Customer Reviews

Competing on the Edge : Strategy as Structured Chaos

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(6)

 

 

Andersen Consulting recently completed a study of the worldwide electronics systems industry. One of the key results reported in this study was that those companies that followed traditional approaches to strategy, collaboration, organization, and business processes (as currently taught in most MBA programs and espoused by some consultants), had decreased chances for success compared to those firms whose managers followed innovative approaches to strategic thinking and action. While some details of the innovative approaches were provided in the report, there was no unifying framework to aid managers and researchers in putting the findings in context-nor was there any basis for generalizing the findings to other industries. Competing on the Edge provides such a framework as well as the basis for extension to a wide variety of industries.

This book should be required reading for anyone who manages, does business with, invests in, or regulates--or plans to do so--firms in fast-moving environments.

The authors identify three key concepts to managing change on a continuous basis: managing on the edge of chaos, managing on the edge of time and time pacing. Each of these concepts is illustrated via the identification and explication of a series of "traps" that, should the managers fall in, result in their companies becoming non-competitors in their industries. The traps are, in turn, detailed by references to a set of disguised studies that form the underpinning for concepts, and brought to life by reference to reinterpreted information about a variety of organizations that have appeared in the business and popular press. One aspect of the book that managers, especially, should appreciate-for Brown and Eisenhardt strategic management does not mean strategy formulation alone; it also includes implementation

The book is eminently readable, with a scattering of side-bar boxes containing specific information on concepts raised in the text. The examples employed are nothing short of innovative--when is the last time you saw a management book that used the ecology of a prairie, caribou hunting and the Tour de France to illustrate points about strategy?

Competing on the Edge is an excellent way to acquaint practicing managers as well as students in MBA programs with the latest concepts for managing organizations in situations where rapid change is the norm. It will certainly be required reading for my graduate course on Strategic Analysis for High Technology Industries.

Shona L.Brown and Kathleen M.Eisenhardt's book is dynamic and major break from traditional static approaches. "Competing on the edge contrasts with other approaches to strategy that assume clear industry boundaries, predictable competition, or a knowable future...The underlying insight behind competing on the edge is that strategy is the result of a firm's organizing to change constantly and letting a semicoherent strategic direction emerge from that organization...A semicoherent strategic direction is fundamentally different from what is traditionally called strategy" (p.7). Here, they ask, "What is unique and even provocative about it?":

* It is unpredictable. Competing on the edge is about surprise.

* It is uncontrolled. It is not about command and precision planning by senior executives.

* It is inefficient. Competing on the edge is not necessarily efficient in the short term.

* It is proactive. Competing on the edge is not about passively watching for the occasional discontinuity or waiting for other firms to move before taking action.

* It is continuous. It is about a rhythm of moves over time; not a set of disjointed actions.

* It is diverse. Competing on the edge is about making a variety of moves with varying scale and risk.

In this context, they write that "the premise of this book is that change is pervasive. The implcation is that the key strategic challenge facing managers in many contemporary businesses is managing this change. The challenge is to react quickly, anticipate when possible, and lead change where appropriate. A manager's dilemma is how to do this, not just once or every now and then, but consistently. Our book has argued that competing on the edge is the unpredictable, often uncontrolled, and even inefficient strategy that nonetheless defines best practice when change is pervasive." And,then, they list ten rules of competing on the edge that articulate the key assumptions and best practices about strategy, organization, and leadership that they have found to characterize firms that compete on the edge:

I- Strategy

Rule 1. Advantage is temporary.

Rule 2. Strategy is diverse, emergent, and complicated.

Rule 3. Reinvention is the goal.

II- Organization

Rule 4. Live in the present.

Rule 5. Stretch out the past.

Rule 6. Reach into the future.

Rule 7. Time pace change.

III- Leadership

Rule 8. Grow the strategy.

Rule 9. Drive strategy from the business level.

Rule 10. Repatch businesses to markets and articulate the whole.

Highly recommended.

