Summary of Simplify

Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood

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Rating

7 Overall

7 Applicability

8 Innovation

7 Style

Recommendation

Google dominates search, Amazon commands online retail, Ikea rules the furniture business, Apple and Samsung control the smartphone industry, Southwest Airlines outearns all other airlines and a few chains dominate the fast food industry. These companies became powerful in large part by doing less – that is, by simplifying. Though a bit repetitive, investors Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood tell you how to simplify your firm or protect it from rival simplifiers. getAbstract recommends their manual to the rare firm that can lead in “price simplification” or “proposition simplification” and to the majority of companies who must compete with their category’s giants.

In this summary, you will learn

How and why companies that simplify dominate their industries,
How to become a price simplifier or proposition simplifier, and
How to use simplification in combination with other strategies to compete on a smaller scale.

About the Authors

Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood invest in star firms. Koch wrote the best-selling The 80/20 Principle and 20 other books and co-founded LEK Consulting. Lockwood founded the London-based venture capital firm Piton Consulting and co-wrote Superconnect with Koch.

Summary

Two Paths to Stardom
The Boston Consulting Group’s universal “Boston Box” strategic consulting model identifies companies as “dogs, cash cows, question marks or stars.” Stars are the companies everyone knows – Apple, Google, Ikea, and others – that dominate their industries. They’re only...