Judo Strategy: Turning Your Competitors Strength To Your Advantage

Judo, often translated as "the way of gentleness, " is a century-old martial art that employs quickness and agility to help devotees overcome adversaries who seem to be more powerful. The authors turn these principles around for a corporate audience, showing how they can also be used to help companies battle bigger and stronger competitors.

By mastering the principles of movement, balance, and leverage, practitioners of judo, a century-old martial art, learn to overcome more powerful opponents. The same principles can help companies defeat larger and stronger competitors, argue authors David Yoffie and Mary Kwak.

In this original and thought-provoking book, they present a powerful approach to competition that works for giants battling entrenched opponents, as well as for tiny start-ups -- and whether the struggle takes place in the old economy or the new.

At the heart of judo strategy is the premise that sheer size and raw power are no match for agility and skill. Using vivid examples from companies ranging from Wal-Mart, Sony, and Charles Schwab to eBay, Juniper Networks, and Palm, the authors explain how businesses can build and defend positions of relative strength while transforming their opponents' capabilities into disadvantages. Analyses of creative techniques such as "push when pulled" and insights into the best practices of world-class judo strategists also help managers put judo strategy to work.

A practical and inspiring warrior's manual, this book is compelling reading for Davids and Goliaths alike who want to compete and win on the 21st-century business battlefield.