Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business

I didn’t continue he whole book because of its writing style, yet it was informative.

This is an excellent book that lays out the often difficult steps that are required of businesses that want to embark on the journey to being customer-focused. Prof. Gulati makes it clear that significant work is needed to both identify the needs of customers and, more importantly, aligning the entire enterprise with the customers' needs. This is probably one of the best books that I have read on this subject.

good for marketing

Hardly to digest. This author loves to use obscure words which made me consistently need to use dictionary...

great resource

Harvard Professor Gulati has written an important book for senior executives seeking to transform their organizations towards a more customer-centric model.The book is deeply researched and Prof. Gulati has provided a framework and examples of how others have managed the long-road from internal-focused management practices to customer-centric ones. Five levers are defined in the model, each starting with the letter C, that, when pursued in order over an extended period of time ( 3 to 5+ years), can guide corporate transition. The five levers are: Coordination, Cooperation, Clout, Capabilities, and Connections. Implemented together they equal Customer Centricity.Because there is no single path to overcome and redefine entrenched cultural resistance to the creation of a resilient organization, the reader has to consider the examples given and determine how and if they may be beneficial in the context of their own organization. Because of the abstract nature of considering concrete examples and transposing them to the reader's own context, I found this book very difficult to get through, even though it's just over 200 pages long.This book is best suited for senior executives who are actively committed to a market-focused business strategy and are actively engaged in the long-term effort to align structure, processes, procedures, and cultural elements to enhance business vitality and resilience. If that's the position you are in, this book is likely an invaluable resource to shape the journey.If you don't need that much detail, seek out his HBR articles.

In his timely book, Gulati provides CEOS and managers with a wakeup call and a practical tool kit they can use to re-organize their firms to thrive in increasingly turbulent economic conditions. The issues discussed in this book are of importance for small, large and even non-profits. Gulati has done an excellent job of writing in a very readable style that I believe will benefit many firms that are seeking ways to survive and thrive.The core message of this book is that only those firms attain resilience that are truly able to place their customers at the center of their enterprise. However, implementing this strategy is not easy for most firms. Gulati notes that many of the firms which believe that they are customer centric by virtue of going through the motions of traditional market research may actually be deluding themselves. Even when they do solicit ideas from their customers, they do so through the lens of their products as their focus remains on how the customer experiences their products. Further, most firms get caught up in their day to day operations and processes and forget to keep the customer at the center of their enterprise. Unfortunately, customers "become after thoughts" because firms become distracted and blinded by the rigidity of their internal architecture.Based on qualitative and quantitative research, Gulati explains that while many firms get locked in self-erected silos and thick internal walls, some firms thrive while embracing brutal competition and demanding customer. What distinguishes these firms?To answer this critical question, Gulati distills lessons from a broad array of firms. He explains that the key differentiator of these successful firms is not just their curiosity and engagement with their customers and their problems, but the ability to actually turn some of those insights into action.To achieve this high degree of "customer-centricity" Gulati advises firms to dismantle their rigid "inside-out" organizational architecture and adopt a customer focused "outside-in" mind set with an intense focus on understanding and serving the needs of their customers. Putting the customer in the driver's seat can be accomplished only by radical reorganization. This in turn comes about from their capacity to effectively coordinate the appropriate organizational, human, and social resources for creating products and services that satisfy the real needs of their customers. By becoming nimble and flexible, firms can foster "resilience" to achieve competitive advantage for thriving under adversity.The book not only provides an answer to the WHY of resilience but also the HOW. Gulati peels away multiple layers to demystify the operative mental models as well as the structural and social architecture of exemplary resilient firms. He explains the features and processes that are related with the five key levers that need to be engaged in reorganization. The five levers are: coordination, cooperation, clout, capability and connection.I particularly appreciated Gulati's efforts to simultaneously highlight the structural, human, and relationship aspect of each lever. Most important, he provides clear and practical guidance on how to appropriately engage these levers to achieve resilience and customer centricity.This book is not recommended for leaders who wish to undertake incremental changes. Gulati is blunt in his assessment and advice. While acknowledging that creating resilient organizations is not impossible, he cautions that it is not easy because it requires long term perseverance and consistent effort. He also notes that re-organization can be fraught with heightened concerns and operational chaos. But the eventually rewards can be dramatically positive. Thus, he cautions leadership to be prepared to invest considerable energy in creating companywide commitment.Since any organizational transformation journey must begin with honest self assessment, I suggest that CEO's and leaders read this book first. After taking a hard look and reorienting their personal mental models, they should require their entire staff to read it. They should then use this book to initiate an honest conversation within their organizations and start preparing their blue prints for achieving "customer-centricity".

Most of the book is devoted to the problem on how to create a customer oriented company. The topic nor new or inventive. Does not touch much the problem of resilience. Resilience is about the ability to rebounce or recover after the failure and is way more complicated than relations with customers only. Even if the CEO is customer oriented the firm may fail because, say, the law changes. So what then ? The customers need the merchandise the company produces, but legal changes made the company unable to trade with. Or some competitors (making money on something else) start to deliver the product for free ? Is the customer orientation enough to survive ? What would be the recommendation - to give the whole merchandaise for free as the competitors do ? The resilience is about - how to survive after the real failure.

Full of good information for study (MBA level) or general leadership knowledge.

Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen. Das Buch hat (fast) nichts mit Resilienz zu tun, schon gar nicht mit neuen Ansätzen der Kombination Resilienz-Organisation. Rausgeschmissen Geld.

Libro molto interessante e ben fatto,lo consiglio vivamente.Il Libro spesso citato in corsi di economia universitari o master

Wonderful book - needs to be popularised within organisations.