Outsmart!: How to Do What Your Competitors Can't (Hardcover)

~ Jim Champy (Author)
Key Phrases: tapping the success, simplifying complexity, creating order out, Best Buy, United States, Swiss Air (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Champy provides case studies of eight exemplary companies, each highlighting a valuable insight for discovering opportunities. Each vignette describes a different business environment, making the book widely applicable. It differs from most innovation books (e.g., the highly regarded The Game-Changer, by A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan, 2008) by its external orientation. Champy recommends studying the environment first, then changing the firm to address newly discovered opportunities, which is opposite to the strategy presented in The Game-Changer." Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate students as well as practitioners. -- J.J. Janney, University of Dayton (Reviewed in 9/2008 CHOICE)

Product Description

This concise, fast-paced book is about consistently outsmarting the competition in an environment where even the best strategies rarely prevail. It's about companies that have accelerated to the leading edge of business practice and stayed there, year after year. And it's from the author who has written one of the most revolutionary books of all time: James Champy, author of Reengineering the Corporation. In Outsmart!, Champy teaches the remarkable lessons of businesses that have achieved super-high growth rates for 3 or more years in a row. These "high-velocity" companies range from classic startups to old-line family-run manufacturing businesses: from S.A. Robotics to Stonyfield Farms, MinuteClinic to Shutterfly. Champy uncovers what they share in common and shows how you can do it too in your company. Drawing on his rigorous, far-reaching research, you'll learn how to generate strategy organically: from the frontlines, executive suites, and everywhere in between. You'll discover how to outsmart your competitors by finding distinctive market positions and sustainable advantages in products and services, surprising delivery methods, and unexpected customers with unexpected needs.You'll learn how to uncover "bubbles worth bursting", organize your ideas and sharpen your focus, and combine high purpose with cool pragmatism. And you'll learn how to recognize when the world's getting ready to catch up, so you can outsmart them yet again!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (March 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132357771
• ISBN-13: 978-0132357777
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #213,755 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new 'Good to Great', March 6, 2008

By	Charles Decker (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got an early copy of this book because I write reviews for a couple of the major business journals. I think it is absolutely terrific. Often missing from otherwise good books are real-world case studies to help illustrate the points in the narrative. This book is chock-full of them, and they are often eye-opening. Champy has spent a good deal of time researching some of the businesses that have reinvented themselves [Smith & Wesson is a fascinating example] as well as creating whole new models for the online world [Sonicbids]. And don't think it's all a Pollyanna approach, as the author also dissects several major business failures, including Swiss Air.

The thread that runs through this book is its focus on people who see opportunities where others don't, and it's a great one. Books about creativity and innovation are often a little thin when it comes to practical storytelling. Not this one. Some of my readers e-mail me every so often asking for suggestions on what they should pick up after 'Good to Great.' It has been a while since 'The Great Red Book'. This book, in my opinion, is a truly worthy successor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncovering Opportunity by Identifying Asymmetry & Complexity, April 22, 2008

By	Wm. Caleb McCann - See all my reviews

OutSmart! provides clear and useful examples of companies that have successfully uncovered business opportunities by identifying asymmetry and complexity. It also provides a gentle reminder that astute thinking and swift execution are major advantages in our "complex, volatile and demanding" business world. Mr. Champy does this through a series of readable studies of eight exemplary companies. Each study is concluded with actionable thinking exercises and questions that can be applied across industries and business opportunities.

A primary reason why OutSmart! is a worthy business book is its distinct avoidance of prescriptive modeling. Each business success profiled is unique to that company. The book's examples are of companies that thought differently when confronted with unique business circumstances and uncovered monetizable opportunities. Champy reminds us that true competitiveness is uniqueness and this uniqueness is not discovered or established once, but must be continually updated and adapted to meet ever-changing customer needs. There is no way of fixing, modeling or formalizing uniqueness in such a way that will ensure competitiveness. What Mr. Champy demonstrates in OutSmart! is that companies who operate outside tradition, and remain flexible enough to not become tradition, will dominate the future.

Some of the topics covered by Mr. Champy in OutSmart! may seem obvious, especially immediately after reading it. However, it is important to read the book with a healthy skepticism of your own hindsight bias. For example, all of the companies profiled in OutSmart! have a strong relationship with their customers and focus relentlessly on improving customer service. Most companies today habitually tout that staying attuned with customers (customer service) is their strength, a source of competitive advantage. If customer service is so apparent, why do so many companies fail at the obvious? OutSmart! provides an apt reminder that just knowing something intellectually is not enough; we need to successfully execute and continually improve on this knowledge for it to be a source of competitive advantage.

