Karaoke Capitalism: Daring To Be Different In A Copycat World

We all know that the rules by which business is conducted have changed. But by how much? The dot.commers who threw out the playbook and tried to reinvent everything crashed and burned. Back-to-basics and execution are refrains reverberating down corporate hallways. And yet there is still a sense of unease. Jonas Ridderstróale and Kjell Nordstróm, the outspoken authors of the international bestseller, Funky Business, present a provocative analysis of the social and cultural forces that are defining the business landscape―in particular, the fundamental relationships between employers and employees and between companies and customers.

Covering a huge terrain―from the impact of high tech to the ever-widening gaps between the haves and the have-nots, and with references from Adam Smith to Janis Joplin―the authors bring into focus the challenges of business leadership in a world increasingly defined by individualism. Karaoke capitalism refers to the philosophy of imitation, engrained into the corporate mindset by such popular concepts as benchmarking and best practice. For Ridderstróale and Nordstróm, the only way to survive is to chuck convention, to embrace your company's individual personality and promote it through everything you do, constantly honing what works and abandoning what doesn't. Ultimately, the authors argue that armed with imagination it is possible to sustain profitable businesses while contributing to the well-being of customers, communities, and the society at large. Visit the authors' Web sites at www.karaokecapitalism.com and www.funkybusiness.com.