Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

List Price: $30.00 Details

Save: $12.81 (43%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, May 29 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25

Or fastest delivery Thursday, May 25. Order within 17 hrs 5 mins

Select delivery location

In Stock

[{"displayPrice":"$17.19","priceAmount":17.19,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"19","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"K4MoGML6vZnfK00DOggI5ru7TnQ%2Fin%2B5XgUNBMsNAx2fmKXZgda%2B4s%2BciTbIoySCOGIeqX%2FR6xhz3GpMm5i9422mgonEo2KYZSe%2BrYcXMkl3%2F%2F9N19Kd7dbpuUS%2FI%2FaF5biE69QbdLM7SKcw5qOICQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$14.08","priceAmount":14.08,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"08","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"K4MoGML6vZnfK00DOggI5ru7TnQ%2Fin%2B5UZt0kc82EaihfLrNjsYz49z79dAPiqoWKBfLO90t9yBTvrPoJUV3GL5NKoMa65z6v6mYo4mZH03VYLVGbsNlDGUlNMfe2yozDcGAf1Cb67z9jWB8YWQL8TZoArJLZ9mb7XXuP86FBk%2FnhKiZe74quJXBljuzpljw","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$17.19 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Tuesday, May 30 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25

Or fastest delivery Thursday, May 25. Order within 17 hrs 5 mins

Select delivery location

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by Bolty's Bookshelf

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$15.09
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Mortuus Books

Added

Not added

$15.35
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: PARK TRADE

Added

Not added

$11.50
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: olimpianbooks

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 5 images

Follow the Authors

Roger L. Martin

A. G. Lafley

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works Hardcover – February 5, 2013

by A.G. Lafley (Author), Roger L. Martin (Author)

4.5 2,350 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.45

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$17.19

$11.11

$4.21

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$14.99

$11.35

$8.47

Kindle
$9.45 Read with Our Free App
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Hardcover
$17.19

112 Used from $4.21 56 New from $11.11 1 Collectible from $27.99
Audio CD
$14.99

2 Used from $8.47 8 New from $11.35

Purchase options and add-ons

A Wall Street Journal and Washington Post Bestseller

A playbook for creating your company's winning strategy.

Strategy is not complex. But it is hard. It’s hard because it forces people and organizations to make specific choices about their future—something that doesn’t happen in most companies.

Now two of today’s best-known business thinkers get to the heart of strategy—explaining what it’s for, how to think about it, why you need it, and how to get it done. And they use one of the most successful corporate turnarounds of the past century, which they achieved together, to prove their point.

A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, in close partnership with strategic adviser Roger Martin, doubled P&G’s sales, quadrupled its profits, and increased its market value by more than $100 billion in just ten years. Now, drawn from their years of experience at P&G and the Rotman School of Management, where Martin is dean, this book shows how leaders in organizations of all sizes can guide everyday actions with larger strategic goals built around the clear, essential elements that determine business success—where to play and how to win.

The result is a playbook for winning. Lafley and Martin have created a set of five essential strategic choices that, when addressed in an integrated way, will move you ahead of your competitors. They are:

• What is our winning aspiration?
• Where will we play?
• How will we win?
• What capabilities must we have in place to win?
• What management systems are required to support our choices?

The stories of how P&G repeatedly won by applying this method to iconic brands such as Olay, Bounty, Gillette, Swiffer, and Febreze clearly illustrate how deciding on a strategic approach—and then making the right choices to support it—makes the difference between just playing the game and actually winning.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date

February 5, 2013
Dimensions

6.3 x 1.2 x 9.4 inches
ISBN-10

9781422187395
ISBN-13

978-1422187395
See all details

Bought Together

Frequently bought together

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

$17.19

Get it as soon as Monday, May 29

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

$12.49

Get it as soon as Monday, May 29

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

$16.28

Get it as soon as Monday, May 29

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Choose items to buy together.

