Sur Petition (Going Beyond Competition) : Creating Value Monopolies When Everyone Else is Merely Competing

A look at the vast potential of the "integral values" that surround the purchase and use of products and services suggests that business leaders create "monopolies of values" by blending into their offerings an array of attendant conveniences. $40,000 ad/promo.

De Bono is an educator (Cambridge, Harvard), government adviser, business consultant and author of 32 books. Here in lively, stimulating style he further develops his basic premise, established in earlier books, that "thinking is a skill" to be learned. De Bono advises readers to surpass competitors through value-enhancing super-concepts such as pricing movie tickets at $100, which includes a share in the film's profits, and developing a high-tariff, no-waiting phone booth. The book also offers detailed "conceptual R&D" guidance for companies needing to apply creative thinking to their planning and operations. Few readers will fail to enjoy, or benefit from, this cerebral but sprightly guide.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As might be expected from someone whose expertise is in the field of creative thinking, de Bono has lots of ideas. So many ideas that they have already filled 32 books ( I Am Right--You Are Wrong and Six Action Shoes , both LJ 12/91), and he isn't finished yet. His latest, Sur/Petition , presents a framework for manufacturing the concepts that he believes will enable businesses to go beyond successful competition. De Bono's term "sur/petition" means choosing not to compete in the same race as everyone else, but rather in one's own race. The key to successful sur/petition is delivering products and services to customers that they might not know they want until they integrate new products into the increasing complicated value systems of the market. This can only be accomplished through rethinking the way organizations value and support what de Bono calls "serious creativity." Although de Bono is long on ideas, he is short on practical implementation strategies. As a result, Sur/Petition 's usefulness to local business professionals trying to survive a recession will be limited. Recommended for larger business collections.
- Andrea C. Dragon, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.