How to Grow When Markets Don't.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Book Review

By Adrian Siywotzky and Richard Wise, with Karl Weber. Warner Business Books, 344 pages. $22.

Deeply wise and thought-provoking, How to Grow When Markets Don't describes a new way of looking at the corporate business model--a new, new way. It questions the strategies of corporate heroes like Southwest Airlines and Dell Inc., which have been lionized in recent years for their ability to revolutionize the industry model and price their services at a point that captures tremendous market share.

The authors argue that these product-focused business designs simply cannot deliver the kind of growth that will sustain these companies in the future. Instead, they write, companies need to understand and develop demand innovation. Already, they say, "a handful of farsighted companies" are "focused on creating new growth and new value by addressing the hassles and issues that surround the product rather than by improving the product itself ... Demand innovation focuses on using one's product position as a starting point, from which to do new things for customers that solve their biggest problems and improve their overall performance."

One intriguing example is a small Massachusetts real estate firm, DeWolfe Cos. of Lexington. By combining its real estate brokerage, mortgage lending and insurance services under one umbrella, it did a great thing for customers it gave them the opportunity to do one-stop shopping. It also added a moving service after negotiating...