Choice Review

Though change is the one constant for businesses, most business leaders regard it as unpredictable. Buffeted by change, particularly of the disruptive kind, leaders strive to react to it, often with disheartening results. It does not have to be this way, argue Vassolo and Weisz (both, IAE Business School, Argentina). The authors, who have vast consulting experience, assert most changes are predictable in that they follow a pattern that the discerning can identify and adapt to. The authors place the onus of adaptation on leadership, whom they hold should recognize and account for change before it becomes destabilizing. They identify three types of change. Change can be developmental--for instance, when the industry goes from the rapid growth stage to maturity. Change can be creative when the primary value proposition of the industry is upended--for example, what Netflix did to Blockbuster in the 1990s. Though both developmental and creative changes are industry-specific, the third kind--emergency change--affects an entire nation or a region. Using this espalier of change, the authors provide a practical framework to help leaders recognize and respond to all kinds of changes. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and professionals. --Ram Subramanian, Stetson University