Most purchased | Highest ratedin this set of products
Patrick Bet-David
5,283
Paperback
$12.49
Lowest Pricein this set of products
Avinash K. Dixit
1,088
Paperback
$12.19
This item:
A.G. Lafley
2,350
Hardcover
$17.19
Richard Rumelt
4,084
Paperback
$14.24
W. Chan Kim
4,964
Hardcover
$16.28
Roger L. Martin
189
Hardcover
$26.72
Harvard Business Review
1,122
Paperback
$13.79
Jennifer Riel
148
Hardcover
$15.99
Roger L. Martin
226
Hardcover
$19.79
John Doerr
8,451
Hardcover
$14.22

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of the best books on Strategy is Roger Martin and A. G. Lafley's Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works.” — TIME magazine

“Winner – Thinkers50 Best Book Award 2012 and 2013.” — Thinkers50 (thinkers50.com)

“Playing to Win is a rare tale from the front lines of business and from two of its smartest minds.” — Washington Post

“[Playing to Win]: How Strategy Really Works may be the best business and strategy book I’ve read since Michael Porter. There is plenty of practical advice, including the fact that business people often confuse a vision for a strategy. Instead, the authors claim “winning through distinctive choices is the always-and-forever job of every strategist.” — Jonathan Becher, SAP via Forbes.com

Lafley and Martin have artfully combined two virtues that don't often mix: rigor and brevity. Winning strategy doesn't come from inspirational happy-talk; it comes from deeply substantive hard thinking, and they tell us how it's done, with many examples. The book is short, crisp, a pleasure to read. — Fortune

“I doubt there are two more intelligent business minds out there than Lafley and Martin. Playing to Win meets the high expectations raised by those two names, and is the best business book I’ve read so far this year.” — Jack Covert, 800 CEO READ

“clear and effective” — WSJ.com (Wall Street Journal)

“Read their book. They, in turn, are sure to inspire you.” — Forbes.com

"I hate CEO books...[but]...this book totally rocks. It's a beautiful manual...a triumph. — Tom Keene, Bloomberg TV

“This is a fascinating tale, featuring a cast of familiar brands, including Pampers, Tide and Olay, each of which went through a transformation under Mr. Lafley’s eye.” — The Economist

“this new offering by former Procter & Gamble CEO Lafley (coauthor of The Game-Changer) and Martin (dean of the Rotman School of Management and author of Fixing the Game) is a clear standout…This collection of insights and captivating examples about strategy is a must-read for leaders at any level in the for-profit or not-for-profit world.” — Publishers Weekly

“Strategy lessons, 101… a manual for strategy practitioners.” — Financial Times

“The many stories from one of the biggest consumer goods firms in the world, with its many successes (and some failures too) along with the framework of the strategy to win, make this an interesting read.” — livemint.com

“a highly readable book that provides the reader with a very good understanding of the process and the real building blocks of value creation.” — Ottawa Business Journal

“Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works—written by an impressive duo: former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley and Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto Roger Martin—is not just an insiders’ tale of the workings of a successful global corporation. It’s the story of how you can do what top brands do: Create and execute stellar strategy well. Lots of books are published about business strategy, many of them either badly written or not relevant to associations, or both. This one is an exception.” — Associations Now (ASAE: American Society of Association Executives)

“interesting and thought-provoking work on business strategy” — Business World

“The best practitioner-focused strategy book I have ever read, and all the more useful for the fact it is concise, well-structured and compelling, with almost no jargon.” — Strategic Management Bureau

“Unlike many management texts, which read as if written for CEOs of multi-billion-dollar businesses, these tales from the fast-moving consumer goods front are useful for acquiring, extending or defending market share at any size of company.” — The Deal: The Australian Business Magazine

“I wish this book had been available to me earlier – it would have been invaluable during my tenure at Britannia!” — Sunil K. Alagh (Ex-CEO, Britannia Industries Ltd.) in Outlook Business

“You’re unlikely to find a more comprehensive guide to what strategy actually means and how to use it to your company’s advantage.” — HR Magazine

“As a mere student of life and an avid readers of business literature that is grounded in the practical and realistic realms, I found this (book) is a must read.” — Jonathan Yach (CEO, PropCare Mall Management) in Business World (India)

“The book offers many inside stories about how P&G tackled strategy in various arenas, including examples of when it failed. That gives an even more practical flavour to this practical look at strategy, from two savvy strategy practitioners.” — The Globe & Mail

