Why Sharkonomics?

As Sir Richard Branson has said:"To survive, companies have to behave like sharks – if they don't keep moving they will drown." With digitalization, business is now as competitive as Nature, where everyone is on the menu. There are no longer limitations in terms of countries, markets or segments. Digital sharks such as Amazon and Alibaba are moving across the globe towards anything they can feed on. This increases the need for management to update itself in both attacking and defensive moves.

With digitalization, business is now as competitive as nature, where everyone is on the menu. There are no longer limitations in terms of countries, markets or segments.

How to attack and defend your business in today’s disruptive digital waters

Sharks are one of Nature’s most revered and feared predators. But if you study their behaviour, you will learn that they are also highly strategic and efficient in the way they survive and thrive in Nature’s competitive environment. Inspired by the shark’s evolved (over 420 million years) instincts and strategic moves, this original and inspiring book provides businesses with 10 ways to attack market leaders and take market share. On top of that, it offers defence tactics against attack for those companies seeking to protect their market share.

Table of contents

Preface
Introduction
Foreward by Chris Fallows

  1. Start planning long before your attack
  2. Don’t get stuck in history
  3. Spread panic
  4. Do market research the shark way
  5. Find blind spots to bite
  6. Strike unpredictably
  7. Timing is key to successful attacks
  8. Move or die
  9. Kill with style
  10. Write a Sharkonomics “attack list”

Introduction: Defence

  1. Develop your defense strategies years before you get attacked
  2. Never stand still
  3. Let others spread the buzz
  4. Don’t panic when under shark attack
  5. Find out where your blind spots are
  6. When entering a new market, don’t send out press releases too early
  7. Sharks will not attack you if there is an easier target around
  8. Don’t act like a victim
  9. Attack is good defence
  10. Develop better escape tactics than the hunter

Introduction: Read, swim and bite hard

  1. 1. Fat and happy vs. Digitalize or die
  2. The value of business speed
  3. Below the surface (what’s in the water?)
  4. Sharkonomics management tool
  5. ???

Mother Nature’s endword
Acknowledgments
Author biography
Notes
About the author

Praises

“In Sharkonomics, Stefan Engeseth bites hard into the future of management.”

“Stefan not only uses the 'shark' metaphor but has actually swam in shark waters to absorb the drama of life and death. He describes the attack strategems of a shark, but respects the intended victims enough to show how they can defend themselves. A stimulating read!!”

“You are swimming with sharks and you may not even know it. Stefan is your guide to not only surviving Sharkonomics but thriving in these adventurous economic waters.”

“Finally something new and fresh! Straight to the point!”

“Sharkonomics provides sharp insights into what drives success in today’s disruptive business world.”

“Sharkonomics readies the reader for the required patterns to survive in a global ocean of competitive business.”

“Stefan's book Sharkonomics is blood for sharks and steel cages for their prey.”

“Stefan Engeseth draws creative parallels to the world of nature and sharks and provides a fresh look at business and defense tactics. Sharkonomics is not to be missed!”

“Weak and not capable to defend their grounds businesses wouldn’t survive long on a modern marketplace. Sharkonomics is an invaluable and timely guide for those who want to stay firm on their grounds.”

“I often hear people talk about ‘thinking outside the box’. After reading Sharkonomics, I have proof that Stefan Engeseth is one of the people I have met in my life who really thinks and lives outside the box!”

“It is a sheer battleground out there; lots of 'strategies', 'tactics', 'attack plans'... Sharkonomics is not about survival of the fittest, but of the 'misfit' who has a streetwise cunning, coupled with imagination and creativity.”

“Stefan Engeseth is really a star and brilliant on stage! The audience loved his Sharkonomics lecture!”

“Sharkonomics is a wake-up call for the need to change.”

"Stefan Engeseth offers a completely original point of view -- rooted in centuries of natural history -- to address an age-old problem. It is sure to challenge and illuminate how you think about competing in the marketplace.”

“Stefan Engeseth never fails to surprise. His logic of taking his inspiration this time from nature—with the simple yet poignant question: "How have sharks survived for millions of years?"—has yielded a business book with teeth, and some pearly whites of wisdom."

