Book Review - Killing Giants

Tales about little guys who overcome huge odds to defeat a gigantic person, business or army are as old as time. People love underdogs and want to see an upset, writes branding expert Stephen Denny in the introduction to Killing Giants, which outlines smart and often sneaky strategies small firms can use to tip the odds in their favor when they are competing against an established competitor with deeper pockets.

Small firms are nimble, creative by necessity and often willing to do things that huge corporations can't - or won't - do to capture clients. These can include taking advantage of the marketing and advertising an established firm has done to develop a product and nurture a market for it, by convincing customers at the point of sale that your product will better meet that need than will the giant's.

what makes Killing Giants a useful and entertaining book are its case studies. Each chapter describes a situation, such as lauching a new, but different, product in a highly competitive market (cleaning supplies, candy bars, an airline); conceptualizes a strategy (fighting dirty or polarize on purpose), and gives examples of small companies in that situation and what they did to manoeuvre their way to snatch the giant's customers or successfully carve out their niche.

As Denny notes, not every case will apply to your situation, but some may be dead-on. They'll all get you thinking.

Souce: Laura Ramsay, Financial Post.