The Experience Economy, by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore

You are what you charge for. And if you’re competing solely on the basis of price, then you’ve been commoditized, offering little or no true differentiation. What would your customers really value? Better yet, for what would they pay a premium? Experiences.

The curtain is about to rise, say Pine & Gilmore, on the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which every business is a stage, and companies must design memorable events for which they charge admission. With The Experience Economy, Pine & Gilmore explore how successful companies-using goods as props and services as the stage-create experiences that engage customers in an inherently personal way. Why does a cup of coffee cost more at a trendy cafe than it does at the corner diner or when brewed at home? It’s the value that the experience holds for the individual that determines the worth of the offering and the work of the business. From online communities to airport parking, the authors draw from a rich and varied mix of examples that showcase businesses in the midst of creating engaging experiences for both consumers and corporate customers. The Experience Economy marks the debut of an insightful, highly original, and yet eminently practical approach for companies to script and stage compelling experiences. In doing so, all workers become actors, intentionally creating specific effects for their customers. And it’s the experiences they stage that create memorable-and lasting-impressions that ultimately create transformations within individuals.

Make no mistake, say Pine & Gilmore: goods and services are no longer enough. Experiences are the foundation for future economic growth, and The Experience Economy is the playbook from which managers can begin to direct new performances.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore are co-founders of Strategic Horizons LLP.

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The Ultimate Question, by Fred Reichheld

“Among management books, this one’s a keeper.” – The Washington Post

CEOs regularly announce ambitious growth targets, then fail to achieve them. The reason? Their growing addiction to bad profits. These corporate steroids boost short-term earnings but alienate customers. They undermine growth by creating legions of detractors–customers who complain loudly about the company and switch to competitors at the earliest opportunity. Now loyalty expert Fred Reichheld shows how to reverse the equation, turning customers into promoters who generate good profits and true, sustainable growth. The key is one simple question–Would you recommend us to a friend?–that allows companies to track promoters and detractors and produces a clear measure of an organization’s performance through its customers’ eyes. In industry after industry, this Net Promoter Score is the single most reliable indicator of a company’s ability to grow. Based on extensive research, The Ultimate Question shows how companies can rigorously measure Net Promoter statistics, help managers improve them, and create communities of passionate advocates that stimulate innovation. Vivid stories from leading-edge organizations illustrate the ideas in practice. Practical and compelling, this is the one book–and the one tool–no growth-minded leader can afford to miss.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fred Reichheld is a director of Bain & Company in Boston. He is the author of The Loyalty Effect (over 125,000 copies sold), as well as several articles in the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal.

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Greater Good, by John Quelch and Katherine Jocz

Marketing has a greater purpose, and marketers, a higher calling, than simply selling more widgets, according to John Quelch and Katherine Jocz.

In Greater Good, the authors contend that marketing performs an essential societal function–and does so democratically. They maintain that people would benefit if the realms of politics and marketing were informed by one another’s best principles and practices.

Quelch and Jocz lay out the six fundamental characteristics that marketing and democracy share: (1) exchange of value, such as goods, services, and promises, (2) consumption of goods and services, (3) choice in all decisions, (4) free flow of information, (5) active engagement of a majority of individuals, and (6) inclusion of as many people as possible. Without these six traits, both marketing and democracy would fail, and with them, society.

Drawing on current and historical examples from economies around the world, this landmark work illuminates marketing’s critical role in the development, growth, and governance of societies. It reveals how good marketing practices improve the political process and–in turn–the practice of democracy itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

John A. Quelch is Senior Associate Dean for International Development and Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He also serves as a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world?s second-largest marketing services company. Katherine Jocz is a Research Associate in the Department of Research and Teaching Support at Harvard Business School.