This book looks at the pillars of success of high-performing companies, and how they perform in areas such as innovativeness, market orientation, core competencies and leadership and entrepreneurship culture. Many examples from a wide variety of industries and interviews with top managers give insights into the secrets of success of top performers.

KURT MATZLER is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Matzler has worked as a visiting professor and research scholar at universities in the United States, Austria and Italy. His primary research and teaching interests are in the areas of global strategic management, innovativeness and market orientation. He has authored and edited several books and over fifty articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is director of the Executive MBA programme at the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) and teaches on several MBA programmes in Switzerland and Austria. As a partner at IMP, he acts as a consultant to companies in the areas of strategy, innovation and marketing.


FRANK BAILOM holds a doctorate in social and economic sciences from Innsbruck University, Austria. Before he founded the international strategy consulting company IMP together with Dieter Tschemernjak and Professor Hans Hinterhuber, he was a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Management of Innsbruck University in Austria. The results of his research in strategy, innovativeness and consumer behaviour have been published in numerous international journals and presented at international conferences. Currently, he is managing director of IMP Austria and works as a senior consultant for international companies. Bailom lectures on various MBA programmes in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.


DIETER TSCHEMERNJAK graduated from InnsbruckUniversity, Austria, and worked as a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Management at the University of Innsbruck. In 1996, he co-founded IMP (Innovative Management Partner), which specialises in strategy development based on innovative market and organizational analyses. The results of his research in strategy and market orientation have been published in various journals and presented at international conferences. Currently, he is managing director of IMP Switzerland and works as a senior consultant for international companies. He also lectures on executive training programmes in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

In Search of the Secrets of Success The Customer-value Competition is Pushing Many Companies to the Limit of their Possibilities The IMP Model: The Strategies of Winners What makes Top Performers Different? Market Orientation: Understanding Markets, Shaping the Future The Sales Determine the Course, not the Wind Corporate Culture: The Latent Potential Innovation: Improving Existing Things, Creating New Things Top Management: The Architects of Success What do Top Companies do Differently? The Insights of Great Leaders