Focus by Al Ries

Focus by Al Ries

Marketing guru Al Ries, co-author of the acclaimed The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Marketing Warfare, uses real company profiles to prove that in today's rapidly evolving business environment, the most successful companies are those that remain focused on their core business.aIn plain and effective language, internationally known marketing expert Al Ries explains why IBM, PepsiCo, and other revenue-rich companies often fail to perform on the balance sheet. His commonsense approach to business management focuses on keeping a business doing what it does best, eschewing the temptation of diversification into unrelated enterprises.aUsing real-world examples, Al Ries shows that in industry after industry, it is the companies that resist diversification and instead focus on owning a category in consumers' minds that dominate their markets. He offers solid guidance to get companies back on target, explaining how to get focused and how to stay focused. His no-nonsense advice lays out a workable blueprint for any company's evolution that can increase market share and shareholder value while keeping an eye squarely on the future.

Al Ries and his daughter and business partner Laura Ries are two of the world's best-known marketing consultants, and their firm, Ries & Ries, works with many Fortune 500 companies. They are the authors of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, which was a Wall Street Journal and a BusinessWeek bestseller, and, most recently, The Origin of Brands. Al was recently named one of the Top 10 Business Gurus by the Marketing Executives Networking Group. Laura is a frequent television commentator and has appeared on the Fox News and Fox Business Channels, CNN, CNBC, PBS, ABC, CBS, and others. Their Web site (Ries.com) has some simple tests that will help you determine whether you are a left brainer or a right brainer.