Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satistied Customer (Hardcover)

by Regis McKenna (Author) "TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY shape and reshape each other ceaselessly, like tireless meshing gears in a perpetual motion machine..." (more)
Key Phrases: Silicon Valley, United States, Mountain Dew (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American
The race is on for real time information in marketing.... Regis McKenna explains how and why we need to open our thinking to take advantage of Real Time information.

From The New Yorker
Regis McKenna never ceases to challenge the conventional wisdom. The notion of eliminating hierarchy and long-term planning, and creating realtime management that focuses on delivery, results, and customer needs is a key revelation for companies large and small. The use of networked technologies to enable the creation of distributed, connected organizations has tremendous implications for the next generation of competitiveness for industries of all types.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; large type edition edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875847943
• ISBN-13: 978-0875847948
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,212,972 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Regis McKenna On Fire, January 23, 2000

By	L. Lawson (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer (Paperback)

When I read this book, it was as if I had discovered fire. It simply changed my relationship with the world of marketing because it gave method and purpose to many of the tactics that I had been watching develop since the integration of personal computers and networks in corporate operations. Looking back in 2000, over three years since the publication of "Real Time", it's easy to treat this volume of insightful marketing counsel as "nothing new." I can remember reading it intently in 1997, however, scribbling in the margins, highlighting the text, and coming away with dozens of ways to solidify the structural bonds between my company and customers. These bonds are the ones that are the most stable and produce the highest loyalty in a customer base. The fact that Regis outlines a technical infrastructure that has become commonplace only serves to reinforce his reputation as one of the modern oracles of marketing. Between this book and "Relationship Marketing," McKenna has done more to codify the essential mechanics of modern marketing that any other author, in my view.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Merging Technology, Speed, and Customer Satisfaction!, September 24, 2000

By	George Bullard "Strategic Leadership Coach" (Columbia, SC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Real Time is a tremendous help in understanding that technology, speed, and customer satisfaction have brought a world where action and reaction are concurrent, and sequential actions outdated. Sequential actions are of the modern, 20th century age. Concurrent actions are of the postmodern, 21st century age.

It is a welcome addition to the collection of books that help us think about how our systems have to change in response to technology and speed. As a relatively short book it is a good one to give to people who need a basic understanding of the concepts, but do not need to know all the details.

It also adds to the collection of books that help us rethink our approach to customer service in terms of the use of technology and the speed of response. It helps raise the bar on how we provide solutions to our customers, and not just fixes.

It presses all organizations to anticipate future leaps in technology and relationships so that they are prepared to respond to new needs expressed by many of their customers. At the same time it forces organizations to think about whether they will run on two tracks or one track. The two tracks would be to run with people who demand real time and with people who do not see or participate in the real time transformation. Many organizations need to be prepared to run on one track and leave behind--for mediocre organizations--those customers who do not get it, understand real time, or go digital.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Let Me Down, October 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer (Paperback)

I read the entire book and came away with no new insight, as contrasted with what I have found in other HBS Press books. The material is surprisingly pedestrian! The bottom line is that if you are not investing for real-time operations, you should be because of the changing technology landscape. If you did not know that already, or you do not know that speedy response to customers is important, then perhaps the book will be of some value to you. For me, there was not one thing in there that has not already been covered extensively elsewhere, sometimes a long time ago. I agree with the writer from India.