Editorial Review:
This provocative book by a Japanese executive shows that the keys to business success in the West are the proven techniques of the Far East successful strategic planning and its conservative execution. Strategy in the classic military sense is deploying your forces to achieve a competitive advantage. Concentrating on the thought processes behind Japan's successful strategic thinking, this book describes what strategic thinking is and presents concepts and concrete examples for its application. Only by integrating the three C's in a strategic triangle Customer, Competitor, and Company can sustained competitive advantage exist. Business managers at all levels can benefit from this 'how to think about it' guide by developing profitable and creative strategies.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Old book but worth your time 2008-05-02
Indeed, this book was written by the famous McKinsey's Japanese consultant for quite a long time. It deals with basic strategies for any business. It will not tell you any new buzzy business models i.e. internet or biotech. However, you can use the book as a keystone to improve you strategic thinking.
The 3C's of Marketing Analysis 2008-04-21
In 1975, Kenichi Ohmae, a director at the management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, published `The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business.' While it is now considered a somewhat dated classic on Japanese corporate strategy, its core premise is very relevant to marketing: The purpose of strategy is to maximize competitive advantage, strategy begins with analysis, and the `strategic triangle' of customers, competitors, and company is an effective analysis framework for identifying competitive advantage.
I initially read the book in 1985, recently reread it, and I've used the `strategic triangle' as the starting point of every marketing plan I've developed and written. Simply put, I analyze customer needs by market segment, examine how competitors meet those needs, and determine my company's competitive advantages and disadvantages. This method of analysis yields two critical insights:
1. The market segments to target now based on present competitive advantage.
2. The market segments that offer the best future opportunities based on size, projected growth rate, and a company's ability to quickly and economically gain a competitive advantage.
Your Company, Your Customers, and Your Competition 2007-08-23
In The Mind of the Strategist Kenichi Ohmae emphasizes that strategy doesn't come from a scientific (or even logical) approach to developing a plan to maximize profits. Instead, it comes from viewing your competitive world in new and unconventional ways. Another Ohmae based philosophy is what he calls the "Strategic Triangle." Here, he maintains that when developing your business strategy, you must take into account the three main players: your company itself, your customers and your competition - appreciating that each has its own unique set of interests and objectives.
He outlines four different approaches to developing winning strategies, but they all share the same underlying philosophy: avoid doing the same thing, on the same battlefield, as your competitors. Of the four approaches, I found that his concept of KFS (Key Factors for Success) was the one that intrigued me the most and the one I thought would be the most effective. I found it so relevant in fact that I reference it in my book The Three Pillars of Sustainable Profit & GrowthThe Three Pillars of Sustainable Profit and Growth. It starts with the premise that certain functions within every business are more critical for success in that particular business environment than others. If you concentrate effort on these areas and your competitors do not, this is a potential source of competitive advantage. The key, of course, is to correctly identify what these key factors for success are.
Having dealt with Japanese business people, one of the first things that struck me as I read this book was the fact that Mr. Ohmae tended to be blunt and outspoken, a characteristic that is not common in the Japanese culture where the tendency is subtlety. His directness, however, has served him well in conveying meaningful business insights and strategies in this book. It is a staple in my reference library.
Effective Strategic Thinking 2007-02-09
This is an interesting book that posits the idea that effective business strategies emanate from the state of mind. Kenichi Ohmae explains the thought processes behind Japan's successful strategic thinking. The author methodically and in simple English discusses what strategic thinking entails and concepts behind it. He reinforces the message with practical examples for its application.
The book shows that it is only through the effective integrating the three C's in a strategic triangle namely the Customer, Competitor, and Company can sustained competitive advantage exist.
Although the book is now 25 years since publication, the ideas it teaches are still applicable and relevant. However, it may benefit from a revision since, at the time it was written, it was fashionable to try to discover the secrets of Japanese success, but the aura and magic of Japan is no longer as it used to be. Anyway, the book does not say much about Japanese Business. The revision could just be to remove "The Art of Japanese Business" from the title. However, the author's main message that successful business strategies do not result from rigorous analysis but from a particular state of mind is still as valid as it ever was.
For those looking for a more modern book on Strategic thinking, I recommend the book "Strategic Thinking: A Step-By-Step Approach to Strategy, Second Edition" by Simon Wooten and Terry Horne.
The art of strategy and business  2006-05-06
Ohmae;s signature work has always been on my list of things to read, but I never quite got around to it. Boy was I missing something. Ohmae's book is marketed as a look at japanease business, but it is really the Mind of a McKinsey strategist. I am not sure how Ohmae was able to publish this book, but it is a defacto methodology for formulating strategy and it exposes the key tools and frameworks used by McKinsey.
The book is extremely well written and conversational in tone making complex ideas seem straight forward -- not simple but certainly understandable.
The book covers all aspects of stragtegy from how you shape the problem, conduct the analysis and make decisions. This is a must read for all general managers particularly if your company is hiring outside consultants to do stratgegy.
Now one might think that a book written more than 20 years ago would be outdated and less relevant. This is definately not the case, by focusing on the process, tools and how you apply them Ohmae has written a timeless book that stands up well in the pre and post internet world.
So this is highly recommended, in fact most highly recommended.
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