<p>Chapter 5: Customers, Products, Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Close Customer Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Customer Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Dependence on the Customer and Risk Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Achieving Closeness to Customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Product and Service Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Chapter 6: Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 What Does Innovation Mean?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 High Level of Innovativeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Driving Forces of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 The Origin of Innovations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Leadership and Organizational Aspects of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Chapter 7: Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Competitive Structure and Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 The Hidden Champions in the Light of Porter’s “Five Forces” . . . . . 195 Competitive Advantages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Sustainability of Competitive Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Demonstration of Competitive Superiority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Competitive Edge and Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Sparring Partners for Competitive Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Excessive Competitive Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Chapter 8: Financing, Organization, and Business Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Contents ix Organization of the Value Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Business Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Entrepreneurial Clusters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Chapter 9: Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Job Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Corporate Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Quali?cations and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Creativity of Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Recruiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Chapter 10: The Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Structures of Ownership and Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 How Crucial Is Leadership? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Leadership Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Young to the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Powerful Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Internationalization of Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Personalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Leadership Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Management Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Chapter 11: Hidden Champions: Audit and Strategy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 What Is Strategy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Hidden Champion Strategy: For Whom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Hidden Champions – Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Strategy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Strategies for Value Propositions and Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Organization and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</p>

Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders

Business & Money

Simon, Hermann

Management & Leadership

Springer

This book is a completely updated translation of the German standard work "Preismanagement", a volume which was quoted in the International Journal of Research in Marketing as "a pioneering work in pricing" and was rated highest among eight international pricing books by a comparative survey in Die Betriebswirtschaft. An English language edition was thus more than warranted as underlined by some prepublication comments: "...The major contribution of the book is the fact that it introduces the English speaking reader to research on pricing from the German literature. It is for that reason alone that the book will appeal to many academicians in the USA and in other non-German speaking countries...the book represents, in my opinion, the very best review of empirial work in the pricing area...I also anticipate the book to be widely read by managers since pricing has become of the utmost concern to them. It provides them with a very useful conceptual framework and it also gives them useful advice on relevant topics such as pricing in inflationary times, the impact of taxation on pricing, and pricing under uncertainty." G. Assmus, The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA. "The book should become the text of choice at the best institutions." R. Schmalensee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Institute of Technology, USA. Price Management attempts to bridge the gap between the theory and the practice of pricing. Emphasis is placed upon the problems of applying theoretical structures and detailed recommendations are given about when and how certain techniques should - and should not - be used. Particular attention is given to pricing strategy over the product life cycle and under changing competitive conditions. Both academics and professionals will find this book of value. The book is a `must' for any business, management and economics library.

Price Management

North-Holland

<p>This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.</p>

Sammtliche Poetische Werke: In Zwei Banden (1900) (German Edition)

Literature & Fiction

LONGFELLOW, HENRY-WADSWORTH

History & Criticism

Kessinger Publishing

<p>In this long-awaited book, the world's two leading price experts Robert J. Dolan and Hermann Simon take managers beyond conventional thinking to show how their breakthrough system of "power pricing" will improve the bottom line by an order of magnitude.<br><br>In today's hypercompetitive global marketplace, a company's pricing policy can make or break the bottom line. Yet a surprising number of firms attempt to increase profits without the aid of a carefully and creatively designed pricing strategy. They destroy popular but not necessarily financially savvy ideas on pricing, such as relying on a standard markup on cost rule. They expose as passive the "strategy" of letting the market or a competitor "set the price." But the key is in what they provide: the tools by which the pedestrian pricer can become a "power pricer" who achieves quantum leaps in financial performance by aggressively implementing sophisticated pricing strategies.<br><br>Dolan and Simon combine their international expertise and know-how to reveal the latest breakthroughs in pricing tactics. Drawing on their firsthand experience with firms throughout the world, they make available for the first time the logic behind the actual practices of "power pricers" engaged in fierce global competition. Market segmentation, promotional pricing, competitive strategic pricing, international pricing, nonlinear pricing, interrelated product line pricing, and time-customized pricing are just a few of the crucial concepts which the authors explore and explain when and how to implement. The authors' approach to creating "power pricers" is twofold. They specify the practices of the strategic pricers among the world's most successful firms and then lay out a four-dimensional system to attain this level of pricing sophistication and resulting profit improvement. Dolan and Simon draw their portrait of the power pricer in four critical dimensions: viewpoint on pricing, fact file support pricing, tools and scope of analysis, and determination and implementation.<br><br>The authors argue that firms must view pricing as a key and highly manageable element in the profit equation, worthy of attention equal to that accorded to sales volume and costs. Companies must have data at their finger tips which are more accurate, timely, relevant, and dissaggregated than their competitors'. Using these data to create a systematic analysis of customers and competitors, companies will be able to create and assess pricing scenarios to achieve long-term profitability.<br><br>This targeted, quadrupled approach to transforming the bottom line by managing price leaves no strategy or option unturned. <i>Power Pricing</i> is a highly detailed yet practically focused book which will become required reading for business leaders; general managers; marketing, product, and brand managers; accountants, financial managers, and marketing students, world-wide.</p>

