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The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything (Hardcover)

by Fred Crawford (Author), Ryan Mathews (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  (19 customer reviews)


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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Crawford and Mathews, marketing consultants with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) and FirstMatter, respectively, break down marketing into five attributes: access, experience, price, product, and service. They argue that successful businesses are those that excel in one of these areas, are good in another, and are at least average in the rest. Wal-Mart, they say, is dominant on price and maintains a good selection of products, while Target excels at product selection and makes price its secondary attribute. The authors conclude that it is both uneconomical and probably impossible to be excellent in all areas. After describing the importance of the five key attributes, the authors explain how a company might evaluate itself to see how well it is doing. The authors' clear writing style and copious use of examples and case studies make their ideas understandable to a wide readership. The book is essential for all academic marketing collections, and it would also be useful in all but the smallest public libraries. Lawrence R. Maxted, Gannon Univ., Erie, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Crawford is the managing director of the consumer products, retail, and distribution practice at the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young consultancy. Mathews is a futurist specializing in demographics and lifestyle analysis at FirstMatter, another consulting firm. To research purchasing behavior, they surveyed 5,000 consumers, but the responses they got surprised them and prompted their title's contrary proposition. Crawford and Mathews found that values (respect, honesty, trust, dignity) were more important to consumers than value. This discovery led the pair to develop a new model of "consumer relevancy." They explain in detail the importance of price, service, quality, access, and experience for the consumer. They then suggest that for companies to be successful they need to dominate on only one of these five factors. On a second of the five they should stand out or differentiate themselves from their competitors; and on the remaining three they need only to be at par with others in their industry. With dozens of examples, Crawford and Mathews demonstrate the validity of their premise. David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (June 26, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0609608207
  • ISBN-13: 978-0609608203
  • Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #725,803 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
    (Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)
  • In-Print Editions: Kindle Edition (Kindle Book) |  Paperback  |  All Editions


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