Make a strategy to conquer

Title: Trout on Strategy Author: Jack Trout Publisher: Tata McGraw Hill Pages: 159 Price: Rs. 225/-

"If you don't have the right strategy, you're toast." This is what the author has to say to every business manager who wants his/her organization to capture mindshare, and conquer markets.

Trout says that success is not about having the right people, the right attitude, the right tools, the right role models, or the right organization. They all help, but they don't put you over the top. It's all about having the right strategy.

That's because strategy sets the competitive direction, strategy dictates product planning, strategy tells you how to communicate internally and externally, and strategy tells you on what to focus.

There have been a very large number of books on strategy that were published in the past. And this book doesn't offer very much by way of being unique. However, the chapters are concise and the points of view carried across in a fairly crisp and easy fashion.

It's good reference tool for managers who find themselves faced with a particularly critical decision that is set to affect the functions of the department in the long term. A look at the prescribed remedial strategies may give the managers clear viewpoints of the situations and how best to tackle them.

-Soutiman Das Gupta