It's Not the Big That Eat the Small...It's the Fast That Eat the Slow: How to Use Speed as a Competitive Tool in Business

The tortoise and the hare--not to mention a popular '60s-era adage--warned us that Speed Kills. Not so fast, contend Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton, international consultants who have worked together since 1976. In It's Not the Big That Eat the Small... It's the Fast That Eat the Slow, the two argue that only the swiftest of corporations will thrive in the 21st century. They then outline a program, based on best practices developed by contemporary speedsters like Charles Schwab and AOL that readers can work into their own businesses by similarly focusing on "commerce, resource deployment, and people." Its four parts examine ways to create environments that anticipate the future, reassess operations and personnel and make appropriate adjustments whenever necessary, launch a "crusade" while "staying beneath the radar," and maintain velocity through institutionalization and close customer relationships. "This book will show you how to think and move faster than your competition," they write, adding that "being faster doesn't mean being out of breath. It means being smarter." Many of their suggestions will be familiar to those who follow the business of business improvement, but the singular (and quite convincing) context to which Jennings and Haughton now apply them help make this book unique. --Howard Rothman