Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos

Unstable markets, fierce competition, and relentless change are the only certainties in today's chaotic business world. In their startling new book, authors Brown and Eisenhardt contend that to prosper in such volatile conditions, standard survival strategies must be tossed aside in favor of a revolutionary new paradigm--competing on the edge. To compete on the edge is to relentlessly reinvent, and it's the only way to navigate the treacherous waters of tumultuous markets. Competing on the edge is an unpredictable, sometimes even inefficient strategy, yet a singularly effective one in an era driven by change. It requires charting a course along the edge of chaos, where a delicate compromise is struck between anarchy and order, to the edge of time, where current business is the primary focus, but actions are shaped by past legacies and future opportunities. By adroitly maneuvering through chaos and time, managers can avoid constantly reacting to nonstop change and instead set a rhythmic pace that others must follow, thereby shaping the competitive landscape--and their own destiny. In the first book to translate leading edge concepts from complexity theory into management practice, each chapter focuses on a specific management dilemma and illustrates a solution. Linking "where do you want to go?" with "how will you get there?" here's a bold and surprising strategy that works--when the name of the game is change. "Competing on the Edge is about the rarely mastered science of becoming and remaining a market leader when your market's a moving target. Moore's Law, they remind us, began as an Intel business objective."--Wired "Competing on the Edge makes us think about how good or badwe are at adapting to change and dealing with unpredictability."--Financial Times "This book is not for the faint of heart, nor for those seeking merely a prescriptive, formulaic primer. But for those who can live with fundamental ambiguity, the examples make clear how powerful and successful this unorthodox approach can be."--Upside "If you want to learn something new about meeting the challenges of rapid change, read...Competing on the Edge."-- Inc. Magazine "Thought-provoking and to the point."--Michael S. Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell Computer Corporation