Author John Nesheim begins with a clear model: outsource everything you are not good at, concentrate on those things that can be differentiated, and strive for a unique, consistent difference that cannot be copied. Integrating these maxims with other essential elements, he demonstrates, with dozens of case studies, how to orchestrate unfair advantage through marketing, sales, engineering and operations. Unfair advantage can take many forms. Pager maker RIM rocketed to the top of the mobile wireless email market with Blackberry by employing an unfair advantage that they alone possessed - pager technology and pager infrastructure. Alternately, an unfair advantage can come from a unique relationship with a strategic alliance partner, as when Flextronics pulled Handspring out of a life-threatening crisis. THE POWER OF UNFAIR ADVANTAGE is an essential handbook for every manager who is responsible for introducing a new product or service and every entrepreneur and would-be who plans to start a company.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"There is no shortage of books covering the basics of the entrepreneurial experience: having an idea, writing a business plan, recruiting a management team, etc., but I cannot find another book that is exclusively about the elusive 'secret sauce' of start-ups -- the so-called unfair advantage -- as it seems to defy a hard-and-fast definition. So many people use the term, but no one seems to be able to define it. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of this subject -- and long overdue."
-- David Rex, Jackson Walker L.L.P.
About the Author
Since 1976, John L. Nesheim has coached more than three hundred new ventures that have raised over $2 billion in financing. Nesheim is CEO of the Nesheim Group in Carmel, California, which he founded after serving as treasurer of National Semiconductor, CFO of Valid Logic, and CEO of Flagship Software. He is also the author of High Tech Start Up. Nesheim lives in Carmel, California, with his wife, Gisela.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is NOT "exclusively" for CEOs and the "power lunch" crowd,
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This review is from: The Power of Unfair Advantage: How to Create It, Build it, and Use It to Maximum Effect (Hardcover)
Yes, there is an element of CEO / Venture Capitalist / etc. in this book, and while that crowd may constitute a large SEGMENT of the audience, there is valuable information here for sole proprietors, small business owners, and others. PERFECT example: Page 122, "Flanking." Nesheim discusses the need to roll out your product or service in an "uncontested area," stating "If there is an entrenched leader of the market you are planning on dominating, you are too late and have nothing to flank into...The only thing left is to try a better, faster, cheaper product for the existing market. But that has virtually no chance of winning." Anyone who passes this book by on the premise that it is for CEOs and their ilk is making a big, big mistake if they want to succeed in their own business. There are additional chapters on business development, marketing, sales...all written by a guy who witnessed "Silicon Valley" from the ground up. If more small business owners read well-written business books like this one, fewer small businesses would have "going out of business" sales.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you want to learn from the BEST read this book!,
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This review is from: The Power of Unfair Advantage: How to Create It, Build it, and Use It to Maximum Effect (Hardcover)
After reading this book it is very apparent that the concept of 'Unfair Advantage' is the single most important concept for anyone starting anything; whether it be a start up or a new product/project within an existing organization.
If John's first book successfully maps out what needs to be accomplished to successfully take an idea to an IPO, this book reorganizes all this info and more around the important concept of Unfair Advantage. His book is also a must read for anyone attempting to write a world class business plan. Implementing what I learned from Nesheim, I was able to get comments such as "one of the best business plans I've ever seen" from a top silicon valley VC partner. I would like to personally thank John Nesheim for instilling in me the spirit of entrepreuneurship, and what I have learned from his teachings and books have been an invaluable help in taking me as far as I have in the world of high tech start up.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for any CEO or senior executive,
By
This review is from: The Power of Unfair Advantage: How to Create It, Build it, and Use It to Maximum Effect (Hardcover)
John's latest book is a must read for any CEO or senior executive of an early stage company. It encompasses the most comprehensive recipe for an organization to gain a competitive advantage. I found the concepts covered to be very practical, actionable, and applicable to organizations of any size.
Of course, one of John's passions has been eary stage companies, and therefore the book is the best I've read covering the process from founding of the enterprise, to developing of a busines plan, to securing funding, to executing the business plan - with a focus on building a competitive advantage from the ground up.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Arnold Schwarzenegger understands unfair advantage. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
strong unfair advantage, spreadsheet hill, new market category, first bowling pin, first product launch, mania phase, serial entrepreneurs, engineering milestones, business plan outline, positioning message, number one task, marketing wars, marketing warfare, experienced entrepreneurs, elevator pitch, ideal customer, venture firms, next great thing, venture investors, seed round, core team, new enterprise, flanking move, venture community, new market segment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Silicon Valley, Nesheim Group, United States, Hong Kong, London Business School, Health Dialog, Club Member, New York, Benjamin Group, Good Technology, Ray Dolby, San Francisco, Alliance Venture, Harvard Business School, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Rising Star, Sequoia Capital, Singapore Airlines, South Korea, University of Phoenix, Bill Gates, Jeff Hawkins, North America, Peter Drucker, Virgin Mobile New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Arnold Schwarzenegger understands unfair advantage. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
strong unfair advantage, spreadsheet hill, new market category, first bowling pin, first product launch, mania phase, serial entrepreneurs, engineering milestones, business plan outline, positioning message, number one task, marketing wars, marketing warfare, experienced entrepreneurs, elevator pitch, ideal customer, venture firms, next great thing, venture investors, seed round, core team, new enterprise, flanking move, venture community, new market segment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Silicon Valley, Nesheim Group, United States, Hong Kong, London Business School, Health Dialog, Club Member, New York, Benjamin Group, Good Technology, Ray Dolby, San Francisco, Alliance Venture, Harvard Business School, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Rising Star, Sequoia Capital, Singapore Airlines, South Korea, University of Phoenix, Bill Gates, Jeff Hawkins, North America, Peter Drucker, Virgin Mobile New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
books:
See all 10 books this book cites
- Marketing Warfare by Al Ries on 7 pages
- Financial Crises (MSH: Colloques) by Kindleberger on page 218, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley Investment Classics) by Charles P. Kindleberger on page 218, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard on page 63, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business Essentials) by Geoffrey A. Moore in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 10 books this book cites
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