Customer Capitalism [Paperback]

Sandra Vandermerwe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1861563078 | ISBN-13: 978-1861563071 | Publication Date: December 5, 2005 | Edition: 1

Blending the hot topics of new technology, market spaces, competitive strategy and customer behaviour, Customer Capitalism stands conventional wisdom on its head by introducing a new business model which shows how any business can generate increasing returns and gain a massive competitive advantage. Taking examples from companies as diverse as Amazon.com and Mondex, Microsoft and Monsanto, the author explains how businesses can escape the traps of a traditional mindset and originate for the customer rather than the product. These entreprises transform classic product/service categories, moving them away from market share into new "market spaces" where they find new ways of doing for customers. Customer Capitalism does what old capitalism could never do - it gives corporations a sustainable edge. Sandra Vandermerwe shows how to relate the ten principles of customer capitalism to your business and achieve the multiple and exponential rewards of increasing returns. Customer Capitalism generates growing customer value streams from ever-deepening and expanding relationships with individuals who lock-on to an organisation. These customers become an "installed customer base" who want the organisation as their dominant or sole choice on an ongoing basis. The new enterprise becomes the standard for these new ways of doing things by gathering market momentum. A growing number of individuals see and use the new way of doing things, making the enterprise ever more prevalent, and its brand increasingly infectious to others. Central to the concept of customer capitalism are six positive feedback loops which ensure customer lock-on and accelerating growth. Once the loops go into motion as one interlinking, reiterative system then the real forces of the new market and economic dynamics of customer capitalism come into play. Customers become the competitive barrier. Advantage leads to more advantage, success to more success, accumulating increasing returns in new market spaces.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Blending the hot topics of new technology, market spaces, competitive strategy and customer behaviour, Customer Capitalism stands conventional wisdom on its head by introducing a new business model which shows how any business can generate increasing returns and gain a massive competitive advantage.Taking examples from companies as diverse as Amazon.com and Mondex, Microsoft and Monsanto, the author explains how businesses can escape the traps of a traditional mindset and originate for the customer rather than the product. These entreprises transform classic product/service categories, moving them away from market share into new "market spaces"where they find new ways of doing for customers.Customer Capitalism does what old capitalism could never do - it gives corporations a sustainable edge. Sandra Vandermerwe shows how to relate the ten principles of customer capitalism to your business and achieve the multiple and exponential rewards of increasing returns.Customer Capitalism generates growing customer value streams from ever-deepening and expanding relationships with individuals who lock-on to an organisation. These customers become an "installed customer base" who want the organisation as their dominant or sole choice on an ongoing basis. The new enterprise becomes the standard for these new ways of doing things by gathering market momentum. A growing number of individuals see and use the new way of doing things, making the enterprise ever more prevalent, and its brand increasingly infectious to others.Central to the concept of customer capitalism are six positive feedback loops which ensure customer lock-on and accelerating growth. Once the loops go into motion as one interlinking, reiterative system then the real forces of the new market and economic dynamics of customer capitalism come into play. Customers become the competitive barrier. Advantage leads to more advantage, success to more success, accumulating increasing returns in new market spaces.

About the Author

Sandra Vandermerwe, Professor of International Marketing, The Management School, Imperial College, London

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861563078
• ISBN-13: 978-1861563071
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,355,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable addition to the Customer Equity concept space, November 26, 2002

By 

Samarth (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Customer Capitalism : A New Business Model of Increasing Returns in New Market Spaces (Hardcover)

The key take-aways from Sandra's book are valuable for anybody in the Customer Relationship space - which, today, is coming to mean everybody!

Sandra's book would make you get out of your company, act and think like the customers who buy your products or service, and make you discover the "value gaps" in your offerings.

A great example her book left me with is the idea of "smart cars": European customers who are buying cars are buying short-haul mobility, and the car sellers are in that "activity space". So you got to think about financing, of insurance, of helping with the servicing.

If a firm fails to provide these product/service pieces surrounding the activity space, the customer will perceive that value gap, and beware if your competitor thought about that before you!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, April 16, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Customer Capitalism : A New Business Model of Increasing Returns in New Market Spaces (Hardcover)

The death of the New Economy has been greatly exaggerated. That's the message at the heart of Sandra Vandermerwe's new book. While the heady valuations of the late `90s are history, the fundamental changes that technology inspired during that time are here to stay. With that in mind, Vandermerwe presents analyses of tools that business leaders need to survive into the 21st century. The most insightful of these is a breakdown of customer feedback loops and how they can be harnessed to lock in business. The book can't avoid many of the shortcomings that pervade most New Economy literature, like the tendency to advise readers to remake their businesses in anticipation of future customer needs - without commenting on how exactly that can be achieved. Nevertheless, if you're a manager who suspects that the innovations of the last decade might still play a key role in the growth of business, we [...] recommend this book to you.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "powerbook" to understand the deal with the customer ., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Customer Capitalism : A New Business Model of Increasing Returns in New Market Spaces (Hardcover)

The final ring of the chain starting with two other books of the same author (" From tin soldiers to russian dolls " and " The eleventh commandment " ). These 3 books gives a comprehensive and multilateral understanding of the interactive processes with the customer (actual and potential ) . A rare example of complete and deep research