The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything

Crawford and Mathews, marketing consultants with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) and FirstMatter, respectively, break down marketing into five attributes: access, experience, price, product, and service. They argue that successful businesses are those that excel in one of these areas, are good in another, and are at least average in the rest. Wal-Mart, they say, is dominant on price and maintains a good selection … [ Read more ]