Product Description

The Last Days of the Giants? A Route Map for Big Business Survival "Somewhere out there is a bullet with your company′s name on it. Somewhere out there is a competitor, unborn and unknown, that will render your business model obsolete. Bill Gates knows that. When he says that Microsoft is always two years away from failure, he′s not just blowing smoke. The hottest and most dangerous new business models out there are on the Web". Gary Hamel, Fortune Magazine. 1998 If you can positively identify with any of the following statements:
∗ Current mergers and acquisitions activity will continue unabated well into the 21st century
∗ Flashy internet start–ups cannot threaten our core activities built up over years of careful planning, research, branding and marketing
∗ Our sheer size will protect us from the unpredictability of the next few years
∗ We will manage our customers; they will not manage us
∗ The government will always have the best interests of big business at heart
∗ A long–term focus is the key to success
∗ We do not see the value of outsourcing
∗ Just because we are big, it doesn′t mean we cannot move quickly
then you and your company may be in very serious trouble. Read Robert Baldock′s survival guide for giants, before it′s too late. "An intriguling perspective on the ′current future′ of global business that few of today′s giant corporations can afford to ignore". Dr Paul Taffinder, author of the acclaimed Big Change; winner of the 1999 MCA Business Management book of the year.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2015209 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 270 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In a size-obsessed culture, popular imagery reinforces perceptions--big is beautiful, size matters. For business, this linguistic influence has a fateful ring. Alongside the nimble upstarts of the Internet economy, the corporate giants of the 20th century increasingly resemble lumbering monoliths.

Robert Baldock sees problems ahead. The frenetic M&A activity of the 1990s created the monster, but it is business that has changed. "The environment in which the culture of "bigness" blossomed is fast disappearing in many industries. There is a seismic shift in the industrial cost-structure demonstrated by the nifty little newcomers heading single-mindedly for their IPO". Flexibility, speed and adaptability are the new gods of business. The new economy has brought with it a new customer. "We are entering a buyer driven era, an era in which the customer will not just be a king, but a dictator." Corporate giants with their higher overheads simply cannot compete for customers with these Internet start-ups.

But The Last Days of the Giants is not a corporate swan song. Baldock's aim is to guide the outsize through slimmers' club. After charting the rise and decline of the large corporation, he sets out the principles of the Cube Route--a plan for big business survival. "Corporations were slow to feel the winds of change because many of them were able to fool themselves that the public was happy with the way things were." The Cube Route's three-dimensional focus on the nature of products and services, commercial relationships with customers and the extent to which businesses should focus on core competencies promises to make survival is an option. "The process of transformation will not be easy ... But ... there is a way for [businesses] to thrive in this new business environment."

The Last Days of the Giants is a highly readable and painstakingly researched account of the future for big business in a small world. --Iain Campbell

Review
"Book of the week, "The author′s blueprint deserves serious study."" – The Independent

"Baldock′s framework is a simple, easy to follow three–step process. This book is ideal for managers who are ready to absorb some very compelling concepts..." – E Business

"Last Day′s of the Giants is an easy read, short and easy to follow. It would make an excellent purchase for a long flight. It is topical. Buy it to read in the next six months....." – Strategy

"An insightful new book designed to be a blueprint for succeeding in the 21st century. With an innovative new organisational model and superb examples." – EuroBusiness

From the Inside Flap
In his latest work, Robert–Baldock continues in his visionary vein to tackle the problems, challenges and opportunities that the year 2000 onwards will bring for the old–style ′giants′ of the last century. Robert Baldock′s focus is on the problems facing big business, especially if they stand still instead of moving with, and even ahead of, the times. The greatest threats to the so–called ′giants′ can come from the most unexpected quarters. Suddenly a small, independent company from the other side of the world can, without warning, take large chunks of your market share. They can do this because they are quicker of thought, more flexible in attitude and more closely attuned to the real needs of their customers than you are. Indeed, the very definition of what it means to be big is rapidly changing. So what, if anything, can you do about it? Robert Baldock calmly looks at the ways in which you can change the nature of your business so that you can begin the 21st century on at least an equal footing with your hungry, determined competitors. This includes looking at the nature of what you offer to your customers, the relationship you have with your customers, and the level to which you should continue trying to do everything internally against the option of outsourcing. The author gives us the mental model of a three–dimensional cube to visualise when thinking about the kinds of things we should be doing. The book can be read from either perspective, whether you are ′large′ or ′small′. The 21st century will be characterised by more questions than there are answers, but through gripping narrative, superb examples and visionary insight, this book will set your synapses sparking about the way to survive and flourish in the 21st century.