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Escape Velocity
Book

Escape Velocity

Free Your Company's Future from the Pull of the Past

HarperBusiness, 2011 Mehr

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

In this challenging, realistic discussion, strategy consultant Geoffrey A. Moore uses an extended metaphor: the past’s gravitational hold on your company. To break free of its influences, you must generate “escape velocity,” a force that allows you to burst through the weighty barrier of the past. Moore argues for five distinct categories of power that help you reach escape velocity and head for the future. Though his work is a bit jargon-laden and sometimes hard to follow, his strategic ideas make sense. To follow his metaphor of jolting away from old patterns, let Moore’s concepts function as a catalyst. They won’t work alone, but if you introduce and apply them effectively, they are intended to accelerate radically how your company utilizes its talent and resources – the fuel for any journey. getAbstract recommends Moore’s groundbreaking manual to planners, innovators and those looking to upgrade their company’s market position.

Summary

Why You Need to Escape

Don’t count on the future being like the past. Dangerously, the past works like gravity: It holds everything in place. For example, most companies base their new annual budgets on the previous year’s needs. If you’re operating in a stable market, that works. However, the markets for mature products tend to decay as new products emerge. It takes energy to get moving again. Unless you can generate that energy and blast your company into the future, you’ll do business the same old way with ever-decreasing profits. You must flee the past to create substantial growth. To reach “escape velocity,” a “force that is greater than the inertial momentum of current operations,” draw on five possible sources of power:

1. “Category Power”

User demand for your product or service in relation to competitive categories creates your primary, most general source of power. Comparing smartphones to landlines provides a good example of the difference between high- and low-demand categories. Any serious entry in the smartphone category experiences high growth, while the best landline providers struggle. Moving from a shrinking category to a growing category can...

About the Author

Geoffrey A. Moore is chairman emeritus of The Chasm Group, the Chasm Institute, and TCG Advisors, all of which provide marketing and strategy guidance.


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