2024 the best in business review

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For the past 40 years, Richard Koch has wanted to uncover the simple, elemental, elegant and parsimonious principles that are needed to create great new businesses. To qualify, a principle must be so overwhelmingly powerful that anyone can reliably use it towards extraordinary results. Is there any principle that can tell you how to do that consistently and with a high chance of success?

Working with venture capitalist Greg Lockwood, his coauthor on Superconnect, and supported by research from the elite firm of OC&C Strategy Consultants, Koch has the answer.

The principle Koch and Lockwood have discovered behind extraordinarily successful businesses is simplifying. Some simplify on price - take Ryanair's budget flights, which still take you from A to B but so cheaply that nearly everyone can afford them, multiplying the size of their market - and some simplify on proposition, such as Apple's decision to cut down on the number of their product lines and focus on perfecting only a few devices. With case studies of famous companies in all different industries from finance to fast food, the authors show how anyone can analyse their business' potential to become a simplifier and which route they should take to maximise the impact.

Reviewer: Jerome Campbell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Similar style to "Good to Great"
Review: I'd give this a 4.5 if I could but it was well worth the read. This book is highly applicable to building "unicorn" type industry disrupting business lessons. It focuses on mainly on 12 companies as the case studies so it's in the medium range as to real world examples. If you like "Good to Great" type books, this is for you.

Reviewer: Ed Barton
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Truth
Review: This is one of the best perspectives on simplicity in business I’ve read. The examples of price simplicity and product simplicity really resonate. Ultimately we crave ease of understanding and ease of decisioning and the book hits on that reality to show a road to business success.

Reviewer: J N
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: MBA Strategy Level-Awesome Read
Review: It has been a while since I have read such a great business book. Most give advice that seems obvious. This book has high level strategy with data to back up their advice. It gets you thinking of how you can possible change your business to make it better for your customers. There is two types of simplification that can grow your business. Read and find out which type of strategy works best for your company and how to implement the strategy. The funny part was that there is a chapter on why managers won't agree. When I announced that we are going to change our strategy to my team, they objected. I said, "You objections are address in the book." Everything my team was concerned about, he addressed and answered in the book. I was prepared to discuss each concern they had, prior to the meetings. That was cool.

Reviewer: Kenneth Mack
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Simply makes it simpler. Clear and concise.
Review: Koch did a great job of using stats and stories of iconic businesses who "simplified" as a strategy for stratospheric success. They described two dominant methods of simplifying and spoke from many viewpoints supporting each. I'm a better entrepreneur after reading this, as it is much more clear on "what to do now" than say, after reading 80\20. Thank you authors, this is great work.

Reviewer: J. Huber
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Could have been shorter
Review: Generally, well written. The author presents several examples of companies that have profited greatly from a simplifying strategy. While these are all terrific examples of his theories, the heart of the content regarding the actual process of simplifying is a bit short and shallow. Much of the book relies on relaying information about these same company's successes as opposed to outlining the process itself. All in all, though, well worth it for anyone thinking of creating or expanding a business.

