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When Growth Stalls: How It Happens, Why You're Stuck, and What to Do About It
240Overview
McKee has a unique understanding of what happens when growth stalls. His firm commissioned a study of 700 companies that had at one time been among the nation's fastest-growing businesses. Developed in concert with Decision Analyst, a leading national research and consulting firm, the study probed areas as diverse as corporate structure, competition, branding, finance, and strategy. The target respondent profile were CEOs, owners, principals, presidents, managing directors or chairmen of the board. In-depth follow-up interviews yielded fascinating stories and personal comments from executives who had been living on the front lines of real-life growth crises. McKee presents compelling knowledge about how and why companies lose their way, and offers practical advice about how they can rekindle growth.
When Growth Stalls demonstrates that sluggish growth is generally produced not by mismanagement or strategic blundering but by natural market forces and management dynamics that are often unrecognizedand widespread. The book presents seven characteristics that commonly correlate with stalled growth and what to do about them. Some are external forces to which countless companies have fallen victim: economic upheavals, changing industry dynamics, and increased competition. What McKee points out, however, is how often they catch companies off-guard. More surprising are four subtle and highly destructive internal factors that conspire to keep companies down: lack of consensus among the management team, loss of nerve, loss of focus, and marketing inconsistency. McKee makes the case that, regardless of what's going on outside of an enterprise, it's what's inside that counts.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780470395707 |
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Publisher: | Wiley |
Publication date: | 03/03/2009 |
Pages: | 240 |
Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
STEVE MCKEE is a columnist for BusinessWeek.com and president and co-founder of McKee Wallwork Cleveland Advertising. He has held executive positions at several internationally-respected advertising agencies including NW Ayer, Della Femina Travisano & Partners, Strascina & Partners, and Phillips-Ramsey, a division of McCann-Erickson Worldwide.
To learn more about the book, visit www.whengrowthstalls.com.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments viiIntroduction ix
1. It’s Not Just Business, It’s Personal 1
2. Growth Stalls 13
3. Market Tectonics 23
4. Lack of Consensus 41
5. Loss of Focus 55
6. Loss of Nerve 73
7. Marketing Inconsistency 91
8. The Vicious Cycle 107
9. Take a Deep Breath 119
10. Set Your Sights 125
11. Find Your Target 137
12. Sharpen Your Arrow 155
13. Let It Fly 175
14. It Works 189
Notes 199
About the Author 213
Index 215