Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Is it possible any longer to "read" markets fast enough to respond to them? A world of discrete parts is now one interconnected web of ceaseless calculation and response. Marketing has become a thing of speed and turbulence, with all the players moving simultaneously.

For marketing guru Grant McCracken, the key to success in this dynamic new marketplace is to find a way to slow the world down. And McCracken believes he has the solution. It begins with understanding the mechanics at work today. He says, "Complexity has a theory. Commotion has a pattern. Dynamism has a system. We can continue to live by damage control, or we can change the way we play the game." To survive our own world of collision and speed, marketers need to see the world as "flocks and flows."

In this exciting new book, McCracken deploys "complex adaptive theory" to track the movement of trends and new groupings of consumers. He shows how to monitor new trends, whether and when to introduce new brands and brand extensions, how to speak to niche markets, and how to avoid costly mistakes. McCracken's sage and witty advice could not come at a better time. His book will be a valuable aid for anyone trying to keep up with marketplace changes in our rapidly evolving world.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• Acknowledgments (p. xi)
• Introduction: More Like Marshall (p. xiii)
• Part 1 Consumers in a Dynamic Marketplace (p. 1)
• 1 In the Flock and Flow (p. 3)
• 2 Flock and Flow: Early Systems (p. 25)
• Part 2 Flock and Flow: The Micro Model (p. 35)
• 3 Flows (p. 37)
• 4 Flocks (p. 60)
• Part 3 Flock and Flow: The Macro Model (p. 93)
• 5 The Brand (p. 95)
• 6 The Consumer (p. 102)
• 7 The Corporation (p. 109)
• Part 4 Flock and Flow: How to Build a System (p. 115)
• 8 Seventeen Steps in the Flock and Flow System (p. 117)
• 9 Six Marketing Strategies (p. 132)
• Appendix Where This Book Sits on the Management/Marketing Map (p. 157)
• Notes (p. 159)
• Index (p. 177)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

McCracken (cultural anthropologist, Harvard Business School) explores the creation of a system for tracking consumers and trends. His goal is to place corporations on top of change, rather than trying to catch up with it, and to protect them from the complexity, messiness, and dynamism of the world. His theory is based on the Kauffman continuum (developed by Stuart Kauffman, author of At Home in the Universe, CH, Feb'96, 33-3294), suggesting that change in the marketplace originates as chaotic and unformed but over time evolves to become narrower and better defined. Adding the old ways of business to the present marketplace chaos provides the basis for McCracken's flock and flow model. He uses four industries to exemplify various points along the continuum: fashion, music, movies, and restaurants. At the chaotic extreme is the fashion industry, in which designers attempt to explore any and every possible innovation. On the other end is the restaurant industry, which has successfully implemented a just-in-time innovation system. The author attempts to clarify the strategies and goals corporations should employ to market their products using the latest trends. Examples from diverse industries and numerous photos enhance this volume. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. S. D. Clark St. John's University (NY)