Synopses & Reviews
Our intuition on how the world works could well be wrong. We are surprised when new competitors burst on the scene, or businesses protected by large and deep moats find their defenses easily breached, or vast new markets are conjured from nothing. Trend lines resemble saw-tooth mountain ridges.
The world not only feels different. The data tell us it is different. Based on years of research by the directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Forces Breaking all the Trends is a timely and important analysis of how we need to reset our intuition as a result of four forces colliding and transforming the global economy: the rise of emerging markets, the accelerating impact of technology on the natural forces of market competition, an aging world population, and accelerating flows of trade, capital and people.
Our intuitions formed during a uniquely benign period for the world economyoften termed the Great Moderation. Asset prices were rising, cost of capital was falling, labour and resources were abundant, and generation after generation was growing up more prosperous than their parents.
But the Great Moderation has gone. The cost of capital may rise. The price of everything from grain to steel may become more volatile. The worlds labor force could shrink. Individuals, particularly those with low job skills, are at risk of growing up poorer than their parents.
What sets No Ordinary Disruption apart is depth of analysis combined with lively writing informed by surprising, memorable insights that enable us to quickly grasp the disruptive forces at work. For evidence of the shift to emerging markets, consider the startling fact that, by 2025, a single regional city in ChinaTianjinwill have a GDP equal to that of the Sweden, of that, in the decades ahead, half of the worlds economic growth will come
from 440 cities including Kumasi in Ghana or Santa Carina in Brazil that most executives today would be hard-pressed to locate on a map.
What we are now seeing is no ordinary disruption but the new facts of business life facts that require executives and leaders at all levels to reset their operating assumptions and management intuition.
Review
Danger! Opportunity! In this snack from the business-class galley, three McKinsey Global Institute researchers serve up a view of a future that presents difficult, often existential challenges to leaders of companies, organizations, cities, and countries.
Libertarians may squall, but investors just beginning to look at emerging market trends may find value in this book.”
Kirkus ReviewsAn intriguing work for those interested in the business impacts of globalization.” Library Journal
Whats unique is how the book ties these four major forces together in a book thats packed with insights and anecdotes while remaining free of management-speak
What this book excels at is quickly summarizing these forces and the challenges they pose to businesses and policy makers. And using real-world examples to illustrate these forces.” Global by Design
Richard Dobbs, James Manyika and Jonathan Woetzel offer a stimulating analysis of the major trends that might make or break nations. By combining data from disparate fields, they make a compelling argument about the disruptive forces that are re-shaping the world before our eyes.” BusinessWorld
A timely and important analysis of how we need to reset our intuition as a result of four forces colliding and transforming the global economy...What sets No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends apart is depth of analysis combined with lively writing informed by surprising, memorable insights that enable us to quickly grasp the disruptive forces at work.” ValueWalk
As a new book, titled No Ordinary Disruption, based on research by the directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, notes: A radically different world is forming. The operating system of the world is being rewritten even as we speak. It doesnt come in a splashy new release. It evolves, unfolds, and often explodes. Authors Richard Dobbs, James Manyika and Jonathan Woetzel add: Technologyfrom the printing press to the steam engine and the Internethas always been a great force in overturning the status quo. The difference today is the sheer ubiquity of the technology in our lives and the speed of the change.” Singapore Straits Times
"No Ordinary Disruption is no ordinary management book. Everyone in and around business and technology has heard about disruption for awhile now, but the way Dobbs, Manyika and Woetzel dissect the phenomenon and give it meaning is truly new and exciting. They not only provide a prescient diagnosis of what's to come, but also offer compelling thoughts on how we succeed in a world that's moving faster and faster every day. The massive changes they describe can be overwhelming, but they do a remarkable job of inspiring us to confront them with intellect, humanity, and a profound optimism about our future." Eric Schmidt,Google Executive Chairman
"A compelling and rigorous illustration of how the pace of change in the last two decades has grown by orders of magnitude. Leaders from all spheres must now face up to these developments, and change their old models and processes for decision-making to handle the massive increase in shorter term volatility -- while still keeping their eyes on the longer term. Important reading for policy-makers, financiers, industrialists and NGOs interested in updating their worldview and making it fit for modern purpose." Andrew Mackenzie,CEO of BHP Billiton
No one can know the future. But No Ordinary Disruption takes a very good shot. By reading this book you can prepare for what the future will bring. Everyone with responsibility for a part of the future should carefully consider its analysis.” -Lawrence H. Summers, former Treasury Secretary
"The world is getting more connected, and thus more complex. New strategies are necessary for a networked age. No Ordinary Disruption is an excellent primer in how to think strategically about the transformational role of technology and the accelerating global flows of goods, capital, and talent -- and how to prepare yourself for a future that will be marked by relentless change and massive opportunity. I highly recommend this book.” -Reid Hoffman, co-founder/chairman of LinkedIn
Synopsis
The dramatic fall of Blackberry and the stunning rise of WhatsApp; the almost overnight emergence of Singles Day” (Nov. 11), a contrived holiday in China, as the biggest online shopping day in the world, and the similarly from-out-of-nowhere rise of the U.S. as the worlds newest petro-power: Are there common threads running through these big, important, stories?
