Extreme Competition: Innovation And the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
Peter Fingar and his colleagues from around the globe take us on a fascinating journey of discovery of tomorrow's flat world. For entrepreneurs and incumbent business leaders alike, the implications run deep and wide. --Rajesh Jain, Managing Director of Netcore, and Founder of IndiaWorld, Mumbai, India
Peter Fingar has fused a gem of a book under the pressure of the need for change. I started to read Extreme Competition and I could not put it down until I finished it, except what was necessary to sustain life. I rarely take time to 'drink in' a book about business revolution, but this book has the potential to guide a significant change in the way we look at business. --Jim Sinur, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner Research
Extreme Competition shows in concrete detail how old assumptions and business models are being rapidly obliterated by the rise of India and China and the negation of time and distance by the Internet and global supply chain management. This is the definitive guide to business success in the new age of total global competition. --Clyde Prestowitz, President, Economic Strategy Institute,and author of Three Billion New Capitalists
In an interconnected world, the services sector has seen varied levels innovation, often inspired by historical breakthroughs in manufacturing. At Wipro we are pioneering the use of Lean manufacturing techniques in the digitization of business processes. This innovation is our key to surviving and thriving in the world of Extreme Competition. --Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd., Chennai, India
Peter Fingar is exactly right that a new world of extreme competition is emerging, and that business process innovation will be its primary battleground. If you don't think that the ideas in this book are important, you simply won't be in business for very long. If you do, get busy reading about how to be successful in this brave new world. --Thomas H. Davenport, Professor and Director, Process Management Research Center, Babson College. Author of Thinking for a Living (Harvard Business Press)
Extreme Competition is an exciting book about the realities and opportunities of the 21st Century. Its recommendations are right on, especially Fingar's call for setting the pace of sustained innovation. Of great value are the hundreds of engaging, real-life examples. --Mark. S. Lewis, EVP and Chief Development Officer, EMC Corporation
Fingar takes the normally fuzzy topic of innovation and gives it structure. His suggestions for action are both practical and visionary. --Patrick Whitney, Professor, and Director, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology
Peter Fingar points the direction to tomorrow's business success, clearly and persuasively. Extreme Competition examines how the Internet and global sourcing are changing the rules for all businesses and how yesterday's proven strategies aren't likely to make for tomorrow's winners. Fingar charts a roadmap to the future that no business person today should be without. --Stan Gibson, Executive Editor, eWeek
In order to beat the competition, we must first compete against ourselves. At Cincinnati Bell we are committed to a 'defend and grow' strategy, and use bundling to engage in both defensive and offensive plays. In short, we have no choice but to be the extreme competitor described in Peter's intriguing book, nor do you. --John F. Cassidy, CEO, Cincinnati Bell
Extreme Competition eloquently describes how companies must rethink their business strategies, from the ground up, to respond to the realities of 21st century competition. --Bryan Maizlish, CTO, Program Team, Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions
Today, companies must ask how an ever more connected world will change the rules in their industries. Extreme Competition offers the in-depth analysis needed to formulate those questions, and chart a path ahead. --Edward C. Grady, CEO, Brooks Automation
Companies that have embraced Fingar's message are moving ahead, and creating innovative new business models so remarkable that in some instances they appear to give away their core products and services. How? Extreme Competition captures the moment and provides the answer. --Steve Towers, CEO, Business Process Management Group, Warwick, England
Reading Fingar's book on the plane made up for the hockey game I missed watching. The book's pace was faster and the impact made me feel like I was on the ice getting hit. And unlike a game that is forgotten when it is over, the ideas and challenges presented in this book simply cannot be forgotten. --Dave Hollander, Co-inventor of XML, the Lingua Franca of the Internet
Peter Fingar makes it clear that to survive in a world of extreme competition, it's essential to develop an obsessive, even paranoid, attention to business processes, and to manage them to support continuous and unrelenting innovation. Readers and companies that have low adversity quotients on this issue will become history, extremely fast. --Kiran Garimella, Chief Architect, GE Healthcare Financial Services
Peter Fingar draws an exciting portrait of what lies ahead as globalization and technological innovation magnifies both the opportunity and competition at hand. A must read for all businesses looking to navigate this new world paradigm. --Joseph Halpern, Partner, Halpern Capital