THE MYTH OF MARKET SHARE

WHY MARKET SHARE IS THE FOOL'S GOLD OF BUSINESS & HOW TO RETHINK YOUR STRATEGY TO FOCUS ON PROFITS

Richard Miniter

Series: NICHOLAS BREALEY BUSINESS BRIEFINGS

Q: Is bigger really better? A: No.

The quest for market share is the fool's gold of business. It looks valuable and takes a lot of work to get, but in far too many cases it is worthless. It wastes time and money while the competition is digging out the real thing - profits. Market share by itself is not destructive, but once it is placed at the centre of corporate strategy it leads executives and managers to a series of risky moves: deep discounts, cheap financing and unprofitable or barely profitable sales leading to reduced profit margins, an erosion in brand identity and desperate cost-cutting.

Yet business leaders are obsessed with market share. Keeping it, growing it, justifying it. It's an obsession based on flawed and outmoded theories that drive down corporate profits and push companies into costly moves. There are alternatives.

Richard Miniter helps managers and executives understand the misguided role that market share plays in corporate strategy and shows decision-makers how to achieve strong growth and strong profits without resorting to ill-advised mergers and deep discounts that lead to unprofitable sales. This book shows how to rethink approaches too strategy and focus on a profit path.

Richard Miniter is a senior fellow at the Centre for the New Europe, a leading independent economic research think tank in Brussels and was formerly an editorial writer and editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe's Business Europe column for nearly two years. He has written for The Sunday Times (London) as well as The New York Times and The Washington Post. He has spoken at and moderated top level international conferences.