Product Description

As a manager who wants to attain, maintain, or reclaim a competitive position in the hotly contested and ever-changing marketplace, your goal is clear. Terrified of being the hunted -- in peril of being destroyed or devoured by your competitors you want to know how to once again become a hunter. But the myriad improvement strategies that sound great in theory don't always work in practice, and they don't take into account the realities of your workplace.

Through an unusual and provocative blend of fact and fiction, Jim Swartz puts you inside the transformation process itself - inside the heads of those who, finding themselves among the hunted, realize they must change the fundamental way they do business. He makes it clear why reorganization, decentralization, de-layering, continuous improvement, benchmarking, and participative management are helpful tools but fall short of tackling the real enemy.

In this engaging business novel, you'll travel with Marcus, the Master Guardian who has been helping businesses in trouble for 1400 years, as he trains two guardian recruits: Lou, a tough steel company manager long on experience with the old ways, and Laura, a Harvard MBA with a global view and no industrial experience. Come along as they visit great business hunters past and present and become aware of the fatal corporate mindsets, mental models, and measures that doom many companies to a life of retreat and restructuring. By visiting turnaround companies, you'll learn new business process models that dramatically reduced costs, improved performance and product quality, and made these companies the fastest responding suppliers in the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #924468 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 564 pages

Review

Jim Swartz captures the spirit of reengineering the way it ought to be practiced.

John Sheridan, Senior Editor, Industry Week 06/01/04

The Hunters and the Hunted is an allegory which provides the keys to achieving dramatic improvement in cycle time and quality in an easy to read and interesting story. The real people and companies in his story add both interest and realism to the book. The final chapter offers a chilling prophecy of what can happen to America if we fail to heed the message. I highly recommend The Hunters and The Hunted to companies which are trying to achieve the Non-Linear Improvement, Swartzs term for reengineering.

John H. Adams, President, Sparling Instruments Co., Inc. 06/01/04

Dont spend that $2 million on a new computer-based manufacturing control system. Read The Hunters and the Hunted to see if your plant has embraced the essential strategic thrusts of world class manufacturing. Jim Swartzs book will enlighten, entertain, and inspire. But beware. Jims real-world examples may force you to change how you feel about American competitiveness.

Al Mattaliano, VP (Ret.), Hughes Aircraft 06/01/04

Its the most creative, imaginative embodiment of management principles written to date. Absolutely essential reading for every company to survive and prosper in todays and tomorrows world.

Ingram
Our competitive environment changes rapidly. If you want to survive, you have to stay on top of those changes. This unusual nonfiction novel provides a veritable crash course in continuous transformation. It offers lessons from real-life companies and introduces many industrial gurus as characters. It doesn't simply tell you how to change; it puts you inside the change process itself.