Profit Patterns: 30 Ways to Anticipate and Profit from Strategic Forces Reshaping Your Business

A convincing review of various business models. Would certainly be worth an update, but still highly relevant.

"Profit Patterns" was an assigned book for the capstone course in the MBA program at Golden Gate University and was an appropriate recommendation for the depth and breadth of coverage it gave to the issue of strategic pattern thinking.The premise of Profit Patterns by Adrian J. Slywotzky and David J. Morrison is that we learn from experience by studying patterns. Good managers are skilled at strategic pattern recognition and see the whole picture. Industries are reshaped by patterns, which may build slowly or move rapidly, and the ability to recognize and capitalize on these patterns allows an organization to create strategies that lead to sustained value and profitability. In his article titled "Crafting Strategy", Henry Mintzberg, another well known author on the subject of business strategy, indicates that a "key to managing strategy is the ability to detect emerging patterns and help them take shape. The job of the manager is not just to preconceive specific strategies but also to recognize their emergence."Part I of the book is titled 'The New Game of Business' and describes the changes occurring in business which call for a new skill set. These changes are called Getting It, Polarization and Mindshare. Getting It refers to the ability of managers to become masters of pattern recognition. Instead of seeing chaos, these managers see the strategic pattern unfolding within the complexity, and discover the pattern behind it all. In short, they "get it". Polarization is the result of early recognition and exploitation of patterns in that the company that "got it" first realizes great momentum, its market value explodes and value is no longer proportional; it has polarized. Many examples are given such as Cisco vs. Bay Networks, Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, and Nike vs. Reebok. Polarization means "winner takes all", and is spreading to other industries. The focus of competition in more and more industries is competition for mindshare, and is crafted as a three-part strategy: 1) mindshare with customers, 2) mindshare with investors and 3) mindshare with talent. Getting It, Polarization and Mindshare are critical skills in the war for dominance in an industry.Part II of Profit Patterns describes thirty patterns that have affected business designs over the last two decades. The patterns are organized into the following categories:o Mega - No Profit, Back to Profit, Convergence, Collapse of the Middle, De Factor Standard, Technology Shifts the Boardo Value Chain - Deintegration, Value Chain Squeeze, Strengthening the Weak Link, Reintegrationo Customer - Profit Shift, Microsegmentation, Power Shift, Redefinitiono Channel - Multiplication, Channel Concentration, Compression/ Disintermediation, Reintermediationo Product - Product to Brand, Product to Blockbuster, Product to Profit Multiplier, Product to Pyramid, Product to Solutiono Knowledge - Product to Customer Knowledge, Operations to Knowledge, Knowledge to Producto Organizational - Skill Shift, Pyramid to Network, Cornerstoning, Conventional to Digital Business DesignNumerous examples are given of the patterns, and case studies of successful companies such as Nokia, Dell, and Cisco Systems show how a company can detect patterns and trends, organize around them and create significant value, even polarization, from these patterns. The case studies, since all are well known companies, are very useful in understanding the patterns and comprehending how they can be applied in real-life business situations. This infrastructure of patterns can be used to organize and correlate the relevant experiences of well known corporations to your own organization. The patterns are equally applicable to large corporations or small-to-midsize companies.Part III of Profit Patterns is called 'Putting Patterns to Work' and includes chapters on putting the patterns into action (company case studies), accelerated pattern detection, putting the patterns to work in your organization, and a patterns workbook. This is perhaps the most useful section of the book, in that it offers practical advice on applying the pattern thinking theories."Profit Patterns" is written in a practical, thorough, no-nonsense style and the theories are backed up with many real-world examples. I will definitely use the workbook section in the future to analyze business patterns and strategies. The authors are prolific, respected writers, and this book will become one of the staples of business literature. My only criticism is that the graphics are crude and unsophisticated and that a more professional approach to the graphics would lend more credibility and clarity to the concepts they illustrate.

Clear, simple, many illustrated, well-designed book. Best collection of business profit patterns!

It is obvious that Slywotzky is under the gun to be the "thought leader" for Mercer Management Consulting now that his firm has been acquired by Mercer. While the profit patterns he refers to are interesting, much is re-hashed case studies from The Profit Zone. As I read chapter after chapter I thought to myself, "this is very superficial and won't give me what I need to apply the theory to my situation. Slywotzky ends each chapter with a How to Profit? takeaway. At the end of one chapter it reads, "Invest the time and effort to build a customer profitability system." Statements like these are vague and frustrating as he does not tell us how to do the things he recommends. A very disappointing follow-up to two very good books. Skip this book and get his others.

I would rate this book highly recommended for business managers. It brings forth very good examples of how one can predict a new pattern is emerging and quickly change business strategy to get ahead of competitors.The patterns presented are based on case studies. Therefore it is well illustrated. However, in the real world, it requires business managers to think deeply about their business to identify the pattern relevant to their business. So this book is good for a warm up exercise for your mind to get you into the mindset of pattern recognition.

The book identifies 30 "profit patterns". The patterns are categorized, and each one identifies some revenue mechanic or some interesting competitive strategy. Each pattern is supplemented with examples as well as with a brief case.This book inspired me for some strategies in my early days as an freelance strategy consultant, I implemented a variation of the "Micro Segmentation" pattern with great results.The book comes also with a brief description of the strategy development process utilized by Mercer Management consulting. The description is usefull, although you will need probably more details to take full advantage of it.And please don't expect to much new things - if you already did read 20 books on strategy, this will not add much more. But also don't expect to find common stuff like the BCG portfolio, it's still not THAT basic.Overall in my opinion this is THE BIBLE of profit patterns, from time to time I still pick the book from my shelf and review some of my favourite patterns...

Slywotzky and Morrison have accomplished something with this book that regular readers of business books would have thought impossible - they've applied intelligence and creativity to strategic buisness thinking and created a materpiece of originality and insight. Their categorization of business models into patterns based on their effects on either customers, distribution channels, products, knowledge, or organization is one of those flashes of insight that seems obvious only after someone has articulated it as clearly as Slywotzky and Morrison have done here. The clarity of expression and organization, and the case studies of real-world examples that illustrate the use of these patterns of business strategy and competition, make this a central holding of any serious business reader's library. Every management consultant, business owner or manager, or executive, should understand the business strategies outlined here.

Fine condition

What a book! The patterns hold solid relevance in the current economic climate as well - and coupled with the companion book "The Profit Zone", it makes compelling reading. A must read for any executive.

I don't normally write Amazon reviews so its a bit bad of me to break my rule and then write a negative one.I wanted to warn Pattern fans everywhere that this book is not really about patterns as Christopher Alexander, John Vlissides or Jim Coplien would recognise them. Slywotzy patterns are something completely different - I tried to e-mail him about this but the e-mail address given (and on the website) don't work.My other gripe about this book is that it contains no references, no bibliography, its not clear how much of this is his own thinking and where he had drawn on others.