“If you liked Wikinomics, you’ll love The Invisible Edge. You will never see the business world the same way again.” Every manager knows how hard it is just to survive in our increasingly cutthroat global marketplace. You can never stop pursuing operational efficiency, cost reductions, and ruthless execution. But those are just the minimum requirements to stay in the game. Your real long-term challenge is finding a strategy that delivers a sustainable edge. Veteran strategists Mark Blaxill and Ralph Eckardt argue that the only way to get that sustainable edge is by focusing on intellectual property. Too often, managers think of IP as a problem for the lawyers to deal with, or just for industries like entertainment, software, and pharmaceuticals. That’s a potentially fatal misunderstanding. Intellectual property isn’t a legal issue, it’s a business issue. It should be your number one strategic priority, even if you make a seemingly commidified product or service, like golf balls or razor blades. Traditional business practices were established in an era of industry and manufacturing, when assets were easy to see, touch, and count. But the most important assets in today’s economy are invisible and intangible. They don’t show up on a balance sheet or a quarterly P&L statement. The Invisible Edge is your guide to taking maximum advantage of these unseen assets, so you can pursue amazing opportunities for growth, profitability, and long-term competitive advantage. It will give you new tools to take stock of your company’s intellectual property, compare it to that of your competitors, and use it to capture market share, command premium prices, protect innovation, and dominate your market. The authors bring their lessons to life with fascinating stories from a wide range of industries. For example, you’ll be surprised at what happened when Titleist tried to rip off a high-tech golf ball design from Bridgestone; when Gillette went to war with Schick over multi-blade razors; and when Toyota bucked the trend in manufacturing and collaborated with its suppliers. The Invisible Edge will convince you that IP is the source of advantage that will let you take your strategy to the next level. Get ready to see your business in a whole new way. “Blaxill and Eckardt have produced a seminal book. It is an instant classic.”
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