Crossing the Chasm is a fundamental business and technology classic. Timeless in its analysis and understanding of human and societal change and adoption, this book will layout out the core elements of product marketing but also change management in general. This book has proven and well researched strategies to create massive adoption curves for new products, services, and organizational change. I recommend this book for technologists, product developers, marketers, and change agents.
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
Competitive Advantage is another classic from the great Michael Porter. This book is more internal and organizational focused than Competitive Strategy and provides the reader a rigorous and well thought out method for understanding the core of your advantage as an organization. He gets down to the simple truths of competitive advantage in this work. In the age of endless business school, executive, and consulting jargon on whatever dressed up version of technology, methods or tools are claimed to be competitive advantage, Porter will dispel all the myths for you and provide you a clear and cogent understand of the structure of your organization and how it delivers value in a sustainable and effective way. I recommend this book for leaders, strategy analysts, organizational effectiveness consultants, and also continuous improvement professionals. It is actually a great accompaniment to the “Value Stream Mapping” approach that will expand on that method and tool set to an organization wide and financial model point of view.
Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
This book is truly a tome of Strategic Analysis and Strategy in general but it is also an incredible guide and reference for ongoing work. Michael Porter is considered the Grandfather of Strategy and Strategic Analysis in the 21st century. His various works are considered, in some form or another, as required reading in any MBA course on Strategy and leadership. I was first exposed in my Master’s of Science program at Purdue, through their partnership with Thunderbird School of Global Management. His article, included in Harvard Business Reviews “Top 10 Must Reads” On Strategy, titled “What is Strategy?” merely glosses the surface. Porter my brother as an Industrial & Systems Engineer by another Mother as this book is a thorough “systems thinking” analysis and framework of industry’s, markets, business structures, and ultimately understanding their evolution as well as where the profit (and power) currently resides in a market and where it is likely to reside in the future. I recommend this book for anyone seriously interested in the foundations of Strategic Thinking but also Industrial & Systems Engineers, Innovation Leaders and Leaders in General, as well as entrepreneurs looking to have a framework from which to understand the current and long term structure of their industries.
Factory Physics for Managers
Factory Physics for Managers is a clear, cohesive, and coherent summary of the fundamental nature of factory’s and productive systems in general. Ed Pound et. al do a great job in 1) Convincing the aspiring manager that while the book contains technical content and underpinnings, the investment in reading and digesting the material will pay immense dividends to their understanding of effective operations as well as provide them with the firepower to truly manage their systems in a strategic and effective way. If you understand these principles, apply them in your business, and continuously improve with them, you’ll find your profitability as well as the shear enjoyment of your work increase immensely. I’ve met and worked with Ed Pound on the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering Work Systems Division Board of Directors and I know his understanding of this material and the science of factory management is deep, comprehensive, and tested time and again across almost every area of manufacturing. I recommend this book for Operations Managers, Industrial Engineers, Continuous Improvement Experts, Senior Leadership (C Suite), Supply Chain Experts, and anyone interested in the science underlying the production of goods and services.