“Sure to be a strategy classic. Book of the Month.” — Strategic Management Bureau

“Set to become a classic text on strategy.” — Decision (Ireland)

“a full vindication of P&G’s strategic nous” — Marketing Ireland

“Two of today’s best-known business thinkers get to the heart of strategy. The stories of how P&G repeatedly won by applying [Lafley and Martin's] method to iconic brands such as Olay, Bounty, and Gillette, clearly illustrate how deciding on a strategic approach--and then making the right choices to support it – makes the difference between just playing the game and actually winning.” — Expert Marketer Magazine

“a must-read book” — American Express Open Forum

“the book can be used by any business to help mesh everyday operations with long-term strategic objectives.” — Fort Worth Star Telegram

“Playing to Win clearly elevates the discussion of strategy. It gets to the heart of what’s important for a business leader.” — Business Standard

“The book delivers on the title. It’s a unique and nuanced view of strategy and its implementation. Highly recommended.” — Business Traveller (businesstraveller.com)

“just about everyone trying to market anything these days could profit from this careful, well-done text on how to craft a strategy.” — Marketing Daily

“an important addition to every decision-maker’s library.” — Success magazine

“Pick up the book to know how to create a triple crown: a win in China, a win in India, and a win at home; and to understand the differences and similarities between China and India.” — Business India

“This valuable book is based on the two authors’ years of experience working together and separately at P&G and Rotman School of Management. It is rich in examples and practical advice that show how organizations of all sizes can move beyond visions and plans to create judiciously plotted winning strategies.” — Developing Leaders

ADVANCE PRAISE for Playing to Win:

Daniel H. Pink, author, Drive and A Whole New Mind—
“Reading Playing to Win is like having prime seats at the Super Bowl of strategy. You’ll learn the strategies consumer goods powerhouse Procter & Gamble uses to get its innovative products into millions of homes—plus tested methods for winning your own marketplace contests. If you’re a marketer or a leader, you need to read this book.”

Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO, Tesco—
“This is the best book on strategy I have ever read. Lafley and Martin get to the heart of what’s important: how to make choices in order to control events rather than allowing events to control your choices. Everyone wants to win; this book sets down with calm authority the steps you must take to turn aspiration into reality.”

Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; author, The Innovator’s Dilemma—
“Lafley and Martin teach us how to develop and then how to deploy strategy. Their recommendations apply at every level—corporation, business units, products, and teams. This is a great book.”

Chip Heath, coauthor, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work—
“Most authors conduct research before they write a book. Lafley and Martin went out and did something. They used their simple, subtle framework—Where will we play? How will we win?—to double the value of one of the world’s greatest businesses. And now they’re showing you how to do the same. Read this book. . . before your competitors find it.”

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO, Lego Group—
“Playing to Win is a rare combination of depth of thinking and ease of use. It clearly explains what business strategy is and isn’t, and how to develop it. Lafley and Martin distill their hard-won experiences and offer insights, practical hands-on tools, and tips that will inspire and allow you to think strategically in new ways about your own business.”

Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO, General Electric—
“A great CEO and a renowned educator join forces to create a must-read for anyone thinking about strategy.”

Scott Cook, cofounder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit—
“Here is business strategy through the eyes of the man who led Procter & Gamble’s stunning turnaround and success in the 2000s and the strategist who advised and worked with him. Lush with insights that show the “what” and the “how” of two master strategists.”

James P. Hackett, President and CEO, Steelcase Inc.—
“Lafley and Martin have invested their respective careers in understanding the complexity of strategy. What has emerged in this seminal work is a simple and rich framework that can help business leaders think through strategic choices. It is an eminently helpful guide to choice making, which is the most essential part of leadership.”

Jim McNerney, President, CEO, and Chairman, Boeing—
“Playing to Win is an insightful do-it-yourself guide that demystifies what it takes to craft, implement, and continuously improve effective business strategies. Using relevant, real-world examples, Lafley and Martin offer proven techniques for competing and winning in today’s challenging global business environment.”

