply aim to lower production costs or hope to engineer a new product or discover a new market. Instead, these companies will be forced to seek out lesser known `hidden assets' in order to shift their core profit structure. They will also be forced to focus and refine that core and defend it vehemently against emerging low-cost competitors who seek to steal or infringe upon their core. Companies today will be forced to take actions such as these in their aim to become unstoppable, or they will inevitably suffer the consequences which more and more companies find themselves succumbing to.

In two previously published books, Profit from the Core (2001) and then Beyond the Core (2004), Chris Zook shares what several years of extensive and intensive research revealed about "how companies fail to recognize the potential of their core business and, as a result, prematurely abandon it in pursuit of hot markets or sexy new ideas, only to realize their error - often, when it is too late." He suggests a systematic way for organizations to assess their full potential and to make certain, also, that they do not fall into "this common, and typically human, trap." In this volume, Zook draws upon an even wider and deeper wealth of research sources that include about fifty interviews, mostly of CEOs. The title is explained by the fact that he and his associates chose to study most closely those companies "that beat the odds. We also analyzed patterns of failure and estimated the odds of success offered by various paths in various situations." He goes on to observe that all of the success stories built their renewal on their "hidden assets" that had been previously been undervalued, unrecognized, and/or underutilized. "These assets were not central to the strategy of the past, but they held the key to the future. Furthermore, the older and more complex the company, the greater was the likelihood of finding promising hidden assets." In other words, many companies already "hold most of the cards for "a winning hand" but do not realize it. I highly recommend all three of Zook's books because, together, they answer three separate but related, and critically important questions: 1. How to define and grow an organization's core assets? (Profit from the Core) 2. How to expand its boundaries into new territory? (Beyond the Core) 3. How to redefine and renew its core? (Unstoppable) No company is forever "unstoppable" but most (if not all) companies can take full advantage of the information and counsel Zook provides in this book to find correct answers to all three of these questions achieve core renewal without "leaps to distant and hot new markets, ...being the first adopter of a pioneering new strategy,...[or making] as `big bang' acquisition." In fact, unless a given organization has "beaten the odds" by sustaining profitable growth, it should first define or redefine its core assets and then grow or renew them, before committing any resources to organizational and/or territorial expansion. Zook is to be commended on the care with which he defines various terms. For example, undervalued business platforms "that might have once been secondary in importance but now have the potential to be the foundation for a new major core business"(e.g. IBM's Global Services Group). Also unexploited customer assets that tend to exist in three primary forms: "knowledge gathered as part of serving the customer but that, over time, accumulates an inherently greater value of its own...a unique position of trust of relationship with a set of customers [that gives] m

I have read and enjoyed all three of Chris Zook's strategy books, Profit from the Core, Beyond the Core, and his latest, Unstoppable. They are filled with compelling analysis, which Zook uses to offer practical insights on how companies can grow profitably and create value for shareholders. Zook's description of the focus, expand, redefine cycle of growth is insightful. As the business world becomes less certain, more and more companies will need to move through this cycle. The stories that Zook describes of companies that have successfully navigated around this growth cycle offer guidance to other companies wishing to survive and grow. All of Zook's books are focused on implementation. In Unstoppable, he clearly outlines the questions that need to be answered in order to understand how your business is doing and where to look for hidden assets that can help redefine a company. Any corporate executive should think through Zooks's ten principles of core growth and redefinition and take to heart his message about the need to focus. It is not often that you find action-oriented advice written in such an easy-to-read style. I highly recommend reading Unstoppable.

Nothing stays the same in the business world, and even successful businesses will face their own demise if they are not thinking ahead to their next "core" business. Chris Zook examines this redefinition of business in the book Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth. This is an important book for all businesses, especially those who think they're on top of the curve right now... Contents: Unsustainable to Unstoppable; When to Redefine the Core; Undervalued Business Platforms; Untapped Customer Insights; Underutilized Capabilities; Managing Through the Growth Cycle; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index; About the Author When a company is trying to redefine their core, often they'll do one of three things. They'll either commit ever more deeply to what they currently do, they'll move into an area where they have no experience, or they'll merge with some other group to form a new mega-power. But Zook shows through research that each of those moves has a very small chance of success over the long term. The odds are much better when companies examine what they already have, and then map out how to leverage those hidden assets. They often fall into the categories of undervalued business platforms, unexploited customer assets, or underutilized capabilities. By moving in these areas where you already have traction, the company can be redefined to meet the next growth period. Zook has plenty of case study examples to back up his premise. PerkinElmer went from precision optics to genetic research using a small niche subsidiary they had. American Express took their massive data assets and redefined how they catered to customers. These and many other stories help to flesh out an important message... Change is inevitable, and it's best to be out in front of it, rather than playing catch-up in survival mode. I can't think of too many businesses that wouldn't benefit from a structured examination of what they do and where things are going. Even if you don't feel you need to change right now, it's important to be thinking along those lines. That time *will* come, regardless of whether you want it to or not...

I have not read the author's other two books. The instant one is his latest, and from what I gather it is kind of part three of a 3-part series. But I really liked this book. I'm a volunteer SCORE counselor and earlier this week I got an email from a client who had just closed the doors to his franchise. He still owed on a multi-year lease and he wanted to know how he could minimize his losses. I mention this here because as I read this book my recommendation to the client came to mind. I recommended that even though the business was failed, it could still be sold. And I recommended that an attempt should be made to turn the business around before it was sold. This book is about not letting a failing business go under. It is about taking the existing assets (and liabilities) of a business and using them to move in a new direction so the business will not fail. By shifting the direction the company moves in so it can get back in a growth mode (or at least a sustainable mode) the leader/manager of the business will not let the business fail. The book is comprised of five chapters as follows: 1. Unsustainable to unstoppable. 2. When to redefine the core. 3. Undervalued business platforms. 4. Untapped customer insights. 5. Underutilized capabilities. 6. Managing through the growth cycle. The author talks about tapping on hidden assets. Those are the assets a business has that it underutilitzes. My understanding of "hidden assets" is that they are assets that do not fit the business model of the failing business, but they exist and are owned by the business. And when the business model (or business goals) are changed, then those hidden assets show themselves and they become very valuable assets to the business. It's because of the existence of those hidden assets that an unsustainable business can be morphed and made into an unstoppable business in its quest to sustain itself and grow. If you are interested in turnarounds, performance renewal, organization, management, and leadership, then this book will have something for you. It's all about not relying on past formulas for success when the chips are down. It about having an open mind and making the most with what you have. You'll be able to do that if you are able to redefine your business' strategy to make money. Just figure out what you've got and work with it in order to maximize profit that can be sustained. Don't ever go down with the ship - patch the hole and revamp the boat so it can sail again. Sometimes this requires just adapting. While at other times it demands reinvention. 5 stars!