The Power Laws of Business: The Science of Success
- 5h 42m
- Richard Koch
- Nicholas Brealey Publishing
- 2001
In this fascinating sequel to the bestselling The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch explores the sciences to reveal the powerful patterns and universal principles that can be successfully applied to business today: The Power Laws. This book shows that we must turn to science not simply to understand today's world, but to thrive in it.
In The 80/20 Principle, Koch provided a practical reinterpretation of a single power law drawn from economics. In The Power Laws of Business he captures many more fresh and exciting insights from biology, physics and non-linear systems that transcend scientific boundaries and cast business in a whole new light.
Koch presents the seventeen key scientific principles that underlie the way the world works, including the famous Newton's Laws, Darwin's Evolution by Natural Selection and Einstein's Theory of Relativity, as well as such lesser known but key ideas as Gause's Principle of Survival by Differentiation and the Law of Unintended Consequences. Yet in a distinct departure from other writers who extol the virtues of chaos, quantum physics or 'Darwinian competition' as a guide to life, Koch treats the science seriously, in its own terms, before applying it to business.
By understanding and applying the Power Laws, we can successfully pilot our way through life in general and business affairs in particular. Without this knowledge we're sitting ducks, bound to pull levers that don't work, and to do things that may lead precisely to the outcomes we want to avoid. Richard Koch demonstrates that by acting to exploit the Power Laws, we can multiply our effectiveness; better identify and exploit business opportunities; and please the right customers. Further, he sheds eye-opening light on the true nature of competition, revealing the counter-intuitive but indisputable fact that it is cooperation with rather than efforts against competitors that leads to the most success.
About the Author
Richard Koch is unusual in that he combines thinking about business with practising it successfully. Besides being the author of eleven acclaimed books including The 80/20 Principle, Managing Without Management and The 80/20 Revolution, he is also a 'serial entrepreneur', having made large returns from businesses as diverse as consulting, hotels, personal organisers, restaurants, gin, and high technology investments.
In this Book
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Overture—On Appreciating a Wonky World
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On Evolution by Natural Selection
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On Mendel's Genes, Selfish Genes and Business Genes
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On Gause's Laws
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On Evolutionary Psychology
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On Resolving the Prisoner's Dilemma
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Part One Concluding Note
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On Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravity
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On Relativity
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On Quantum Mechanics
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Part Two Concluding Note
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On Chaos and Complexity
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On the 80/20 Principle
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On Punctuated Equilibrium, the Tipping Point, and Increasing Returns
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On the Paradox of Enrichment, Entropy, and Unintended Consequences
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Part Three Concluding Note
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Finale—On the Gospel According to the Power Laws