Thomas Tull, founder and CEO, Legendary Pictures—
“I love this book; it is thought provoking and acts as a catalyst to ask questions—about ourselves and our business life course. In a day and age when information and instant communication are relentless components of business and our lifestyle, A. G. Lafley and Roger Martin suggest we take an important pause to actually question our strategic road maps and the associated plans we need in order to succeed in this marketplace.”

About the Author

A.G. Lafley has been named the new Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of Procter & Gamble, where he previously served as CEO from 2000-2009. Under Lafley’s leadership, P&G’s sales doubled, its profits quadrupled, its market value increased by more than $100 billion, and its portfolio of billion-dollar brands—like Tide, Pampers, Olay, and Gillette—grew from 10 to 24 as a result of his focus on winning strategic choices, consumer-driven innovation, and reliable, sustainable growth.

Roger Martin is Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and an adviser to CEOs on strategy, design, innovation, and integrative thinking. In 2011, Roger was named by Thinkers50 as the sixth top management thinker in the world. This is his eighth book; he also contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, and the Washington Post, among others. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB in economics from Harvard College.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 142218739X
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press; 32305th edition (February 5, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781422187395
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1422187395
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.09 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Strategic Business Planning
- #13 in Systems & Planning
- #103 in Business Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 2,350 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Upload your video

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Roger L. Martin
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
I am an author and strategy advisor to CEOs. My passion is an helping businesspeople use more effective models to guide their actions. I've looked, for example, for common patterns in the way successful leaders tackle difficult 'either/or' dilemmas. I've explored how it is that corporations drive out innovation - even as they desperately seek it. I've examined the way in which theories that are meant to help corporations achieve financial goals and make shareholders rich actually produce the opposite. In each of my books, I diagnose the manner in which our thinking gets in our own way, and provide specific advice for overcoming that challenge.
Check out my books to the left and visit my website (www.rogerlmartin.com) if you want to see more of my writing.
See more on the author's page
A. G. Lafley
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Alan George "A.G." Lafley (born June 13, 1947) is an American businessman and executive chairman of Procter & Gamble, previously serving as chairman, president and CEO.
As CEO, Lafley is credited with revitalizing P&G under the mantra “Consumer is Boss,” with a focus on billion dollar brands like Crest, Tide, and Pampers. But he also brought in several new brands, like Swiffer and Febreze, by merging P&G’s internal resources with outside “open” innovation, referred to as Connect + Develop.
Prior to rejoining P&G in 2013, Lafley consulted on business and innovation strategy, advising on CEO succession and executive leadership development, and coaching experienced, new, and potential CEOs.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Procter & Gamble (Procter & Gamble) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

2,350 global ratings

5 star		69%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

William J. Bahr

If you can, do. If you did extremely well, teach!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2023

Verified Purchase

Ten years after this book was published in 2013, it has proven to be a timeless, business classic.

Here are just a few of the many, many very valuable takeaways:

1. The book was written by strategic experts: The former chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble, who helped his company grow by leaps and bounds, and the consultant who acted as his thinking partner. Both were influenced by the famous business strategist Michael Porter. Adding on a number of the authors’ own well-acclaimed ideas, the book is essentially “Porter in Action” and in interesting story form.

2. Here is the authors’ definition of strategy: “Strategy is an integrated set of choices that uniquely positions the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition.”

3. Strategy is the answer to these five interrelated questions (leading to the choices you make):
a. “What is your winning aspiration [strongly desired goal or objective] (the purpose of your
enterprise, its motivation aspiration)?”
b. “Where will you play (a playing field where you can achieve that aspiration)?”
c. “How will you win (the way you will win on the chosen playing field)?” [b & c are key!]
d. “What [core] capabilities must be in place (the set and configuration of capabilities required to
win in the chosen way)?”
e. “What management systems are required (the systems and measures that enable the
capabilities and support the choices)?”

4. The book was written in case study form, typical of a Harvard Business School approach. It looks at a number of key, well-known P&G products the authors strategized about, going through each strategy in detail, and showing you the myriad considerations (what to do and what not to do) for each.

