This book presents its arguments in the form of anecdotes, which I personally don’t find valuable. The book is pretty light-weight in my opinion.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

An easy read with the fundamental hypothesis being that traditional business need not try to compete to catch up with the digital natives like Amazon etc but rather outsmart them at their own game by crafting new ways of value creation for customers using tech. I liked that they used examples from non American companies as well which makes for a greater accessibility. Trouble with such books is that stories based on tech can sometimes become outdated quickly because tech itself is evolving so quickly, never the less interesting stories like how Coke is using AI to harvest data from users are bound to give you new ideas for your own work. Overall it was an easy read as well.

Smart Rivals is an engaging, compact book that explores well-known businesses and their successful strategies. This book is particularly valuable for small and traditional businesses looking to enhance their offerings in the digital age. A really helpful and thought-provoking book that provides insightful solutions and opportunities to adapt and thrive in the modern market. Thanks to NetGalley and HBR for sending this ebook for review. All opinions are my own

I don't really think this book has the evidence that the authors think it does. Their case studies are not detailed enough for the reader to be able to judge, so they are forced to take the authors' interpretations as fact. The authors also ignore how many of the reasons for success or failure are out of the control of the businesses themselves.

I blazed through this one. Short and sweet and to the point. The problem was ... it was a little too short and sweet, and not enough to the point. The authors cover a variety of cases where traditional business have either succeeded or failed in their modern quest against big tech industry. They argue that these companies must "craft their own path" and lean on what's special about not being digital-first. We have to rely on the author's interpretation of these cases. There's not really enough detail for the reader to judge. On top of that, a lot of successes and failures appear to have been a factor of events beyond any company's control, such as world-disruptors like COVID-19. Still, the argument could be made that some companies rose to the challenge better than others ... I just couldn't place how traditional companies that acted as "smart rivals" outpaced tech giants there. Going with the example: A traditional company goes digital in COVID-19; a digital one stays the course or buys up successful counterparts; each constrained by their starting points; and the economic world goes round. I did enjoy reading about the diverse range of case studies, even if I wasn't quite on board with the smart rival concept. From Anker to Zé to Coca-Cola, on to various countries' responses to big tech disruptions, there's enough variety of contemporary material to get a sense of modern business savvy in the digital age.

A very smart read that had multiple examples of how to go about setting your company apart from the rest. I liked how the book went through different models and also used different types of companies as examples. From Domino’s and Instacart to banking services and Nike, it felt like there were plenty of options shown to help differentiate and develop your company. I appreciated how they looked closely at company strategies and each particular strength. It was a nice approach to dissecting a company and determining the best course of action for the future. A solid read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

An absolutely must read book for corporate leaders and startup founders because of the structured ideas on go to market strategies and adopting existing strategies to reality disruptive factors. Most exciting are the examples of companies who thrived through challenges by building ecosystem, adopting to technologies that entered their traditional way of doing business by storm, focusing on customers in a creative way to deliver value. It should be always a top priority for any business to have an agile and innovative strategy that can be flexible and winning based on reality rather than catching up with consequences of long term thinking process. The approach of dealing with known through the lense of uncertainty definitely stood out for me in this book.

Packed with useful information about evolving your business particularly in relation to digital transformation opportunities. Lots of great examples of companies and how they have succeeded or not. Great book. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for a ARC.