Rethink: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation

233 Pages·2009·0.89 MB·English

by  Ric Merrifield

Rethink
A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and
Boosting Innovation
ptg
RIC MERRIFIELD
From the Library of Kerri Ross
Vice President, Publisher: Tim Moore
Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing: Amy Neidlinger
Editorial Assistant: Pamela Boland
Operations Manager: Gina Kanouse
Digital Marketing Manager: Julie Phifer
Publicity Manager: Laura Czaja
Assistant Marketing Manager: Megan Colvin
Cover Designer: Brand Navigation
Design Manager: Sandra Schroeder
Managing Editor: Kristy Hart
Senior Project Editor: Lori Lyons
Copy Editor: San Dee Phillips
Proofreader: Kay Hoskin
Senior Indexer: Cheryl Lenser
Senior Compositor: Gloria Schurick
Manufacturing Buyer: Dan Uhrig
© 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as FT Press
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
FT Press offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk
purchases or special sales. For more information, please contact U.S. Corporate and
Government Sales, 1-800-382-3419, [email protected]. For sales
outside the U.S., please contact International Sales at [email protected].
Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered ptg
trademarks of their respective owners.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any
means, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing March 2009
ISBN-10: 0137031653
ISBN-13: 9780137031658
Pearson Education LTD.
Pearson Education Australia PTY, Limited.
Pearson Education Singapore, Pte. Ltd.
Pearson Education North Asia, Ltd.
Pearson Education Canada, Ltd.
Pearson Educación de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Pearson Education—Japan
Pearson Education Malaysia, Pte. Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
From the Library of Kerri Ross
Th is book is for my son George.
I am doing everything I can to ensure that you get the education,
and the love, and the experiences that will enable you to do whatever
brings happiness and fulfi llment to your life,
something your grandparents Ditt y and Papa were so generous to do
for me and your auntie Anne Campbell.
ptg
From the Library of Kerri Ross
This page intentionally left blank
ptg
From the Library of Kerri Ross
Contents
Introduction 1
ONE
How the “How” Trap Is Trapping You 7
The Cases of the ZIP Code Bandit and the Laggard Laptop 19
If Not Now, When? 21
TWO
The Thinking Behind Rethinking 27
Unit of Analysis: The Task 28 ptg
Unit of Analysis: The Worker 31
Unit of Analysis: The Department 32
Unit of Analysis: The Process 33
The New Unit of Analysis: The “What” 34
THREE
First—Identify the “Whats” That Are Truly Valuable 39
Newman’s Own, Where More Than Food Has Value 48
How to Rethink Your “Whats” 56
vii
From the Library of Kerri Ross
viii rethink
FOUR
Second—Know What You Are (and Aren’t) Good At 61
Target, Where the Supply Chain “Whats” Are King 64
Burgerville, Where the Flavor Goes in
and the Garbage Stays Put 66
An Electronics Giant That’s Got the Juice 71
How to Rethink Your “Whats” 73
FIVE
Third—Make (and Break) Connections 77
Merck: Beyond the Moat 82
How to Rethink Your “Whats” 88
SIX ptg
Fourth—Understand What Can (and Can’t) Be Predicted 91
JetBlue: Storm Warnings 99
How to Rethink Your “Whats” 105
SEVEN
Fifth—Unravel (and Follow) the Rules 109
Matching Laws and “Whats” 114
EIGHT
Revolutionary Rethinking at ING DIRECT 117
ING DIRECT Did What? 131
NINE
Rethinking at Eclipse 133
Eclipse Aviation Did What? 149
viii
From the Library of Kerri Ross
Contents ix
TEN
Rethinking at Cranium 151
Cranium Did What? 167
ELEVEN
Morph Again and Again 169
P&G Soars by Morphing Its Innovation “Whats” 186
Key Concepts 193
Conventional “How” Business Views 194
What Is, and Is Not, a “What” 199
Reading a Heat Map 201
Getting to the List of “Whats” 206 ptg
A Bit More About Level 1 Maps 209
Level 2 Maps 210
INDEX 213
ix
From the Library of Kerri Ross
About the Author
RIC MERRIFIELD has been at Microsoft creating tools, methods,
and consulting services related to business architecture since 2003.
Merrifield recently coauthored The Next Revolution in Productiv-
ity, a June 2008 Harvard Business Review article focused on the
impact of business architecture. He created Microsoft’s Motion
business architecture incubation team, which studied how con-
temporary businesses respond to these new methods. Merrifield
holds a B.A. in philosophy from Georgetown University. Ric lives
in Seattle, WA.
ptg
From the Library of Kerri Ross
Introduction
ptg
1
From the Library of Kerri Ross