Sync & Swim!: How to Gain Mastery Over the Dynamics of Competition

Sync and Swim is the book you SHOULD HAVE READ in your MBA program. The dynamics revealed here are the most important factors in developing a competitive business. All companies must develop a strategy around them to succeed, especially in today's markets. Jack Tesmer describes the most critical organizing factors for success. Identifying the kind of competitive environment in which a business takes place and the appropriate organizational culture and structure is a major part of business strategy. We overlook these dimensions at our peril as they often are the difference between success and failure in the marketplace. Sync & Swim acquaints you with the four kinds of competitive markets and the organizational pattern that best supports business done in those markets. Reading this book will not only acquaint you with these market types but also lead you through an examination of your marketplace position and the viability of success that you can expect from engaging in business within it. These are dynamic market positions, constantly changing, often putting the business at risk. This risk gets even greater if the organization is not formed specifically to engage in that kind of competition. You will learn about the four organizational environments and evaluate your company's organizational viability in that market. In other words, are you in the right formation to compete in that market? The ideas here are simple and easy to understand. 25 years of use has eliminated the complexity, and made it possible to examine companies rather quickly and find out more than what first seems apparent. As you read the book, think of your organization, profit or non-profit, and about those you do business or compete with. You may discover another major advantage in the marketplace.

Jack A. Tesmer, a consultant on strategy and organization, assists businesses and organizations in responding energetically to increasingly competitive and complex market environments and to internal challenges to growth. After beginning his practice in 1972, he worked with local, national, and multinational corporations in over twenty different countries, including IDS Financial Services (now Ameriprise), 3M, KPMG Europe, the St. Paul Companies, Snap-On Tools, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Jostens, and currently, with several small and midsize companies. He has consulted with many different kinds of organizations, adding value mainly by developing an understanding the dynamics influencing competition, strategy, and decision making and by leading whole system change. He managed 3M's corporate organization development function from 1980 to 1990. He continues an active consulting practice, is trusted advisor to several companies, and serves on boards of directors and advisory boards in both profit and nonprofit organizations. The concepts in this book were developed while assisting organizations that were in the midst of one of the several turbulent business downturns and recessions that occurred in the last forty years. They are based on an analysis of the dynamic business and organizational factors that influence decisions, especially at critical times in the development of a company.