Power Pricing: How Managing Price Transforms the Bottom Line

Dolan, Robert J.

Economics

The Free Press

<p>Describes the management techniques followed by lesser-known companies that have, nonetheless, attained global market shares of seventy percent</p>

Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies

Business Development & Entrepreneurship

Harvard Business School Pr

Sammtliche Poetische Werke: In Zwei Banden (1900)

Literary

<p>Newspaper columns blare the news daily. There is no doubt that we are struggling through a worldwide economic and financial crisis of a magnitude not witnessed since the Great Depression.</p> <p>In this environment, fraught with danger, no company can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude. One hesitation or misstep can result in the rapid demise of a once stalwart enterprise. Even small miscalculations can topple mighty empires; consider the U.S. auto industry, for example. The severity of the crisis demands that your company understand its causes, diagnose carefully, implement decisively and monitor constantly.</p> <p>However, the crisis also creates chances for companies that learn to assess risk, recognize opportunity and take action quickly. This book is an antidote to the chorus of doom-and-gloom, a manual for business leaders and employees who are ready to fight. In Beat the Crisis, international strategy guru, Hermann Simon, offers 33 practical actions that any company can take immediately. Organized into broad categories―"Changing Customer Needs," "Sales and the Sales Force," "Managing Offers and Prices" and "Services"―Simon shows companies how to focus on the areas where emphatic action can have quick and maximum impact on corporate performance. Drawing from dozens of successful cases around the world, Simon helps readers learn to read the market signals, develop quick solutions, and stay a step ahead of their competitors, while avoiding the pitfalls looming in the crisis. A concluding chapter looks beyond the crisis and considers the longer-term socio-political and business consequences, in which Simon foresees a new era of restraint.</p>

Beat the Crisis: 33 Quick Solutions for Your Company

<p>Product Description      <br />
Newspaper columns blare the news daily. There is no doubt that we are struggling through a worldwide economic and financial crisis of a magnitude not witnessed since the Great Depression.<br />
In this environment, fraught with danger, no company can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude. One hesitation or misstep can result in the rapid demise of a once stalwart enterprise. Even small miscalculations can topple mighty empires; consider the U.S. auto industry, for example. The severity of the crisis demands that your company understand its causes, diagnose carefully, implement decisively and monitor constantly.<br />
However, the crisis also creates chances for companies that learn to assess risk, recognize opportunity and take action quickly. This book is an antidote to the chorus of doom-and-gloom, a manual for business leaders and employees who are ready to fight. In Beat the Crisis, international strategy guru, Hermann Simon, offers 33 practical actions that any company can take immediately. Organized into broad categories―"Changing Customer Needs," "Sales and the Sales Force," "Managing Offers and Prices" and "Services"―Simon shows companies how to focus on the areas where emphatic action can have quick and maximum impact on corporate performance. Drawing from dozens of successful cases around the world, Simon helps readers learn to read the market signals, develop quick solutions, and stay a step ahead of their competitors, while avoiding the pitfalls looming in the crisis. A concluding chapter looks beyond the crisis and considers the longer-term socio-political and business consequences, in which Simon foresees a new era of restraint.<br />
      Review      <br />
From the reviews:\n"The 200-page practical advice guidebook … by Professor Hermann Simon is exactly the solution we had been waiting for in the current economic crisis. Definitely worth reading! … It outlines the fast-acting measures you need to help you survive the crisis – without causing lasting damage to your brand or your company." (BRANDNEWS, August, 2009)<br />
      From the Back Cover      <br />
"Stocks plunge on worries over financial sector"<br />
"Jobless rate at 14-year high"<br />
"Economy shrinks with consumers leading the way"<br />
"As home sales sag, foreclosures soar"<br />
"Retail chains caught in a wave of bankruptcies"\nNewspaper columns blare the news daily. There is no doubt that we are struggling through a worldwide economic and financial crisis of a magnitude not witnessed since the Great Depression. <br />
In this environment, fraught with danger, no company can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude. One hesitation or misstep can result in the rapid demise of a once stalwart enterprise. Even small miscalculations can topple mighty empires; consider the U.S. auto industry, for example. The severity of the crisis demands that your company understand its causes, diagnose carefully, implement decisively and monitor constantly. <br />
However, the crisis also creates chances for companies that learn to assess risk, recognize opportunity and take action quickly. This book is an antidote to the chorus of doom-and-gloom, a manual for business leaders and employees who are ready to fight. In Beat the Crisis, international strategy guru, Hermann Simon, offers 33 practical actions that any company can take immediately. Organized into broad categories―"Changing Customer Needs," "Sales and the Sales Force," "Managing Offers and Prices" and "Services," Simon shows companies how to focus on the areas where emphatic action can have quick and maximum impact on corporate performance. Drawing from dozens of successful cases around the world, Simon helps readers learn to read the market signals, develop quick solutions, and stay a step ahead of their competitors, while avoiding the pitfalls looming in the crisis. A concluding chapter looks beyond the crisis and considers the longer-term socio-political and business consequences, in which Simon foresees a new era of restraint. As he argues: "Th</p>