5. Look for synergy, “reinforcing rods,” etc. in all the parts of your strategy.

6. Run true experiments, testing, and measuring the results of your actions. Importantly, start with a prediction or hypothesis and see if it proves true, and if not, why not. Learn!

7. Of critical importance, ask the right question: “What would have to be true [for the strategy to work] (what came to be the heart of the consultant author’s practice)?

8. Strategizing is an endless practice!

Bottom-line: The authors show you the strategic principles of exactly how they played and won big, techniques scalable from a giant company like Proctor and Gamble down to your own small business proprietorship. Highly recommended!

Of possible interest, a book on winning strategies used throughout history by 87 other master strategists Strategic Advantage: How to Win in War, Business, and Life

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Great companies do not become great by accident

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great companies do not become great by accident; they become great through the strategic choices they make. Great companies do not remain great by inertia; they remain great through the strategic choices they make. Procter and Gamble (P&G) is a great company by any measure. In 2012, it recorded $83.68 billion dollars in sales and Fortune magazine ranked the company the fifth most admired in the world.
Lafley was the Chairman and CEO of (P&G) through one of the most challenging periods in its history. When he took over the leadership position P&G was no longer delivering the outstanding returns. P&G was considered too big to continue being a growth stock. With Lafley at the helm, it achieved the near impossible, growth at a pace rarely associated with mature, enormous firms.
This book is about how a strong commitment to strategy, at every level, and in every part of the organization made this possible. In P&G's case, this was not a commitment to the board’s strategy, (a surprisingly rare event anywhere,) but a strong commitment to thinking about one’s division, department or business unit using a strategy method.
Strategy is one of the most misused and misunderstood concepts in business. Lafley cites ideas often mistaken for strategy. ‘Strategy’ is often misunderstood as ‘a vision,’ which offers no guidance “to productive action and no explicit road map to the desired future.”
Strategy is not a plan or a set of tactics; those are only elements of strategy. Strategy is certainly not leaving control to chance and watching what emerges. Strategy is not following best practices -sameness is not strategy, it is a recipe for mediocrity.
Strongly committed to some of the principles espoused by Michael Porter and to using his terminology, Lafley and co-author, Professor Roger Martin, describe their playbook: Five Choices, One Framework, One Process.
The title “Playing to Win” is a central theme of Lafley’s approach. “Winning should be at the heart of any strategy,” in fact, it would make no sense to Lafley to aspire to anything less than winning.
In order to beat the competition, two key questions need to be answered. They are – “where to play,” and “how to win.” The strategic decisions made for P&G products are used to illustrate the application of this method.
The skincare product, Oil of Olay, was getting “tired” and sales were declining, but brand recognition was still strong, and it was still profitable. People were calling Oil of Olay, “Oil of Old Lady.” Applying the question, where should it play, they identified that the existing customers were price sensitive and only minimally invested in skin care. However, they also identified a new set of customers, who had real growth potential, the thirty-five-plus age cohort that was beginning to notice their first lines and wrinkles.
To win, P & G scientists went to work on sourcing and developing better and more effective compounds. This would create a skin-care product that could dramatically outperform existing products in the market. Olay fits in a product category where price is an indicator of value, but P&G was designed for mass markets, and so they developed an additional category, “masstige” a mass-market prestige version of their product. Priced high enough to give substantial margins, indicate value, and appeal to the upper end of the mass market, they revitalise the brand, attracted a younger consumer, and expanded their offering.
They had answered the strategic question, “where to play,” and “how to win.” These strategic questions were followed by the operationalization of the answers in the form of two other questions: What capabilities must be in place and what management systems would be required to ensure successful implementation.
Strategic thinking using the five principles was not the preserve of the board - rather it was a process to be followed everywhere in the organization.
Using the same strategy process, the marketing department reformulated their mandate. An essential element in P&G’s company strategy is the classification of the customer as “the Boss” whose needs must be understood accurately and satisfied better than expected.
To this end, marketing defined where they should play as the conducting of innovative market research using edgy techniques. All conventional research, such as surveys and focus groups, would be outsourced. They could have chosen to play in the conventional research field and outsourced the edgy techniques, but chose not to in order to serve their customer more effectively than an external provider could.
Strategy is all about making choices.
This is not a ‘how-to’ book on strategy according to Porter. Porter, an industrial economist turned strategist, was in his prime in the 80s. His thinking is still relevant to behemoths in manufacturing, with some important modifications. He is certainly not applicable to many other businesses without modification and manipulation.
This extremely valuable book is a testament to the importance of instituting thinking strategically throughout an organization to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage. This is the first comprehensive account of this means I have ever come across, and what a powerful example at that. P&G has had an outstanding record during some of the most difficult years in business and has succeeded.
Take this seriously. Very seriously.