I look forward to the next volume; this book is the first of a four volume series.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Research-Driven Analysis of Results-Driven Companies, March 18, 2008

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Previously, Champy argued in Reengineering the Corporation (1993) that "companies need to change radically and be managed from a process perspective," in Reengineering Management (1995) he contended that "leaders had to change their way of thinking before they could change their organizations," and then in X-Engineering (2002) he made the case that "process change must extend outside the company walls to suppliers, customers, and business partners." What we have in his newest book is a brilliant research-driven analysis of eight results-driven companies that he and his associates selected from among about 1,000 high-velocity businesses with growth rates about 15%. More specifically, they examine their revenue producing ideas that are "neither hypothetical nor based on esoteric technologies. They don't require hundreds of millions of venture capital dollars or the vast sums from stock offerings to implement. " Champy then makes an especially important point: "Rather, they are strategies that any business leader can easily and immediately understand."

These are the eight exemplary companies that have outsmarted their competition, not only surviving but growing, gaining more of the supply of their customers, forcing their rivals "to adapt or die": Sonicbids, MinuteClinic, Smith & Wesson, Shutterfly, S.A. Robotics, Jibbitz and Crocs, Partsearch, and SmartPak. Few of those who read this book will recognize most of them by name. (I recognized only Smith & Wesson and Crocs.) Champy devotes a separate chapter to each. All of them "have found the holy grail of strategy: an unmet customer need."

I especially appreciate Champy's use of several reader-friendly devices, notably a periodic insertion of what he believes are key points, with a larger font size and in bold face; also a "Get Smart" insights concerning each exemplary company, and then a "Questions to Ask Yourself" at the conclusion of each chapter. It would be a disservice to both Champy and to those who read this review to provide an example of the "Get Smart" and "Questions to Ask Yourself" material. They are best revealed with the narrative, in context. However, I have decided to provide a representative selection of key points, and do so for two reasons: They suggest the thrust and flavor of Champy's reasoning and writing skills, and because they are relevant to any company (regardless of size or nature) that now struggle to increase customer and market share by outsmarting their competitors, forcing them "to adapt or die."

"We tend to compartmentalize our knowledge, neglecting to apply a lesson we learned to a problem that comes up in another context." (Page 62)

"The ultimate proof of the value of a product or service is that someone is willing to pay for it." (Page 92)

Note: This point reminds me of what Warren Buffett once suggested, that "price is what is charged but value is what others think it is worth."

With regard to outsourcing, "The key is to know what you are really good at, what makes you distinctive, and therefore, what you need to keep in-house." (Page 108)

"The combination of ease of access, almost unlimited choice, and competitive pricing is hard to beat." (Page 143)

"Companies that outsmart the competition look for dramatic [but prudent] growth, while incumbent businesses are content with incremental growth." (Page 165)

Having read and then re-read this book, here are three reasons why I think it is Champy's most valuable contribution to knowledge leadership this far. First, unlike in his previous books, there is an almost total absence of theories, hypotheses, methodologies, and formulas. On the contrary, as he repeatedly stresses throughout his narrative, what "works" for each of the eight companies may not necessarily produce desired results for another, even if attempted by any of the other seven. One of his recurrent themes is "learn by doing." With all due respect to the entertaining as well as informative vignettes he provides, Champy notes that "each example in this book is unique, and none of these companies has a formula you can follow without changes to how you operate." Let's say that outsmarting the competition, forcing rivals "to adapt or die" is the given vision. Thomas Edison was right: "Vision without execution is hallucination."Champy helps his reader to understand how to learn more by doing more and doing it better. But first, businesses must know both who they are and who they aren't.

Also, Champy recalls Charles Darwin's three basic declarations: Species always breed beyond available resources; those with favorable variations have a greater chance of survival and pass along their variations to their offspring; and, adapted species force out weaker ones, producing whole new species. A comparable process of natural selection occurs in a business world that "has never been more complex, volatile, and demanding, yet so full of opportunity." Champy goes on to suggest that, in fact, "the business world has become a great dynamo of fascinating new practices that can sharpen any company's competitive edge." One of the greatest benefits to be gained from this book is the development of an adaptive mindset, one that enables those who possess it to respond quickly and effectively to sudden and often unexpected challenges.

Finally, Champy devotes most of his attention to the "what" and "why" of successful competition, then steps aside and allows the CEOs of the exemplary companies explain in their own words the "how" of what they did (and didn't do) to outperform their rivals. Their efforts were guided and informed by Peter Drucker's advice to know where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. Advice such as this from a wide variety of sources (including the CEOs of the exemplary companies) is seamlessly integrated within Champy's narrative. Once readers absorb and digest that advice, they must then select whatever is most relevant their own organization and then it adapt to the formulation and execution of an appropriate strategy. Moreover, they need to keep in mind that today's "holy grail" (i.e. an unmet customer need) will soon become obvious to everyone else. Hence the importance of continuous and rigorous adaptation. This is not an operations manual; rather, a manifesto. Its central idea? Adapt or perish.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Champy's earlier works as well as Jason Jennings' Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-Up Spirit Alive, two books by Henry Chesbrough (Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating And Profiting from Technology and his more recent Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape), and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles E. Grantham, James P. Ware, and Cory Williamson. Also Kevan Hall's Speed Lead: Faster, Simpler Ways to Manage People, Projects and Teams in Complex Companies, Dean R. Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success, and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.