Reviewer: Ian Mann
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Proposition-Simplification Proposition-simplification differs from price-simplification with its focus on making the product or
Review: The need to simplify your personal life as well as your business, is not new. Every second year I have brought to readers’ attention another book on the subject, so here is my biennial contribution.What makes this book valuable is that it focuses directly on sustainable economic growth. The authors have identified two types of growth that flow from the exercise of simplification: proposition-simplification and price-simplification. These two methods of growing the company are fundamentally different and the decision to pursue one form of simplification over another must be made on reliable grounds.The decision must take cognizance of the culture of the company and its appetite and ability to pursue one type of simplification over the other. Further, the nature of both the company’s offering and the nature of the market will affect the decision-making process.I will describe how the two types of simplification unfold through the descriptions of some of the well-known businesses used in the book as examples.Price simplificationThe sole objective of price-simplification is to slash the costs of the product or service to the consumer.Henry Ford achieved price-simplification by reducing the variety of cars his company initially offered down to one, and in only one colour –black. The very design of the car was aimed at giving people what they needed and nothing more – a way to move faster than on horseback. Ford worked constantly on redesigning his factories so that more cars could be produced ever more cheaply. The company’s success was directly correlated to the constantly dropping selling price.IKEA, the mass retailer of affordable, attractive furniture, redesigned their products so that they could be flat-packed, saving the company transport and storage costs. This price-simplification model also involved co-opting customers into the sales process to further reduce costs. Not only are there no salespeople for you to discuss your decorating needs with, you select the furniture yourself, but you even take it home yourself in a flat-pack. Then, you assemble the furniture from their remarkably clear instructions.McDonald’s reduced the price of their burgers by reducing variety, and automating processes wherever possible. They also speeded up the delivery of the food, so allowing for a faster flow-through of customers, and eliminated the cost of waiters. Customers essentially serve themselves.Honda entered the American market by reducing the power of the motor-cycles they offered, and scaling down their offering to the larger segment of small motor-cycle users. Honda also lowered their costs of labour, their most expensive component, through efficiencies of production and management.Proposition-SimplificationProposition-simplification differs from price-simplification with its focus on making the product or service a joy to use. The price is not a factor and many who are proposition-simplifiers are more expensive than their competitors. This category benefits from people’s willingness to pay more, if that is what it takes to own something that is easier to use, or more useful or more aesthetically pleasing.Apple Macintosh effectively created the high-end customer segment by manufacturing products that were more intuitive for the user, more user-friendly and more beautiful.Uber has made the experience of using a taxi quicker through the software that hails the drivers closest to you. The newer cars required for use by Uber drivers are expected to be more reliable, comfortable, and the whole experience is often cheaper than conventional taxis. This combination of the speed of getting a ride and the convenience of not having to pay cash, are among many features that have made Uber hugely successful, and an extremely valuable company.The computer scientists at Xerox PARC invented the modern PC, the mouse and much, much more. However, they failed to capitalize on their inventions partially because they never focused on process simplification. “They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory because they liked complexity more than they liked simplicity,” the authors explain.Process-simplification and the monetization of these technological innovations were left to the late, great Steve Jobs. He brought Apple back to profitability by focusing on just two models of the Mac and producing the easiest-to-use, most fun personal computer on the market.Then came the iPod, another extraordinary example of proposition-simplification. Existing MP3 players were “horrible, absolutely horrible.” They were difficult to use and held about sixteen songs. Jobs and the team devised a far simpler player that had a drive that would hold a thousand songs, with a FireWire connection to sync the thousand songs in under ten minutes, and a battery that would last through a thousand songs.Apple is a prime example of a proposition-simplifier.What tactics your context requires to use the principle of simplification, will be completely unique. The value of this book is the awareness of the power of simplification, and the guidance it offers to the process: the rest is up to you.Readability Light -+-- SeriousInsights High --+-- LowPractical High +---- Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of the soon to be released ‘Executive Update’.

Reviewer: Don Juan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: "Obvious" is a term of Hindsight
Review: This book takes what is "obvious" and distills from the hindsight(s) of the last 100 + years, a Process whereby one may become the next 'disruptor' of the status quo; the window where fortunes are made.The steps are deceptively simple. The key? Knowing what questions to ask. That is what this book teaches.Look beyond the 'hindsight' mentality to the principles taught; those are the timeless essence this book reveals and presents.Is this of any value? Only if one incorporates the principles & questions to identify the opportunities ever unfolding in our highly complex & inter-dependent economy.

Reviewer: Zbikenut
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: How to Simplify your business plan for success
Review: One of the most straight forward books on how to build your business. I have read this book several times and I find it helps me clarify my business ideas. Simply Awesome.

Reviewer: sundeep
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Teaches how simplification of things will get succeed and importance of taking decisions on right time. This book covers with lots of examples demonstrating successful businesses approach. One of my favorite business books, as of recently.

Reviewer: Jorge Avila
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Bien lo dice el libro, uno de los Top 10 libros de negocios que cambiaran tu vida. Hay que hacer empresa, pero hay que hacerla bien. Muy buenos consejos y conceptos para tener presente y aplicar en nuestras empresas.

Reviewer: Antônio Pedro Pedroso
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Livro muito bom, recheado de casos e de boa leitura. No final, um pouco repetitivo.Valeu a pena, recomendo! =]

Reviewer: Cliente Amazon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Brest book of the year

Reviewer: Jeff W Schmode
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Good Book