 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | A Fresh and Important New Way to Understand Why We Buy
Why did the RAZR ultimately ruin Motorola? Why does Wal-Mart dominate rural and suburban areas but falter in large cities? Why did Starbucks stumble just when it seemed unstoppable?
The answer lies in the ever-present tension between fidelity (the quality of a consumer’s experience) and convenience (the ease of getting and paying for a product). In Trade-Off, Kevin Maney shows how these conflicting forces determine the success, or failure, of new products and services in the marketplace. He shows that almost every decision we make as consumers involves a trade-off between fidelity and convenience–between the products we love and the products we need. Rock stars sell out concerts because the experience is high in fidelity-–it can’t be replicated in any other way, and because of that, we are willing to suffer inconvenience for the experience. In contrast, a downloaded MP3 of a song is low in fidelity, but consumers buy music online because it’s superconvenient. Products that are at one extreme or the other–those that are high in fidelity or high in convenience–-tend to be successful. The things that fall into the middle-–products or services that have moderate fidelity and convenience-–fail to win an enthusiastic audience. Using examples from Amazon and Disney to People Express and the invention of the ATM, Maney demonstrates that the most successful companies skew their offerings to either one extreme or the other-–fidelity or convenience-–in shaping products and building brands. |
Average Customer Rating:   "Zeitgeist? I am the Zeitgeist!" Trade-Off is one of those is one of those businessy books you might find at the airport, one of those types of books that try to break down complex situations into simple concepts, such as retrofitting non-causal 'theories' like 'the stock market will be up if the AFC wins the Superbowl!'
The central 'insight' of Trade-Off is 'the balance between quality and convenience.' High quality, or high fidelity other, on the one hand, or highly convenient products, on the other, will be successful. Those that languish in the 'fidelity belly' of being neither will not. This is interesting as a conceptual tool, which has the virtues of both simplicity and elegance, and I commend the author for this insight. The rest of the book comprise cases which supports or elaborates this concept.
The theory both explains too much and too little. It should be pretty clear that high fidelity or highly convenient products fail, for example, a doomed startup called General Magic to which the author himself draws attention, but drops. So he really doesn't spend much time on those cases that disprove his thesis--if it's either high fidelity or high convenience, it *must* work. Is there no commodity which can escape this theory? According to the author only a few basic ones, like electricity. But is this really the case--aren't all demand inelastic consumer goods immune to this thesis? For example, toothpaste, or toilet paper. If you use enough conceptual effort I suppose you could squeeze these into the theory by saying puffy toilet paper is 'high fidelity' while thin TP is 'highly convenient' but that's a bit of a reach isn't it? Some of his other examples are risible. He claims that hockey is not a 'high-fidelity TV sport' because--get this--the puck is too small.
Many examples can be looked at in different ways, which may not support the thesis. For example, Birdseye frozen vegetables are understood to be a high fidelity 'luxury' product. While it is true that having fresh vegetables and fruits out of season by flash freezing can be construed as a 'luxury', they are mainly 'convenient' foods to be used when a fresher version is unavailable. This commodity is arguably both a convenience and a luxury--an impossibility in the author's conceptual scheme, what he calls the 'fidelity mirage,' doomed to fail.
There are other questionable 'case studies.' For example, the author lauds Tesla motors as a 'high fidelity' company building an electric car, presumably as a success story, as opposed to those car companies in Detroit who just don't 'get it.' Tesla had yet to even turn a single dollar of profit in its six-year history when the book was finished in April 2009, and indeed had applied for a government loan of almost half a billion dollars, after bleeding its VC sponsors of untold hundreds of millions. So much for the other side of the 'success story.'
Instead of applying this theory to everything and stretching it beyond its ability to reasonably explain phenomena, it would have been better to spend hard thought on when the theory is most profitably applicable, and in what cases it just isn't.
