Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink

Summary

Companies around the world turn to MIT's Jonathan Byrnes for one reason: he can figure out where the profit is. Using his unique set of tools, he can show them which customers and businesses are cash cows, and which efforts are just a drain on resources. Most astonishing, in each case he finds that roughly forty percent of his client's businesses are unprofitable!

We are transitioning from an era of mass markets to the Age of Precision Markets. Before, companies sought to distribute their products as widely as possible using arm's-length customer relationships. The goal was to achieve mass production and mass distribution. Broad management metrics like aggregate revenues and costs were adequate. The management systems and processes in companies today are geared to meet this legacy objective.

But today, companies form different relationships with different sets of customers. These relationships range from arm's length to highly integrated, and include almost everything in between. Successful businesses create competitive advantages and sustained profitability by developing innovative customer relationships and new types of customer value. But this is a two-edged sword: if customers are matched with the right relationships, sales and profits soar...but if they are matched poorly, profitability plunges. In this new world, the management approaches of the past no longer enable managers to maximize their companies' profitability.

Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink tells you how to rethink your business for maximum profit - what to do, how to do it, what difficulties you'll encounter, and how to overcome them. This audio book gives you the roadmap, perspective, and tools you'll need to be a highly effective manager in this new era of business.