The paradox that isn't

Nobody loves a monopoly. But love doth often make a monopoly. Simple enough? Of course not. It only seems so. Likewise, marketers have been trying to reconcile two market mantras for success: "treat your consumer as you would treat yourself" and "the consumer is no know-all".

For marketers addressing common needs, this often spells: "satisfy" and "enlighten". For wordsmiths addressing a big audience, though, this often equals: "do not talk down" and "keep it simple, silly".

Creative adfolk have always been exceptionally good at it, as also arty businesses such as Apple Computer. Lately, however, this monopoly has been stormed by business writers""some of them from American academia.

Milind Lele, author of Monopoly Rules: How to Find, Capture, And Control the Most Lucrative Markets in any Business, is a consultant cum egghead from Chicago GSB. And his new book, in a golden jacket with a horse made on it, makes for a safe inflight read.

It kicks off as a fun read, with the repositioning of "monopoly"""defined as "an ownable space for a useful period of time"""from something "unnatural, illegal and rare" to something "natural, usually legal and surprisingly common".

The Honda Odyssey, for example, owes its monopoly to the space created by its high seats folding flat. Of course, "space" is not to be taken literally. Apple is spaced out in quite another sense. As a brand, it exclusively owns the "intersection space" of art and science in the consumer's head.

"'Monopoly' simply means 'the only seller'... nothing more, nothing less," writes Lele, in Part I. He refers mostly to cases of pricing power within competitive markets""as in "monopolistic competition" from Economics 101.

So what's the big deal? Isn't this good old "differentiation"? The difference that lets you make a "unique selling proposition", the stuff that gives you a "sustainable competitive advantage"?

N-n-no, Lele responds, pre-empting the question, this is not the same thing. This is about quitting pretences and getting straight to business, down n' dirty. This is about starting off with the goal clearly in mind. The goal of monopoly, no dilly-dallying. "Strategy is simply the road to that goal."

Aha. And the case studies get interesting too. Except that Lele doesn't get down to the actual nub of the lovable brands he so sagely picks. Apple iPod appears as a monopolizer of creative alliances. Coca-Cola appears in the form of its classic brand cum secret formula story. Starbucks appears as a cafe success with no product uniqueness, no cost advantage, no experience curve, no economies of scale and no brand appeal.

Wait... did Lele say "no brand advantage"? Starbucks, in this book, is simply about truly arousing coffee""made, uniquely, of arabica beans for a change.

Google, the hottest brand of recent emergence, appears too""but as a stock valuation suspense thriller, not a search for WMDs or anything.

The core of this book is Part II, which is about the monopoly hunt. It offers tips on going all-out for a monopoly, asks questions like "Are you invisible to your competitors?" and offers wisdom like "... every successful monopoly rests on a core belief".

It also advises caution against "frame blindness", though its own scenario plan seems frame blind to a fault. Still, it's not a waste. Do not miss the acknowledgements at the end.

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MONOPOLY RULES
HOW TO FIND, CAPTURE, AND CONTROL THE MOST LUCRATIVE MARKETS IN ANY BUSINESS

Milind M Lele
Crown Business
Price: $20.50; Pages: 224