Failsafe Strategies: Profit and Grow from Risks that Others Avoid [Hardcover]

Sayan Chatterjee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2004

In the 1990s, in the name of "revolutionary business models," businesses tookon massive risks almost without concern. They were burnt -- badly. Today,many companies have become powerfully averse to taking the risks that areessential to long-term success. Now, there's a whole new way to think aboutrisk: one that liberates you to act, while protecting you against danger. Dr.Sayan Chatterjee shows how to identify high-risk high return opportunities, andthen systematically manage and reduce those risks up front, as you design yourinitiative...not after you operationalize it. Chatterjee draws his decade ofbreakthrough research on business research: work that's been recognized byinstitutions ranging from the Harvard Business School to the London Schoolof Economics. Using his techniques, you can safely pursue opportunities yourcompetitors will walk away from -- and sustain profit growth far into thefuture.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Failsafe Strategies

 

Pursue your best business opportunities—without the risk!

Today, many companies have become powerfully averse to taking the risks that are essential to long-term success. Dr. Sayan Chatterjee shows how to identify high-risk, high-return opportunities, and then systematically mitigate those risks up front, as you design your initiative. His techniques can help you safely pursue huge opportunities that others pass up—and sustain profit growth far into the future.

• A complete framework for attacking high-risk, high-return opportunities

  Powerful new tools for sustaining long-term growth and profitability

• Clarifying and mitigating your real risks

  Understanding what is visible to your customer and how that affects your risk

• JetBlue vs. Southwest: More than one way to skin a cat

  Identifying multiple competitive objectives, and multiple ways to achieve them

• Tracking and reducing risks in real-time

  Discovering mistakes in assumptions or logic while there's time to fix them

• Creative ways to leverage existing resources more effectively

  Reducing risk by avoiding unnecessary additional investments—and what to do when you can't

• Execution: Getting your ducks in a row

  Creating an organization that can deliver on your high-value, low-risk strategies

• Reducing the hazards of growth and diversification strategies

  Planning to grow or extend your core markets

• Entering existing markets without the risk

  Finding more effective ways to overcome entry barriers

• Shaping new markets: products, processes, and platforms

  What it takes to successfully create and dominate a new market

"For those charged with business strategy, this book is a must read. By understanding and applying its principles, managers may be well on their way to minimizing risks and gaining a competitive edge."

—Thomas C. Sullivan, Chairman, RPM International, Inc.

"Chatterjee helps you take a fresh look at your company's current business model and gives you a roadmap to implement change to align your everyday operations and long-term strategic planning. This book is a must-read for anyone involved in operations and trying to grow a business."

—Arthur Anton, President/CEO, Swagelok

"Dr. Chatterjee has been highly effective in assisting our company with business strategy. He has given us new perspectives in strategic management that have dramatically improved our thought processes and performance results."

—Rick Juve, CEO Americhem

"For a practitioner, this book offers a unique and invaluable focus on proactive risk assessment during the design of business strategy...a focus that other authors omit."

—Ted Zampetis, CEO, Shiloh Industries, Inc.

"Risk. It's everywhere in today's business world. Chatterjee shows businesses how to cope and prosper in the face of risk. If you don't want to succumb to the downside of risk, this book is a must."

—Professor Richard D'Aveni, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and author of Hypercompetition

"Chatterjee takes a unique perspective to strategy. Instead of waiting for a home-run innovation, companies can boost their profits long-term by clearly understanding what causes everyday strategies to fail. What an idea!"

—Sydney Finkelstein, Professor of Strategy and Leadership, Tuck School at Dartmouth and author of Why Smart Executives Fail

"The world of risk management is often thought of in the context of models, measurement, quantitative analysis, and geeks. Dr. Chatterjee's book takes the subject to a new level by focusing on the critical role of strategic risk. As a professional risk manager, I was intrigued by how he weaves strategy into the fabric of enterprise risk management. Chock full of real-world anecdotes, the reader will find this book both entertaining and informative.

