When Geoffrey Moore wrote Crossing the Chasm in 1991, he created a new religion among the high-tech marketing and communications set. For the first time, the secrets of the universe were revealed, at least when it came to moving hot new products from the gee-whiz stage to the shelves at Staples: pick a niche market, throw all your marketing bombs at the specific needs of one customer, dominate the category, and use it as a base to attack other markets.
The second installment of Moore's tech-marketing theories, Inside the Tornado, explains what to do if your company manages to cross the chasm and suddenly finds itself in the enviable position of having too many customers. Using E-Z-4-U-2-C analogies such as bowling alleys (niche markets are the pins you want to knock over) and gorillas, chimps, and monkeys to describe competitors (say, Intel, PowerPC, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.), Moore explains what happens to customer-driven companies when they move into mass-market mode, and why so many entrepreneurs make crummy brand managers. Moore also explains the value of strategic partners, competitive advantage, positioning and organizational leadership, plus the traumas of post-tornado exile on Main Street when your product becomes the industry standard (hello, Novell?) and when sales and stock prices fall back to earth.
Inside the Tornado is a must-read for start-up cowboys with delusions of Pixar grandeur, as well as aww-just-one-more-button developers and their reengineer-till-ya-puke overlords in the nice offices upstairs. Moore makes it fun to learn why you're zapping aliens with a Sega control pad instead of one from 3DO.
Inside The Tornado, by Geoffrey A. Moore: US$25. Harper- Business: (800) 331 3761, +1 (212) 207 7603.
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