7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy

So many insights, great frameworks to assess a business through.

Good Book on getting to know and understand the nature and details of moats that would fence off competition, in case competition is un-avoidable. I would recommend this to any mid-stage and later-stage start-ups, and companies beyond that stages, but not necessarily early-stage start-ups as they should not fuss too much before ensuring product market fit.

Several scratches on cover and damaged corner. Not great when you pay this amount for a paperback. The book/content itself is great.

Excellent. Fairly short book, and I cannot really fault it. Only to say there are many fantastic businesses that are hard to compete against and have the ability to adapt during times of change, but do not necessarily have a Power. That is not the authors point though, and I'd highly recommend this book as the dividends it will pay (if you are at all interested in corporate strategy) warrant the time investment. It's changed the way I think about businesses.

A different take on strategy from the likes of Roger Martin. A good complement

This was recommended to me by someone. To begin with it seemed a bit of a rehash of Michael Porter, etc I got into it I could see that the author had made some valid points by building a more dynamic framework. Still it's very ex-post and I would need to see some ex-ante examples showing whether the framework added value over time. But if you like these strategy-type books this one is pretty reasonable. Having said that you really need to read The Halo Effect by Rosenzweig.

I read 7 Powers right through in one sitting. I've compartmentalised Silicon Valley go-go-go culture in one area of my brain, and value investors watching paint dry in another areas. This book is the first one that reconciled the two in my head. Strategy/ power/ moat/ barriers are all subtly different and if you're interested in long term cash flows, I encourage you to dive into this book and incorporate these differences into your investing mental models. This book will be good for value investors, tech startup founders and corporate execs. That's a rare trio to serve in one book. I found the "counterpositioning" power the most compelling in terms of new thinking. The example given is Vanguard vs asset managers. Previously I'd seen asset managers as choosing to charge active management fees, the counterpostioning chapter made me realise they had no choice. While tech founders might find a quick read useful, I would encourage professional investors to read it closely and learn the framework Hamilton Helmer has outlined. The charts and "math" are very useful as you go deeper into the concepts, but you can easily gain much by sticking to just the text.

Amazing book about 7 powers aka Moats. Really enjoyed this

The book explores the true value drivers that enable any company to differentiate and return real value in a clear way with well known examples from leading companies.

Entrega a tiempo del libro a pesar de ser envió internacional. El libro es muy interesante para poder planear a futuro en una empresa.

This book isn't particularly polished compared to most hardcover business books. It looks like the author basically took the lecture notes from his course and published them as a book. And what a book it is! The content is pure gold. Unlike the "fad of the month" or "if it worked for me it'll work for you" or just plain "gee whiz" of many books on business strategy, the concepts and method set out in this book are highly skeptical and therefore thoroughly rigorous. The ideas feel like they've been tested in the most challenging competitive environments (the author refers to his work at the most senior levels of Netflix). The book is not always easy to absorb, and tying everything back to an equation of economic value may be more interesting in theory than in practice (the author assigns great value to this Theory of Everything integration), but the book is worth a dozen of the books churned out by business strategy consultants. If you're interested in or must understand business strategy, this lesser-known book is a must-read. It has earned a place in my permanent collection, next to Sun Tzu.

[book:7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy|32816087] Focusses more on how companies build moats/defensibility in their models. It describes with case studies 7 ways(7 Powers) how companies try to ensure they remain winners in their chosen area of competence. Read this book after the reading Michael Porter as Porter offers building blocks in competitive strategy and this book extends it. The book at the end explains the concept of "Power Progression" with these 7 Powers which is intuitive to know and have the framework cemented as a layer in your mental model. In Brief the 7 Powers listed are: 1. Cornered Resource 2. Counter Positioning 3. Economies of Scale 4. Network Effects 5. Switching Costs 6. Branding 7. OE-Operational Efficiency-Process Power Must read book for Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers, Key Account Managers, Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.

This book is short. It makes a promise to deliver a simple and powerful strategy compass for business owners and investors, and it delivers on that promise beautifully and succinctly. There’s a lot of value packed here. It’ll be one of rare business books to reread front to back every few years.