Readability Light --+-- Serious
Insights High -+--- Low
Practical High -+--- Low

Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Hello! My name is Laurence

Simplifying strategy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 25, 2013

Verified Purchase

I loved this book as it makes a few points about strategy very well. Clearly, the authors have significant experience and insight as to where brands need to play and how to win when they get there. These insights, in my opinion, are relevant to all managers wanting to alter and simplify their strategy culture. The authors experience with Proctor & Gamble is used to validate the usefulness of their simple process.

Having worked for Unilever myself (way, way back in the day) it was endearing to be reminded by this book how brands, when treated as a real persona and taken seriously, are able to deliver huge rewards. Anecdotes aplenty about Tide, Olay, Febreze, etc., are used to explain their framework of: Where to play? How to win; What capabilities are needed and what management systems are required.

The book has its limitations obviously, yet it's clearly and concisely written. It makes many valuable points simply and unobtrusively. Since its practical for most and treats strategy with respect - I loved it.

3 people found this helpful

Nathaniel Suda

Required reading if you are thinking how to grow or turn around your business

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 17, 2013

Verified Purchase

Every once in a long while you come across a thinker who has such a magnificent command of the facts, wide ranging intellectual creativity, but most of all clarity of expression that you simply think –‘of course – that’s amazing - why didn’t I think of that!’. Roger Martin is one of those thinkers who can review the world of business and strategy with intellectual rigor and convey it in such a clear, convincing way you remember his key arguments years later.

In Playing To Win, Roger Martin teams up with A.G. Lafley to explain the process of creating strategic decisions told through the story of the strategic decision making at P&G while A.G.Lafley was CEO and Roger Martin was his chief outside strategic advisor. At a time when many executives would synonymise strategy with financial planning, or creation of yearly goals, Lafley and Martin remind us that strategy boils down to two questions: ‘where to play?’ and ‘how to win?’ and then making specific choices. In Martin and Lafley’s words:

“A strategy is a coordinated and integrated set of where-to-play, how-to-win, core capability, and management system choices that uniquely meet a customer’s needs…it is only through making and acting on choices that you can win. Yes, clear, tough choices force your hand and confine you to a path. But they also free you to focus on what matters.”

In the penultimate chapter, Martin and Lafley describe in detail their techniques to think through strategic issues in a way that leads to real decisions, not rafts of analyst reports and is the only method Martin now uses. I won’t spoil what is perhaps the most valuable part of the book, but suffice to say that once I started this chapter I could not put down the book and despite a long week, read late into the night.

Playing to Win: How strategy really works is nothing short of brilliant, and if you are a strategist, or just a manager trying to figure out how to grow or turn around your business you should have a dog-eared copy on your bookshelf next to Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy.

12 people found this helpful

Mrs J

Disappointed!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

Really disappointed, bought this book on the basis it would be in good condition, but there is writing and notes across all the pages. Also the book cover was missing. This wasn't as advertised, and I'm really disappointed, won't buy from these again!

Amazon Customer

ok with a good model for strategy. Could just read end of each chapter

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

ok as a book but tended to focus mainly on two or three case studies. The general principles and diagrams were great. You could get away with just reading the summary at the end of each chapter and looking for the diagrams. Still I learnt a lot but book could have been written better

P. Watt

Punchy and insightful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

Very easy to read with lots of really useful content. The approaches outlined are applicable to all industries not just FMCG. It helped to cement some ideas I already had (or had learned) but offers very clear methods to drive a strategy in your organisation, accounting for very different and often opposing views. Highly recommended

2 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust