Competitive Solutions: The Strategist's Toolkit

by R. Preston McAfee

Competitive Solutions is an entertaining and wideranging introduction to successful business methods applied to a variety of real-world situations. Rejecting the one-size-fits-all premise that underlies so many guides to business strategy, Preston McAfee develops the intellectual tools and insights needed to confront many marketplace problems. Drawing on his broad experience as a consultant for major U.S. companies, as well as extensive research, McAfee emphasizes cooperation, pricing, litigation, and antitrust as vital to a firm's competitive posture--and focuses more attention on these elements than do most business strategy accounts.

McAfee begins by considering strategy as successfully applied by America OnLine, an example that introduces many of the tools discussed in greater depth throughout the book. From here he moves to industry By examining the context for developing a strategy, he points out uses of positioning and differentiation that enable a firm to weaken price competition and deter rivals from stealing customers. McAfee's exploration of a product's life cycle proves an invaluable guide to positioning new technology in order to maximize the potential for future customers.

In the centerpiece of the book, McAfee lays out a how-to manual for cooperation, providing tactics crucial for setting standards, lobbying the government, and fostering industry growth. Writing in a conversational manner, McAfee also addresses such deep topics as organizational design and employee compensation and incentives. More detailed discussions examine antitrust enforcement, which is an increasingly important constraint on strategy, as well as strategies for pricing, bidding, signaling, and bargaining.

This book is a fascinating examination of modern business strategy and its application in many different settings. Students of business and economics--as well as executives and managers--will recognize Competitive Solutions as an indispensable resource as well as a definitive vision of the strategic one in which each element of company strategy reinforces the other elements.

Hardcover

First published September 30, 2002

Reviews

[Amine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book covers a comprehensive set of topics for a basic MBA classroom in microeconomics or strategy. The book is written in an engaging and fun style. The lack of depth makes the book perhaps a little bit disappointing -- in practice using the book's examples in the classroom or in a business meeting requires collecting more information. A good example of such approach is the book's treatment of auctions, where we get a sense of the big questions (how should auctions be structured? what is bidders' strategy?) but we need to get data to support the book's (absolutely correct) statements.

So the book is a good overview, and each subject should be deepened with a case study and data.

[Andre Garrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to learn how to apply your knowledge of economics in the real world, then read this book.

Seriously, this is a favorite of my mine. I highly recommend it.

Background: I have a degree in economics from northwestern. This book is great for beginner and expert alike!