Harvard Business School Press

Bookwatch, The, Sept, 2005

Harvard Business School Press

60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163

www.HBSPress.org

Thousands of companies are partly or wholly owned by their employees, but how do they compare to the usual firms, and are their organizations really more productive? An employee ownership expert, business book writer and consultant team up to answer this question, examining the different types of innovations such companies are taking. Dozens of companies are studied and provided as examples in Corey Rosen, John Case, and Martin Staubus's Equity: Why Employee Ownership Is Good For Business (1591393310 $27.50). Packed with strong examples. W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy: How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant (1591396190, $27.95) turns upside down all the insights on strategic success which have formed business foundations in the past. Most companies battle success in an ocean of rivals over shrinking profits: industry boundaries are defined, common, and prices driven lower. Those companies which reach beyond this formula experience explosive growth, as Apple did with the iPod and Curves with its women's fitness centers in an oversaturated fitness market. These innovative companies made proven models of success obsolete by going beyond strategic formulas--and you can, too, using the methods advised in Blue Ocean Strategy.