Cooperate to Compete

"The old fashioned business environment, in which each company could be managed in isolation, has rapidly changed into one in which decisions made by one business directly impact."

"Connecting with customers solely through sales of products forms a weak bond."

"A quality product can be made anywhere in the world and high-quality, cost-effective, manufacturing is no longer a competitive differentiator."

"The new business strategy of moving beyond product and forming process connections with customers must be coordinated with new organizational structures, training, and technology."

"There are still advantages for companies that provide competitive arm's length product, marketing, and customer service, but it is only a temporary advantage."

"People now ask: What next? How will we compete when we are all world-class suppliers? How will we differentiate ourselves from other suppliers?"

"The interprise introduces change as a coordinated set of activities."

"Time is being used as a competitive weapon by the U.S. textile and other industries to enhance their positions in international trade."

"An interprising business develops new products and services and leads the move to fragmentation."

"In order to beat the competition, producers now add information and service to their product."

"Computer power to make personalized solutions is now available. Use it. If you don't, someone else will."

"Nike managed to turn a $10 sport shoe into a sneaker priced at over $100, ten times the old price."

"It is a mechanism for making consumers feel a part of a select group, by making the product part of their life process."

"When information is plentiful, information about information becomes as valuable as the information itself."

"The customer cannot be king!"

"A growing body of evidence shows that business in the early twenty-first century will be won and lost based on relationships formed across company lines."

"Making the customer more attractive to the market can be achieved using various techniques."

"The essence of enrichment is to introduce products and service which closely match the spectrum of needs for various customers."

"Interprises that offer solutions to their clients frequently complain about the difficulty of selling a solution for a high price."

"The first task in forming a web is to agree to the need for developing a shared vision, metrics, and goals."

"In management surveys, most companies confess a trust gap of between 20 and 60 percent with an average of about 40 percent."

"There is no free lunch, and the unplanned approach to teamwork is unreliable."

"If the heart of interprise strategy is becoming part of the customer's work processes or lifestyle, the target costing method sets that aim as its goal."

"By losing the knowledge and experience built up by people over time, companies eliminate the seed corn for future growth; they do not realize that in the new environment, people are a critical asset for any organization."

"The single most important leadership challenge is to clarify reality for the people in the organization."

"There are four questions that are answered by any company seeking to transform itself into a more powerful competitor by exploiting the interprise model."