—Kevin M. Blakely, Executive Vice President, Risk Management Group, KeyCorp

"This excellent book provides both tools and processes for expansion of company activities into market areas that may outwardly appear very risky. By developing multiple options, the risks of new moves in the market can be reduced to practical proportions."

—Jack W. Harley, President, JWH Group Inc.

"This book offers very sound, worthwhile advice to management concerning a little-reviewed element—substantiating and evaluating risk. It is well worth the effort and should be well received."

—James A Karman, COO RPM Inc.

"For anyone who is currently constructing a business case for their organization, stop now. Read this book first. It will assist you in terms of articulating your chosen strategic design, the core objectives that you are trying to establish, and the pure capability that will enable you to successfully execute. This is value to the max."

—Professor C.H.J. Gilson, author of Peak Performance: Business Lessons from the World's Top Sports Organizations

"Businesses have long built their strategies on a foundation of profitability first, risk analysis second. Sayan Chatterjee flips the formula and shows how business opportunities are often profitable precisely because of the risk involved. This is a fresh perspective on how to calculate the risks that can derail a strategy—or lead to greater profits. Failsafe Strategies provides business managers with a dynamic, accessible framework not simply for avoiding risk, but for converting it into profitability."

—Ming-Jer Chen, Leslie E. Grayson Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia, and author of Inside Chinese Business: A Guide for Managers Worldwide

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Author Bio

Sayan Chatterjee, Ph.D. is Professor of Management Policy at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. He has been doing academic research on the sources of business risk since the early 1990s and is now translating his breakthrough ideas into actionable information for business leaders and financial experts. In May 2003, he spoke at an invitation-only practitioner conference on risk organized by the London School of Economics. His works are used in the curriculum of the Harvard Business School and have been cited in most leading textbooks on strategy. He also consults with leading middle-market firms and global corporations.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Wharton School Publishing; 1 edition (September 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131011111
• ISBN-13: 978-0131011113
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,414,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How effectively do you manage your risks?, June 30, 2005

By 

Robert Staple (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Failsafe Strategies: Profit and Grow from Risks that Others Avoid (Hardcover)

As Arthur Anton, President/CEO, Swagelok succintly put it "Chatterjee helps you take a fresh look at your company's current business model and gives you a roadmap to implement change to align your everyday operations and long-term strategic planning. This book is a must-read for anyone involved in operations and trying to grow a business." This book sets the foundation for creative ways to leverage existing resources more effectively and mitigate risks.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for the strategist, July 12, 2005

By 

Ana Hanford (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Failsafe Strategies: Profit and Grow from Risks that Others Avoid (Hardcover)

Academics and practitioners spent years developing frameworks for competitive and industry analysis among many others. One important piece of strategy has been missing - it's risk. Sayan Chatterjee provides readers with an excellent framework that links other common strategy analysis frameworks with risk. The strength of the book is a solid outline of subjects and questions to improve your thinking about risk as a function of strategy. This should help you to be a step ahead of the competition, leveraging the "other" strategic options that are typically not considered by classic strategy options. In highly-competitive, commodity businesses, that's usually what strategies focus on.

It is your responsibility, as a business owner or senior manager, to lead your company into the future by identifying and seizing possibilities. Failsafe Strategy helps you understand the risk factor within a market place and the strategic steps a company can take to enhance its competitive position. This is a must have book on strategy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reading, September 24, 2005

By 

Kathryn Friedman (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Failsafe Strategies: Profit and Grow from Risks that Others Avoid (Hardcover)

Winning through failure is possible if you have the right strategy. This book will help you to formulate such strategy. It will enable you to think differently about risk and failure, how to overcome and use them as opportunities. Examples given in this book are very practical, easy to understand and immensely interesting. Every one can learn something from this book regardless of his/her background.
Excellent book. MAKES YOU THINK! I enjoy reading it very much. Most of you will.