January 3, 2000
A fixture in the Harvard Business Review, and the man who introduced the phrase "core competencies" into the business lexicon, Hamel urges everyone, including managers of old-line companies, to lead a business revolution by fully implementing e-commerce, participating in cooperative techniques such as joint ventures, engaging in "co-oppetition" (selective cooperation between competitors) and taking advantage of the general upheaval in the marketplace. Hamel, a consultant on the faculty of both the London School of Economics and the Harvard Business School, makes his case forcefully and clearly: the "gale of creative destruction has become a hurricane. New winds are battering down the fortifications that once protected the status quo." The solution, he argues, is simple: imagine the kind of future you want for your company, then go out and create it. Businesspeople have to rethink everything they've ever learned, he argues, because firms will either become revolutionaries or will become irrelevant. In addition to cheerleading for change, Hamel fills his book with examples of companies large (Enron) and small (Sephora) that have seized huge competitive advantages by changing either their mission or the way business is done in their industry. Some of Hamel's fans--and they are legion--may be disappointed by this volume, however, because it co clearly echoes Hamel's earlier writings. Even so, his powerful presentation may well spur to action those not already familiar with his work. 150,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo.
January 1, 2003
Hamel's first edition of this volume, published in 2000, urged managers help lead a business revolution by embracing change-developing e-commerce, participating in joint ventures and engaging in selective cooperation. Centuries of incremental progress have given way to a time of revolution, Hamel argued, and companies must change or die. His revised version keeps the focus on far-reaching innovation-imagine the kind of future you want for your company, Hamel urges, and then go out and create it-but he makes sure to dismiss the "helium" of the dot-com bubble and focus on meaningful business change. He highlights Cemex, the third largest cement company in the world, as proof that "new attitudes and new values can change an old industry"; UPS, too, gets the nod as another "gray-haired revolutionary." (Unsurprisingly, Hamel's positive Enron profile from the earlier edition gets the axe.) Hamel's presentation is powerful and his core argument that corporate leaders must be more entrepreneurial remains convincing; the worst that can be said about this volume is that, by rehashing his earlier writings, Hamel may not be fully following his own advice.