2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards: General Business

The entries were submitted, the books were read, the shortlists determined, and we are now ready to announce the category winners of the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards! In the General Business category... The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business by Rita Gunther McGrath from Harvard Business Review Press is our top book.

"Although executives realize that rapid change is the norm, the strategies they use to compete still draw on frameworks and practices that were most effective decades ago. Executives need a new set of strategy frameworks and practices for winning over the long haul, even as sustainable competitive advantages have become a thing of the past." The End of Competitive Advantage, page 5

The world Rita Gunther McGrath paints is one in which the ubiquity of cost leadership and differentiation among industry leaders is waning, and the future for leaders of industries is one in which organizational identity and agility triumph. The End of Competitive Advantage shows us case after case of leading companies and their failures to adapt to changing markets. Floods of new technologies and market trends bring a challenge to companies: grab hold and start building something quickly, or else watch your brand wash away into obsolescence. Sustained success is no longer about what you sell and at what price, but rather how far you can forecast and how quickly you can adapt to the coming trends. To revisit the runners-up, check out our General Business shortlist announced last week.

(Our top award for The Best Business Book of 2013 will be announced in early January. Stay tuned!)