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Book

Beyond the Familiar

Long-term growth through customer focus and innovation

By Seán Meehan and Patrick Barwise

174 pages

Hardcover

Overview

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Overview

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Strong customer-focused companies have a clear, relevant promise which they obsessively deliver day-in, day-out. At the same time, they relentlessly drive the market by evolving the offer in the face of market developments and opportunities. Because they meet customer needs better than the competition, again and again, they are able to generate sustainable, profitable, market-leading organic growth. The problem the book addresses is how to achieve this.

The authors identify five key steps using their framework for success:

Offer a clear, relevant customer promise;
Build customer trust by reliably delivering that promise;
Continuously improve the promise, while still reliably delivering it;
Drive the market by innovating beyond the familiar;
Support all this with an open organization that promotes frank discussion based on clear facts and market feedback.

Above all the book runs counter to the fashionable claim that the starting-point for business success should be to find a ‘blue-sky’, ‘out-of-the-box’ breakthrough innovation. Barwise and Meehan use many compelling cases to illustrate how managers can find ways within their existing network and organization to achieve long term growth.

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Hardcover

eBook

You can also buy the book on Barnes & Nobles, Book Depository, Orell Füssli and Routledge.

Publisher

Jossey-Bass

ISBN

9780470976319

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Case Study

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Case reference: IMD-7-2640 ©2025

Summary

Case B describes the unprecedented challenges faced by CO-RO in 2020. The implementation of the sugar tax in its largest Middle Eastern market led to a near 50% volume drop in CO-RO’s sales, and Covid-19 lockdowns impacted the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in particular. These events led to a dramatic drop in net sales and gross profit, forcing CO-RO to re-evaluate its growth strategy and implement cost-saving measures. By 2022, CO-RO faced further challenges with global supply chain disruptions and inflation due to the war in Ukraine. This required strategic decisions to stabilize and ensure future growth amid ongoing external pressures.

Reference IMD-7-2640

Organization CO-RO Group

Industry Consumer Goods, Food and Beverage

Available Languages English

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By Omar Toulan and Valerie Keller-Birrer
Case reference: IMD-7-2590 ©2025

Summary

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Reference IMD-7-2590

Organization CO-RO Group

Industry Consumer Goods, Food and Beverage

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

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TBC Group: Future proofing a history of success

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Case reference: IMD-2651 ©2025

Summary

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Reference IMD-2651

Organization TBC Bank Group

Industry Finance and Insurance, Banking

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

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By Niccolò Pisani Elham Pazirandeh-Micol Karine Richard Liudmila Ost and Quentin de Rham
Case reference: IMD-7-2636 ©2025

Summary

Reference IMD-7-2636

Organization Nestlé Health Science

Industry Healthcare, Health and Medical Services;Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

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Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

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Summary

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Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

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in I by IMD

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Contact