The New Pioneers

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Wall Street Journal columnist Petzinger (Hard Landing) does an excellent job of spotlighting the faces behind the businesses that are leading the way into what he calls the "new economy." The new economy is entrepreneurial, not corporate; it stresses adaptation rather than bureaucratic planning, "teamwork" and "empowerment" rather than rigid command-and-control structures. While the stories of the people behind innovative companies are often intriguing, readers will be left wondering what to do with this information. Some readers will even find Petzinger's premise puzzling. For instance, his introductory example is an innovative Philadelphia pharmacy that managed to succeed in a poverty-stricken area of the city. Petzinger is full of justified admiration for the way the owner wedded his pharmacy to the community, offered employees profit sharing and made a mint. Ultimately, however, the owner was so successful that he sold his three stores to Rite-Aid. This inspiring and informative book would have been even better had Petzinger delved more deeply into the paradox that the successes and innovations of the new pioneers he celebrates coincide with an era of increasing corporate consolidation. Readers are left wanting more guidance from someone who clearly knows the territory.

Remember 1995, when Netscape entered the Web-browser market by giving away Navigator? It seemed like a strange idea at the time. But just a few years later, business has learned the lesson that, in order to sell something else, you can give consumers what they want – for free, which is what they really want.

The larger lesson for business? Adapt, or never launch at all. It's a lesson from nature, which is the guiding principle behind The New Pioneers. The idea isn't quite "survival of the fittest": As applied to the jungle, Darwin's theory conjures up images of lions and tigers chasing after lunch. Wall Street Journal business columnist Thomas Petzinger offers an alternative take. He quotes biologist Brian Goodwin: "Competition has no special status in biological dynamics. What is important is the pattern of relationships that exist."

That's why big, fierce animals are more rare than ants and spiders. And that's also why monopolies are more rare than mom-and-pop businesses. Petzinger chronicles the stories of small and medium-size businesses in The New Pioneers, in industries ranging from banking to bookselling. In each of his examples, company leaders have adapted to new market conditions and not only survived, but thrived. They've done it, not by engaging their enemies in hand-to-hand combat, but by inventing ways around their obstacles to success. (Remember those ants?)

The consequence of this focus on adaptation over competition is Petzinger's astonishing conclusion that capitalism is merging with humanism. It's a premillennial evolution of the famous '80s declaration – "Greed is good." So move over Gordon Gekko, and make room for Ben and Jerry.

– Maria De La O

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Kirkus Reviews

Wall Street Journal columnist Petzinger explores the world of the small- and mid-size business entrepreneur's and finds that business these days is, on the whole, a Good Thing. With myriad anecdotes about clever entrepreneurs, from the oldest operating business in America (a cymbal maker, of all things) to the pocket-protector crowd at Lucent Technologies, from the employer of women weaving at home looms to some health care workers who won hospital patients the right to wear underwear (notably during eye surgery), Petzinger demonstrates the effectiveness of new ways to do things. Though IBM isn't discussed, that firm's succinct motto, "Think," may have had it right all along. As innovative thinking advances, the author demonstrates, so does effective commercial practice. Business and biology are, it appears, not so different. We evolved from the primordial ooze to become CEOs, after all, passing through the Industrial Age to the Information Age and a step up on Maslow's hierarchy. "People who once did business on a handshake were starting to do it on a hug, for Pete's sake!" The author will concede that there are such blights as telemarketers. But, generally, the ecology of commerce is increasingly beneficent. Small enterprises thrive when they extend themselves to serve customers and eschew old rigidity. Loyalty, as well as money, is an incentive. Family considerations need not be overwhelmed by the demands of a well-run organization. Cooperative back-scratching and everyday decency, the author finds, nurture success. Indeed, values are the foundation of successful pioneering ventures. The book stresses the operations of small businesses, which clearly outnumber the giantenterprises. A new kind of feel-good primer on the ascent of man (business department) that might well be titled "How to Win Friends and Influence People for Management."