1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The general argument of the book that in order for a business to succeed in this era of rapidly advancing technology and interconnected culture a business must sell many products to a broad market. This is a stark contrast to the conventional approach of having a business start out as a niche product and then branching out towards other products and markets. An example of this is Apple. At first, they were only a computer company, then they added the iPhone and then the IPad and then started selling variations of each one along with the computers that they had always been making.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
To me, the book actually conflicted with much of what we have learned in class. Professor Pryor basically preaches that we must focus our efforts on one product and a very specific market. In that way, the book actually challenged what I was learning in class.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
The exercise would involve having the person completely flip their focused business strategy to a broad market strategy and then come up with products to fulfill those markets.
4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
My biggest surprise was that the book did challenge what we were learning in class. Of course, the book did focus mostly on much larger businesses, not small self-owned startup like what we are creating in class. I still stand strong however on my dig a mile deep not a mile wide approach to building a business. That means to focus on a niche market and product and build your identity around that and then start branching out instead of spreading yourself thin at the beginning. If there is no depth then business is sure to fail.
Great reading reflection Daniel. Apple definitely is a huge success with their products. I think with apple they were reshaping the market. The main product that drives their success is the I phone and different versions of the operating system like the mac and the I pad. They really took the world by storm with a tool that has become as common as owning a car and as much of a necessity for most of us.
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