“Working with IT security is like constantly swimming with sharks.”

“One thing is certain. The companies that are not constantly moving and developing will sink as shark to the bottom.”

“A very good advise is to read Sharkonomics before your competitors!”

“Stefan Engeseth is brutally inspiring. Sharkonomics will definately rock your boat. Or sink it!”

“In this book Stefan dives in the deep blue to compare natures natural way of hunting with today's business climate. Again he gives us a new way of looking at our own market and competitors; you need to dare to hunt to stay a market leader in your business.”

“Sharkonomics is a great companion for anyone in advertising dealing with market leaders and their competition.”

“Businesses have plenty to chew on in Sharkonomics.”

“Stefan Engeseth shares strategic tools in Sharkonomics for thought leaders in how to attack and how to defence your business in an ocean filled with sharks.”

“Catch a wave of the groundswell and surf the social web with Sharkonomics! Stefan Engeseth's book will take off and swim by itself.”

“Sharkonomics is refreshingly to the point and gives even the mildest mannered goldfish sharp teeth to bite with.”

“A damned good book, Sharkonomics.”

“There's a fine line between genius and insanity. Walk the line with Sharkonomics if you dare.”

“Sharkonomics will inspire the retail business to move into new feeding grounds.”

“Sharkonomics gives you the tools to attack and to survive depending on where you are in the ocean of companies. Terrific and terrifying reading guaranteed.”

“Sharkonomics shows how to surprise the competition in a strategic way to ultimately stay ahead of the market. It’s an excellent read for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders, who are looking to understand where to focus their attention to build and scale an enduring, fast-moving organization.”

“In the music business is Sharkonomics an effective tool to adapt and evolve, due to new technological and digital advances.”

“It's about time someone took competitive strategy thoughts to the phase of the 21st century. Stefan Engeseth always has new and surprising angles on how companied should create enduring business success.”

“Nature, red in tooth and claw, can be a great teacher. Stefan Engeseth has taken one of its lessons, that of the great sharks, and used it to present a view on strategy that pounces rather than plans and emphasizes movement over models. Sharkonomics is fast, ferocious fun.”

“Stefan Engeseth is one of the most unique thinkers in business today--continually challenging us to find to new ways to win in the most crowded marketplaces. In Sharkonomics he's at it again, showing how easy it is to take a bite out of your competition by learning from sharks. Read it before you head back in the water!”

“It is a terrific book and an innovative and fresh approach.”

“Market leaders beware, domination is history.”

“This is sharp. For real.”

“This book has bite. It's snappy too. I urge everyone to get their teeth into it.”

“Market leaders beware, Sharkonomics reveals the vulnerabilities and strategic insight needed to challenge leading brands.”

“It's brilliant – to serve the result of millions years of shark evolution for business. Sharkonomics develops one's instincts and loads of highly impulsive acts - but only for those who read the book.”

“He has done it again! Stefan Engeseth shows his knack for communicating the essentials of business success.”

“Stefan Engeseth gets to the point again. Silent waters as well as markets are most dangerous in these days and we need to be proactive to survive.”

“A fresh, easy-to-read and thought-provoking book. Stefan Engeseth has in Sharkonomics captured the essentials explained them lucidly and serves us food on a platter only accessible to sharks. A must read for any business decision maker.”

“Vital business insights from deadly sharks is what Sharkonomics provides.”

“Market leaders: Keep moving! Sharkonomics is a brand new view to the global marketplace.”

“Stefan Engeseth is encouraging us to welcome the unpredictable.”

“Stefan Engeseth is a marketing thinker and an entrepreneur par excellence. It is time to start thinking like a true predator thru Stefan's new book, Sharkonomics. Unlike the shark, no business has endured over 400 million years - we should start learning from the sharks instead of hunting them to extinction.”

“Stefan Engeseth took a plunge with sharks so that we can open our eyes for blind spots to attack the market.”

Interviewing two of the best shark experts in the world


Interviewing Chris Fallows.

Interviewing Michael "Sharkman" Rutzen.