Publications:

"You can't predict anymore. But that doesn't matter - What's important is you must be able to adapt and exploit - be agile enough to guess where the value is going and position yourself to exploit it if it does."

Here are a few of the books and other publications we've read and found particularly useful in generating ideas and solutions to help leading organisations create shareholder value more effectively.

Alfred Rappaport

(ISBN 0684844109)

The ultimate test of corporate strategy, the only reliable measure, is whether it creates economic value for shareholders. Now, in this substantially revised and updated edition of his 1986 business classic, Creating Shareholder Value, Alfred Rappaport provides managers and investors with the practical tools needed to generate superior returns.

Harry Beckwith

(ISBN 0-446-52094-2)

Excellent description of how to develop service based business strategies, even in apparently product dominated companies. Witty and original writing style makes it a great business and pleasure read.

Seth Godin

(Download free PDF eBook)

Godin himself notes that much of the content of his book (and his earlier Permission Marketing) seems obvious. Yet, as he goes on to show convincingly, that which is obvious has rarely been practised. When you read Godin's thoughts about permission marketing and ideaviruses, they may sound obvious yet almost all marketers continue to throw huge sums of money at old-fashioned interruption marketing. The infamous peak of this was the spurt of expensive Superbowl ads by transient e-tailers.

Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan

(ISBN 0-87584-398-0)

"Do the basics well", that's the message from Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan in 'Simply Better'. Their view is that instead of wanting something unique, most customers just want a quality product at a fair price which does what it promises consistently well. In effect, don't waste time over trivial points of difference, gimmicks, branding or outside the box thinking. Get close to your customers, understand what matters to them and then deliver that better than the competition. A good product will always stand out from the crowd by offering on-time delivery as well as consistently good levels of service. Trying to be unique might be exciting, but it won't automatically lead to business success. Long term success will only be delivered by consistently exceeding the customer's expectations.

To achieve this in practice there are six rules to keep in mind:

1. Obsess over the category benefits, not your own individual brand benefits
2. Think simplicity, not sophistication - because that's how customers think
3. Look at how customers make buying decisions first and foremost
4. Focus more on your opportunities and less on your competitive threats
5. Use outside-the-box advertising only when your delivery systems are in place
6. Regularly immerse yourself on the realities of the marketplace

For more information about Simply Better, visit www.simply-better.biz.

Frederick Reichheld

Havard Business Review OnPoint 5534

Many companies spend a great deal of time, money and effort to survey their customers' satisfaction with their products and services but few get useful information from this. Reichheld introduces a simple measure - the Net Promoter™ score - that is simple to measure, simple to understand and, even more importantly, is a proven lead indicator of whether customers will stay or leave (churn). The measure is based on asking a simple question - 'How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?' Based on their responses on a 0 to 10 scale, customers are grouped into 'promoters' (9-10 score - extremely likely to recommend), 'passively satisfied' (7-8 score) and 'detractors' (0-6 score - extremely unlikely to recommend). The Net Promoter™ score is the percentage of promoters less the percentage of detractors. World class loyalty is a score of 75% or more.

By itself, the Net Promoter™ score does nothing. What is needed is to do less of what leads to detractors and more of what leads to promoters. This will require careful analysis of what drives the scores, clear responsibilities for improvement actions and follow-up to ensure the actions have been taken.

Richard B. Case and Sriram Dasu

Havard Business Review OnPoint 682X

Process re-engineering or re-design usually aims to design a process to meet specific targets of time, cost, quality and risk or safety. Case and Dasu add another design criterion - the experience of the customer in his or her interactions with the process. They draw on behavioural studies that show that the more painful elements of a process - such as providing personal details - are perceived by the customer as taking a relatively long time. More pleasurable elements - such as seeing how the product or service can help them - seem to take a short time. Also, the customer's final interactions with the process sway his or her overall perception of the process. Thus, they recommend lumping together all the 'painful' elements and putting them at the start of the process and dragging out the 'pleasurable' elements at the end of the process.

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