Chaotics by Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione
A Book Corner Review
Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence
By Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione
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In Chaotics, Kotler and Caslione argue for a “disciplined approach” to business decision making as opposed to relying on gut instinct or conventional wisdom. According to the authors, “responsive, robust, and resilient” businesses constantly look for the “weak signals” of turbulence and are proactive in constructing, rehearsing, and revising various chaos scenarios and their preferred response strategies.
The book offers numerous examples of companies that have thrived and faltered in turbulent times because of the decisions they made. They walk the reader through their definition of turbulence (“unpredictable and swift changes in an organization’s external or internal environments”), bad responses to turbulence, the business thought process behind their Chaotics Model, and specific recommendations for each major business department (with an entire chapter dedicated to marketing).
In the first chapter, the authors go a bit overboard with their characterization of terrorism and the financial crisis in order to frighten the reader into believing that we are entering “The Age of Turbulence,” in which business environments are significantly more chaotic than in the past. However, the true value of the book is in pressing readers to change their mindset with respect to business decisions, to never expect normality nor take it for granted, to look for opportunity when others are fearful, and to ingrain this approach to business into the company culture.
While reading, I was reminded of the following statement by Steve Wynn, chairman of Wynn Resorts, at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2009:
And what are we to do when there’s a downturn? Throw the baby out? Burn the place down? Fire everybody? Destabilize the entire workforce? Change our service levels? Stop keeping a promise that we’ve been breaking our neck to get the public to trust for years? What a self-destructive thing that would be! How illogical and immature is that? That’s exactly what happens in most businesses. A bunch of dimwits get in a room and start cutting costs.
Chaotics is an excellent read for anyone who does not want to be one of the dimwits.
About the Author(s)
Paul Gift, PhD, is an assistant professor of economics at the Graziadio School of Business and Management. He earned his master's and PhD in economics from UCLA. Prior to joining the Graziadio School, Dr. Gift worked as an economist in the litigation consulting industry, providing expert witness support for antitrust and financial fraud cases as well as estimation of economic damages. He joined Pepperdine as a practitioner faculty member in 2004 and a tenure-track faculty member in 2006. While at Pepperdine, he has engaged in both litigation and managerial consulting work as an independent contractor. Dr. Gift specializes in antitrust economics, industrial organization, and econometrics. In the antitrust realm, he has worked on cases involving issues such as monopolization, foreclosure, exclusive dealing, tying, bundling, horizontal price fixing, and general estimation of economic damages.
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