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The power of momentum

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-28 13:25

How can a company deliver continuous, exceptional growth, year after year? J. C. Larreche, a professor of marketing at INSEAD, answers that question in his book, The Momentum Effect: How to Ignite Exceptional Growth.

According to the author's research, momentum-powered firms delivered 80 percent more shareholder value than their slower rivals. "Momentum leaders are not lucky -- they are smart," he writes in the following excerpt. "They have discovered the source of momentum and, with it, the beginnings of a smarter way to exceptional growth. Managers often talk about 'riding the wave.' Momentum leaders aren't that passive. They live by this motto: First build your wave, then ride it."

Momentum. Most businesses get it at some point -- the impres-sion that everything they undertake succeeds effortlessly, as if they're being carried along by a tailwind that increases their efficiency and propels them on to exceptional growth.

Some hold on to it. Most don't. Slowly, imperceptibly, the tailwind turns around and the momentum disappears, without anyone quite realizing what has happened. The company is still growing, but not as strongly as before, not as efficiently. Everyone's maxing out, but it seems like there's molasses in the works. Sound familiar?

Sooner or later, it hits you in the face. Imagine you are meeting up with a senior analyst whose opinion counts with some of your company's biggest investors. You think you're on safe ground -- after all, your company is doing better than the competition.

But the analyst is in full gimlet-eyed, illusion-killing mode. "That's nothing to crow about," she says. "Yeah, you've got reasonable growth, but it's nothing exceptional. You're a safe bet, nothing more. Okay, I might tell my mom to buy, but then she's happy with inflation plus one. The way we see it, you're really grinding it out. We reckon the strain's getting harder, too. There's no impetus -- no momentum."

Words like that can really take the gloss off a day. The next time you gather your team, you don't congratulate them on beating their targets -- you want more. Sure, our results are up, you say, but that's not enough -- where's the impetus? When are we going to do something exceptional? With all the resources at your disposal, when are you going to start building some momentum? The team members look at their papers. Then Paul, an anxious member of your team, looks up and says: "Okay. Got any ideas about how?" What are you going to say?

What's holding us back?

This book sets out to answer one question: How can I find a way to deliver continuous, exceptional growth, year after year? By exceptional, we mean exceptional relative to expectations: growth that sets you apart. In some high-technology markets, this might mean 60 percent. In others, 6 percent might really stand out from the crowd if the market average is just 3 or 4 percent.

What we are talking about is growth that puts serious distance between you and your competitors. (We want to) show you how to get the traction you need to make sure that none of your effort is being wasted -- to make sure that it all goes toward delivering tangible results. It will help you break free from the grind.

After all, grind is what most businesses endure. Most firms that manage to deliver growth do it the hard way. Measures that improve profitability often hold back top-line growth, while measures that drive revenue growth require investments that can drag down profitability. As one foot starts to run, the other starts sinking in the mire.

It's devilishly hard to get the balance right and break free: It seems that all you can do is keep pushing. Companies have to push sales forward with big marketing investments while at the same time harrying their employees to become more productive and nagging their suppliers and partners for better deals. Pushing is hard work -- it's exhausting and it churns through resources.

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