Insightful examples of how companies can innovate in a digital age.
An expert on “disruptive” technology suggests how both startups and established companies can innovate and not get lapped by the competition.
Jones (On Innovation, 2012), former Kayak.com chairman and founder of Travelocity, returns to the subject of innovation in a book, part memoir and part self-help, that draws on his long experience as a tech company leader. The author begins by considering how the proliferation of computers has influenced business models of successful companies. He then shows how “disruption” happens when the core offerings of a business become obsolete because a nimble, fast-moving competitor refuses to play by the established rules of the industry while also offering value. As an example, he discusses how mobile phones and phone-based computing present both an opportunity and a threat to today’s companies. In thematically driven chapters, he draws on his own experience at Travelocity—initially a major disruption in the travel agent market—and keeps his text “snackable” (no need to read the book straight through to pick up ideas). Jones also discusses innovations like product subscriptions (such as software as a service), cloud computing as a way to avoid excessive asset ownership, and marketing through bundling and packaging the products of one company with those of others. Jones focuses on broad trends, connecting his topics—like machine learning, blockchain, and drones—to innovative business choices that allow people to profit from these newly available resources. In the second part of the book he offers advice on business models and finding a niche in a rapidly-changing disruptive industrial marketplace. Every chapter begins with an inspiring or challenging quote, discussing how it connects to the concept covered. This device and others help to keep the tone informal and user friendly even when the author deals with high-level business challenges. One of the most thought-provoking aspects of the book is that it aims to show how to avoid a potential problem—having your business disrupted—but in the end advocates for becoming the disruptor. As a result, the book reads more like a guide to developing the right mindset for today’s marketplace challenges than a how-to manual for protecting a company from disruptive threats.
Insightful examples of how companies can innovate in a digital age.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5439-7750-9
Page Count: 235
Publisher: On Inc.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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