Yes. Ours is an era of near constant discontinuity. Today and even more so in the years ahead, speed, surprise, and sudden shifts in direction in huge global markets will routinely shape the destinies of established companies and provide opportunities for new entrants. Business models can be up-ended in months. Competitors can rise in almost complete stealth and burst upon the scene. Businesses that were protected by large and deep moats now find their defenses are easily breached. New markets are conjured seemingly from nothing. Technology and globalization have put the natural forces of market competition on steroids.
This isnt just how the world now feels; its also what the data tell us. Chart the plot points on most long-term trends and they no longer look like smooth upward slopes; they look like sawtooth mountain ridges, or like hockey sticks, breaking up sharply and to the right, or like the silhouette of Mt. Fuji, rising steadily only to start falling off. We live, increasingly, in an age of trend breaks.
In No Ordinary Disruption, the directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, the flagship think tank of the worlds leading consulting firm, McKinsey and Company, dive deeply behind current headlines to analyze the key forces transforming the global economy over the next two decadesand most importantly, to explain what business and government leaders need to do to reset their intuitions and take advantage of the disruptions ahead. Free of jargon and gimmicks, filled with anecdotes, data, and graphics, informed by deep experience, No Ordinary Disruption is aimed at a broad audience of middle and senior level managers, investors, and policy makers.
About the Author
Richard Dobbs is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey's business and economics research arm, and a director (senior partner) of McKinsey based in London. From 2004 to 2009, Richard co-led McKinsey's Corporate Finance Practice, where he was also responsible for research and development. He has served clients around the world in a variety of industries, ranging from high tech and financial services to petroleum, utilities, and the public sector.
Richard has written numerous articles about the implications of the financial crisis for companies and managing in a downturn. At McKinsey Global Institute he has led research on global economic trends, including urbanization, resource markets, capital markets, and productivity and growth. Other research has focused on performance management and measurement, mergers and acquisitions, valuation, capital markets strategy, and utility regulation. He was a co-author of Value: The Four Cornerstones of Corporate Finance, and his work has appeared in several books, including Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies; in other business and academic journals such as the McKinsey Quarterly, McKinsey on Finance, and Corporate Finance; and on the opinion pages of leading newspapers and business publications
James Manyika is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey and Companys business and economics research arm, and one of its three global co-leaders. James is also a director (senior partner) at McKinsey, where he is one of the leaders of McKinseys Global High Tech, Media and Telecom Practice. Based in Silicon Valley, for the past 18 years he has worked with many of the worlds leading software, systems, Internet, media, and communications companies on a variety of issues, including strategy, innovation, and helped companies outside of the tech sector fully leverage technology for business transformation. James was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Presidents Global Development Council and to serve as the vice chairman of the Council. James is a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Based in Shanghai for more than 15 years, Jonathan Woetzel has been instrumental in establishing and scaling McKinsey's presence in China. He works with Chinese businesses to develop strategies, organizations, and operations for global growth, and with city, regional, and national authorities on energy, sustainability, and economic development. Published widely in both Chinese and international publications, Jonathan has written three books on China, including Capitalist China: Strategies for a Revolutionized Economy (Wiley and Sons, 2003). He also co-authored with Jimmy Hexter the book, Operation China: From Strategy to Execution (Harvard Business Press, 2007).