Companies With Successful Growth Strategies
Forbes 2/6/2004
by Kasia Moreno
Is a company worth the expected growth premium wired into its stock price? Beyond the Core, a new book by Bain's Chris Zook, tells investors how to choose stocks with the right growth strategies.
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Business Leadership: Branching Out From The Core
Optimize 2/1/2004
by Steve Berez and Chris Zook
Senior executives often feel embattled. Their companies must continually grow, a goal harder to achieve now than it was five years ago, according to chief executives interviewed in a recent Bain study. And the pressure keeps building. Stock analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 index to post annual earnings growth of more than 12% on average. Yet, fewer than 13% grow earnings and revenue at 5.5% or higher and earn back their cost of capital over 10 years, according to the Bain research. In this tough environment, where can CEOs find sorely needed expansion opportunities?
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January 2004

Away from the centre
The Globe and Mail 1/28/2004
In Beyond the Core, Bain's Chris Zook offers the first full-length book treatment of achieving growth by moving profitably into new adjacent areas surrounding the core business, showing how to reduce your chances of failure and increase your chances of success.
Go to The Globe and Mail 

Moving Beyond the Core Business
HBS Working Knowledge 1/12/2004
Chris Zook hit a home run with Profit from the Core. In an excerpt from his new book, Beyond the Core, published by Harvard Business School Press, Zook finds opportunity in new directions.
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Beware bundling's siren song
The Globe and Mail 1/5/2004
by Gordon Pitts
A deep understanding of customers is needed for strategy to work, Gordon Pitts writes, citing Chris Zook's new book Beyond the Core.
Go to The Globe and Mail 


December 2003

Gushers of Growth
The Wall Street Journal Europe 12/8/2003
by Chris Zook and Jimmy Allen
After more than three years of debilitating downsizings and quest upon quest for greater efficiency, finding the next wave of profitable growth is again at the top of the CEO agenda, but with a different twist. In the past, growth-seeking companies looked to diversification, the next hot market, or building up their weaker businesses. But this time around they are focusing on adjacencies to their strongest businesses, such as moving from products to services, expanding into a major new geography such as China, or launching a new business based on a core technology or skill.

Books of the year 2003
The Economist 12/4/2003
Beyond the Core, by Bain's Chris Zook, has been selected as one of the six best business books of 2003 by The Economist.
Economist.com subscription required
Go to The Economist 

Manager's Journal: Gushers of Growth
The Wall Street Journal 12/2/2003
by Chris Zook
After more than three years of debilitating downsizings and quest upon quest for greater efficiency, finding the next wave of profitable growth is again at the top of the CEO agenda -- but with some unique twists.

The New Math of Profitable Growth
Chief Executive Magazine 12/1/2003
by Chris Zook
Where will growth come from in 2004 and beyond? For most CEOs, finding the next wave of profitable growth is at the top of their agenda, along with global sourcing, cost cutting and dealing with Sarbanes-Oxley. Two-thirds of senior executives believe growth is much harder to achieve today than it was five years ago, according to a Bain survey. So, how can companies find sources of new, profitable growth? Our analysis indicates that most new growth will come from pushing the boundaries of a strong core business into "adjacent" territory.
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Growth Outside the Core
Harvard Business Review 12/1/2003
by Chris Zook and Jimmy Allen
Growth in an adjacent market is tougher than it looks; three-quarters of the time, the effort fails. But companies can change those odds dramatically. Results from a five-year study of corporate growth conducted by Bain & Company reveal that adjacency expansion succeeds only when built around strong core businesses that have the potential to become market leaders. And the best place to look for adjacency opportunities is inside a company's strongest customers.