That points to another key problem: determining what is a 'luxury' or 'high fidelity' item on the one hand, and what is 'convenient' on the other. The author acknowledges that there is a 'trade off' between the two categories, but he doesn't spend much time elucidating how we are to tell if something is 'luxury' or 'convenient.' He often just stipulates one or the other, like McDonalds and microwaves are denominated 'convenient' and 'fine dining' and stoves are 'luxury' items. There is some glib sound bite analysis: convenience is 'needed' while fidelity is 'loved', but his own statistics show that microwave ovens can be both depending on the demographic. And, while not 'fine' dining, meaning unique or costly, many people 'love' McDonalds. As in, 'i'm lovin' it!'
In short, this book suffers from the same methodological problems as many weak theories which ultimately lack predictive value, but seem clear in hindsight, and just becomes another 'just-so' story. See, e.g. evolutionary psychology. Such an acknowledgement of the limitations and analysis thereof would have strengthened this book.
As it is, Trade Off will likely find an audience among middle managers whose office is most like The Office, and the sycophants that enable them, or as a stocking stuffer for other wonkish para-intellectuals. An indication of the demographic for whom the subject caters is the need to explain to its readership that Walter Benjamin was "a German cultural critic who was particularly active in the 1930s." Quite a reduction, that. Meanwhile, those who need no introduction are business luminaries such as Ted Leonsis, Jeff Bezos, or Marc Andreessen, who are oddly presented in relationship to where they met the author (office at a hockey practice rink, Hobee's restaurant, Conde Nast conference room, if you're curious.) The author himself is 'not a great believer in fate' (I suspect he's one of those quasi individualists who believe in his own talent and gumption, mostly), but he does credit "the universe" for helping him write the book. "Zeitgeist? I am the Zeitgeist!" That's the "sociocultural mood of an era" for those culturally- challenged readers still wondering about Benjamin.
The subtitle of this book is "Why some things catch on, and others don't." In this case, I'm guessing the latter. What we trade-off
Is there a magic formula for success? This author suggests that successful products and companies know that they must choose between Fidelity and Convenience. Fidelity refers to outstanding quality that might be difficult to obtain, but is worth the effort. Convenience is, well, just what it sounds like, easy to obtain or less expensive. Harvard is fidelity, University of Phoenix is convenient. One is not better than the other, they just fill different niches.
There are two difficult areas on the scale between fidelity and convenience. The first is the fidelity belly, where most companies and technology start. The Kindle is in the belly right now. It is cool to use, but still expensive and not very convenient. Either the technology will improve or the price will come down for the kindle to become more convenient.
The second dangerous area is the mirage that a company can be both high fidelity and highly convenient. Starbucks tried this and has diluted their brand. At first Starbucks was high fidelity, a Starbucks cup meant that you had been somewhere special. Then something changed, Starbucks appeared on every corner and became convenient. They lost their aura of fidelity. Aiming for the fidelity mirage they ended up in the fidelity belly. Success is usually obtained if products of companies possess Super fidelity or Super convenience, they cannot have both.
This formula might be simplified, but it does make a great deal of sense. Target is convenient, Nordstums has fidelity. Both are successful, but for different reasons. Companies that try to be both usually fail. Imagine if the University of Phoenix tried to become the Harvard of the west, or if Harvard had extension campuses in every state. Neither concept would work. The best advice is to pick one and do it well.
This book is an enjoyable read with solid examples and advice. I recommend it to anyone running a company, non-profit or institution, or developing a product. It is also a good read for anyone interested in marketing or cognitive psychology.
Elisa Robyn, Author of Pirate Wisdom
Those two words are used way too much This book can be summarized in one sentence, "business either go high fidelity or high convenience." The rest of the book is just examples, examples, examples. Trading perception This book will change your perception on how companies offer products or services to the mainstream consumer. Trade-Off: An essential book for viewing the current convenience vs quality players... As a Nova Scotia lobster fisherman turned tech CEO I'm constantly looking for better insight into why some things work and why some things don't. "The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM" was a necessary read to understand corporate culture. "Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't" is like a doctors bag; good for taking the pulse, checking the heart rate and ultimately forecasting the destination of your company. Lots of little snap shot synopses of multi-billion dollar firms and the personalities involved and Kevin even put in a few belly busters... good laughs and insight. A must read in my humble opinion. |  |
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