How does Microsoft stay a dominant player? Why is Nike so darned cool? How were the Grateful Dead such a successful, innovative band? This book tries to answer these and other fascinating questions by cramming them into a clunky, poorly thought-out theory called "controlled chaos," which utilizes supposedly innovative timeline, creative and management practices. With tiresome, repetitive prose, the authors hammer away at points obvious to all in the computer industry (such as: trial and error are effective strategies only if you are prepared to fail occasionally) while supporting their arguments with hugely succesful cases-in-point such as Microsoft, Intel and Nike (ignoring the fact that all of these companies are notorious competition-killers who use any and all means to acquire or destroy any potential threat). The book reads like a bad thesis, and the authors can hardly seem to go four pages without reminding you how innovative and avante-garde their theo! ries are. I was under pressure from a CEO to make this into a book-on-tape for him so he could yatter away knowledgably at a cocktail party about "controlled chaos," and it was a chore to slog through this dreary, unimaginative book. The modern executive could learn more from two pages of Sun Tzu than from ten volumes of such self-promoting and empty drivel.

This book is not about magic bullets. No slogans or easy fixes for managers in business. This is a book about the realities of business.

There are books out there that discuss complexity theory well but management poorly, and there are also books that discuss management well but complexity theory poorly. This book is an exception in the field because it does a very nice job of discussing both. It is the blend of these two topics that makes it a nice read and a change of pace from other management reading.

The book combines some very useful insights with examples that resonate with business people. It tries to explain how some disparate companies in different industries share some characteristics, and how those characteristics define their competitive success.

I do have to warn, though, it is not an altogether light read. Although it has light moments, such as decriptions of cool companies, the guts can be dense. The core of the book is based on extensive and serious academic research, and that is evident. This is a serious book for people who want to think about management problems where the solutions are not simple or obvious.

This book was used in a graduate level strategic management class, and most of the topics were covered early in the book. There was little gained by reading the rest of it. Additionally, there was little information on how a company is supposed to find the balance at the edge of chaos. For the course that used it, there should have been more introduction to traditional strategy, and this book makes a poor core text for that purpose; however, that was probably not the authors' intentions.

I still feel it was a decent book, and I liked the concepts of time pacing and group improvisation. But, how does one determine how to find an balance on the edge. I mean after the first couple chapters we got the point. The examples mentioned were all anonymous like this review should be, so we could not study what those companies actually did on our own either. For the level of detail provided it could have been a case study instead of a book.

I suggest you buy the book and read the only the first few chapters and skim the rest of it or get the cliff notes.

This book was used in a graduate level strategic management class, and most of the topics were covered early in the book. There was little gained by reading the rest of it. Additionally, there was little information on how a company is supposed to find the balance at the edge of chaos. For the course that used it, there should have been more introduction to traditional strategy, and this book makes a poor core text for that purpose; however, that is not the fault of this book.

I still feel it was a decent book, and I liked the concepts of time pacing and group improvisation. But, how does one determine how to find an balance on the edge. I mean after the first coupole chapters we got the point that you want to be in between structure and complete chaos. The examples mentioned were all anonymous like this review, so we could not study what those companies actually did on our own either. For the level of detail provided it could have been a case study instead of a book.

I suggest you buy the book and read the only the first few chapters and skim the rest of it or get the cliff notes.

A great book if you have not read anything else - If you have however you may find that this reads like a garbled bunch of other peoples ideas that have been warmed over - For example Moores "Death of Competition" and Kauffmans "At home in the Universe" from which they seem to have liberally sampled are far superior original works with real substance. Like many books it over-simplifies and glosses over major issues. At best a superficial book even if it has a great title. How it could be used as a text book is a scary thought. If you only read a few books a year, use you time more effectively with Competing for the future or the Innovators Dilemma.

If you want to learn how to speak like a typical MBA (full of buzzwords but low on substance), this book should be very helpful. Otherwise, it is a waste of time. One of the authors teaches at Stanford business school -- don't they have higher standards there?

I had to suffer through this piece of junk for my MBA. I would expect this to be a huge hit with consultants and .edu types - who don't have to stick around to produce measurable long-term results that lead to increased profits.

This book was a pile of buzz-words, contradictions (why is the "edge" of chaos shown as smooth bell curve? Because 'dancing on edge;' sounds cool) and hip culture. Go ahead and apply it to your business and see what happens...

I took the first opportunity to throw it in the garbage as soon as the last hour of class was over.

As a business school student I have covered a plethora of theories and frameworks regarding strategic analysis, planning, and development. Brown & Eisenhardt provide a fresh look at strategy. Competing on the Edge provides the latest thinking on emergent strategy and succeeding within high-velocity industries. Regardless if you are in industry or the classroom, this book is a must if you ever plan to drive strategy at the business level-no matter what the pace of change is in your industry. This book will teach you to think in new ways about how you create, manage and defend competitive advantage. This read will take you far beyond Porter, Mintzberg, and Barney.