Proactive Companies / Fundacao Dom Cabral (FDC) (PDF)

LEONARDO ARAUJO Professor of Marketing at Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), teaching both MBA programs but also short courses for executives of large national and multinational companies. He was Manager of Marketing at the FDC from 2003 to 2005 and is a member of the FDC Innovation Centre.
ROGERIO GAVA Professor and consultant in marketing and strategy at FDC as well as a Visiting Professor teaching strategic marketing programs at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), coordinator of the administration of the Centre for Higher Education Ragamuffin (CESFRS) and Director of Gava & Gava Integrated Business Consulting, since 1998, providing training and consulting in the areas of marketing, strategy and finance, serving clients in various regions of the country.

'This important book is a wake-up call to companies that are over-focused on the short run and in danger of losing in the long run. It is no longer sufficient to be market-driven as opposed to product-driven. Your company must proactively anticipate changes and create changes. Araújo and Gava show you how to do it.'

Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA

'Professor Leonardo Araújo and Rogério Gava provides us with a fascinating and flavourful work. They not only unveil a strategy (market proactiveness) to help overcome one of the companies' most intriguing questions (why are some of them more successful than others?), but also captivates us with superb text. They call our attention to a paradox: though widely known, proactiveness is not adopted. They suggest that the secret is to execute it. Supported by theory and actually grounded in organizational practices, the book helps us learn how the real world operates and this is FDC's style. We are therefore proud of it and recommend you read it.' Emerson de Almeida, Dean of Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil

'In a clear and direct style, the book shows how proactive managers deal with innovation, risks and mistakes and how they should act to take advantage of opportunities in the present and to create the future. Based on rigorous research work, the authors demonstrate that proactive companies are more competitive because they are able to anticipate the market's expectations.'

- C. Belini, Fiat President for Latin America

'We are all looking for gains, but we know that is essential to build today's results by paving tomorrow's routes. The model presented in this book is a very helpful tool in the search for a proactive anticipatory posture and to avoid being led by change. Leonardo and Rogério show is that when we direct our efforts to that goal, we make ourselves capable of gaining