AMA Awards Best Marketing Book Prize
By George Anderson
The American Marketing Association (AMA) has named Will & Vision: How Latecomers Grow to Dominate Markets, by Gerard J. Tellis and Peter N. Golder, the winner of the
2003 Berry-AMA Book Prize for the Best Book in Marketing.
Tellis and Golder debunk the perception that the first company to enter a market has an unassailable competitive advantage. The authors identify five areas that market leaders
share in common. These include a vision of the mass market, managerial persistence, relentless innovation, financial commitment and asset leverage.
Four other books were named finalists for the Berry-AMA Book Prize. These were:
- Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense by Kevin J. Clancy and Peter C. Krieg
- Customer by Yoram Wind and Vijay Mahajan with Robert E. Gunther
- Loyalty Rules! How Leaders Build Lasting Relationships in the Digital Age by Frederick F. Reichheld
- The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything by Fred Crawford and Ryan Matthews.
Moderator’s Comment: Is there a single piece of work that has most influenced your approach to business? What has been the most valuable business insight
you’ve gained from reading a business book?
Stewardship by Peter Block has had a profound effect on our views on leadership and management.
“We want to affirm the spirit. There is a longing in each of us to invest our energy in things that matter. In a high-control environment, what is
personal and sacred is left at the door. We need a way to govern that affirms the person as truly central to the business. We have always spoken the right words — but patriarchy
cannot deliver on the promise. Patriarchy can take care of us, but caretaking is not affirmative. Leaders can definitely treat us well, but affirmation comes only from the
person taking responsibility and owning their own actions.” [George
Anderson – Moderator]