Many Worlds, One Life: A Remarkable Journey from Farmhouse to the Global Stage

<p>In this engaging, insightful, and inspiring narrative, Hermann Simon, the world-renowned management thinker, consultant, pricing expert, entrepreneur, and leading authority on the "hidden champions" business model, highlights the influences on his remarkable journey from humble origins on a German farm to advising and sharing the stage with global leaders in industry, academia, and politics. <div><br /></div> Born in 1947 in the rural Eifel region of Western Germany, Simon''s coming of age parallels that of a country struggling to come to terms with the legacy of World War II and reinvent itself as a new world power. His colorful anecdotes of a youth spent in an agricultural community that in many ways operated as it had since the Middle Ages, reflect the establishment of core values, such as trust, focus, quality, and commitment that served as an anchor against the accelerating pace of technological, economic, political, social, and cultural change in the subsequent decades.&nbsp; Simon takes readers on a journey through time and space, as his--and our--world transformed from isolated to connected, local to global, revealing lessons learned from the extraordinary people (from Peter Drucker to Henry Kissinger) and places he has encountered along the way, through a career that has evolved from research and education to management consulting to leadership and strategy development on a broad scale. His particular interest in the <i>Mittelstand</i>, or "hidden champions," the small and medium-sized companies that exemplify the German business philosophy and served as the engine of its economic revival, becomes a powerful metaphor of his own experiences in blazing new trails while staying true to one''s roots. <div><br /></div> <div>For anyone familiar with Simon''s work and contributions, Many Worlds, One Life reveals unique insights into the man himself and the origins of his ideas on successful leadership and business strategy. But more generally, readers in any field or discipline will recognize how their own stories reflect their ties to the past, their accomplishments in an increasingly complex environment, and, ultimately, their roads to the stars.</div> <div><br /></div> <div>"Hermann Simon is one of the very few people who combine a truly global mindset with strong local roots. This rare combination makes him a superb bridge-builder at a time of increasing friction in our global trading system. World-renowned management scholar, successful entrepreneur, engaged citizen - this book tells his life''s amazing story in a compelling way." U. Mark Schneider, CEO, Nestlé</div> <div><br /></div> <div>"From the moment I met Hermann Simon, through each successive encounter, I have enjoyed increasing returns which are rare in most relationships. Hermann, please continue to open further fields of inquiry in business theory and practice, always with an eye to aligning profit, high purpose, and passion." Philip Kotler, Professor Emeritus of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University<br /></div> <div><br /></div> "Among the politicians, officials, scholars, and entrepreneurs that Hermann Simon has close acquaintance with, it is a great honor that I am writing a letter of recommendation for this book and Dr. Simon. As a worldly renowned business manager and scholar, his wise words have always inspired and awakened business leaders (and engineers) like me. I bought the book and finished it on the spot before I left the bookstore. This book is about his life rather than his studies. This book also proves that he is a good essayist as much as he is a scholar. As you navigate into his youth in a German farmhouse, you will notice that he has always captured the details of daily life and social surroundings. It is the encounter of such details and awakening of his senses that have led him to become the pride of modern Europe''s business management studies. My favorite part in his book is the chapter, ''The School of Life''. He has listed the things he has learned throughout his life and said they are ''subjective and incomplete.'' As I read through his book, it felt as if I were having a cup of tea with him over family, future, health, management, leadership, time management, and other lifetime subjects. His value and love for humanity is truly special. In this book, he acknowledges that his life is divided in two: one from his Eifel village and one from the globalized word. The division of the old and the present, or the division of time and space, which usually starts from village and ends in a city, was unavoidable to anyone our age who has gone through rapid urbanization and industrialization. Such sense of separation, however, does not always lead to enlightenment. The enlightenment that he is sharing with us is the fruit of his lifetime effort. When you read his stories from his childhood to recent research and studies, you will learn the never-changing truth that ''Great discernment is cultivated rather than is born.'' I also think this book will be a milestone for the younger generations who still have more road to travel." Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang, former CEO, Samsung Electronics and KT Korea Telecom<br /> <div><br /></div> <div>"In his autobiography, Professor Hermann Simon narrates his experience of growing from the countryside to the international stage and becoming a common friend in Chinese and German economic circles. It can be said that with the impetus of globalization, his Hidden Champion Theory has been widely practiced in both Germany and China. The combination of the Hidden Champion Theory and the pragmatic development of small and medium-sized enterprises has promoted the craftsmanship, deepened international cooperation, and enriched the connotation of Sino-German economic and trade cooperation. In recent years, Sino-German pragmatic economic and trade cooperation has maintained a continuous development momentum. Both the industrial chain and the supply chain cooperation are safe and stable. In the future, we will look forward to collaborating more with the German business community to uphold multilateralism, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, assist cooperation in various fields to achieve positive results, push the continuous expansion of two-way opening forward." &#21016;&#27583;&#21195;Mr. LIU Dianxun &#20013;&#21326;&#20154;&#27665;&#20849;&#21644;&#22269;&#21830;&#21153;&#37096;&#25237;&#36164;&#20419;&#36827;&#20107;&#21153;&#23616;&#23616;&#38271; Director General of Investment Promotion Agency of Ministry of Commerce. P.R.China<br /></div></p>

Industries

Copernicus

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Simon, Hermann. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Simon, Hermann

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Simon, Hermann. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders

Price Management

Sammtliche Poetische Werke: In Zwei Banden (1900) (German Edition)

Power Pricing: How Managing Price Transforms the Bottom Line

Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies

Sammtliche Poetische Werke: In Zwei Banden (1900)

Beat the Crisis: 33 Quick Solutions for Your Company

Beat the Crisis: 33 Quick Solutions for Your Company

Many Worlds, One Life: A Remarkable Journey from Farmhouse to the Global Stage

Many Worlds, One Life: A Remarkable Journey from Farmhouse to the Global Stage