THE NATION WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2014
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EMPOWERMENT CLINIC with
Co-opetition BOOK REVIEW Author: Publisher: Reviewer:
GOKE ILESANMI
T
HE only thing that is constant in life is change. This means one needs to embrace it to avoid being swept away by its tide. The old concept of competition interpreted as enmity is now outdated. And one of the textual “evangelists” of the modern concept of competition is this book titled: “Coopetition”. It is written by Barry Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger, who are professors at Yale and Harvard. Nalebuff and Brandenburger are pioneers in the practice of applying the science of game theory to the art of corporate strategy. Nalebuff graduated from Oxford University and is now the Milton Steinbach professor at Yale School of Management. He is also the co-author of the book “Thinking Strategically”, written with Avinash Dixit. Nalebuff is a principal of the Law and Economics Consulting Group. As regards Brandenburger, he graduated from Cambridge University and is now a professor at the Harvard Business School. He is the author of many of Harvard’s bestselling strategy cases. The authors say they have devised a practice-oriented model to help you break out of the traditional win-lose or lose-win situations and that many corporate organisations have been adopting the strategies of “co-opetition” to change their business approach and enjoy the benefits of win-win opportunities. Nalebuff and Brandenburger submit that this
Barry Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger Profile Books Goke Ilesanmi
text is the first to adapt game theory to the needs of chief executive officers, managers and entrepreneurs. They add that the text offers you a new business mindset, a strategic way of thinking that combines competition and cooperation. This text is segmented into two parts of nine chapters. Part one is generically labelled “The game of business” and covers the first three chapters. Chapter one is titled: “War and peace”. According to the authors, the traditional concept of business and by implication, competition makes the whole thing look like a war manifesting in the form of “outsmarting the competition, capturing market share, making a killing, fighting brands, beating up suppliers, locking up customers”, etc. Nalebuff and Brandenburger educate that under business-as-war, there are the victors and the vanquished. Nalebuff and Brandenburger reflect that as regards a new mindset, business is cooperation when it comes to creating a pie and competition when it comes to dividing it up. The authors say, “In other words, business is War and Peace. But it’s not Tolstoy - endless cycles of war followed by peace followed by war. It’s simultaneously war and peace. As Ray Noorda, founder of the networking software company Novell, explains: ‘You have to compete and cooperate at the same time’. The combination makes for a more dynamic relationship than the words ‘competition’ and ‘cooperation’ suggest individually.” Chapter two of this text constitutes the title chapter, as it is titled: “Co-opetition”. Here, Nalebuff and Brandenburger submit that if business is a game, then who are the players and what are their roles? They explain that there are customers and suppliers, and you would not be in business without them. The authors add that naturally, there are competitors. Nalebuff and Brandenburger say there is one more group of players, often overlooked
but equally important, that is, those who provide complementary rather than competing products and services. Chapter three is based on the subject matter of the game theory. Here, Nalebuff and Brandenburger ask the question of how much you can hope to get in a game. They educate that the answer does not depend just on the size of the pie to be divided, notions of fairness nor how well you play. These business management experts submit that what you get depends on your power in the game as well as on the power of others who have competing claims on the pie. Part two is thematically woven together as “The parts of strategy” and contains six chapters, that is, chapters four to nine. Chapter four is entitled “Players”. According to
Nalebuff and Brandenburger here, the question of whether you want to be a player is the obvious question to ask yourself when you consider entering a game. They add that however, the answer is rarely obvious because it is easy to misjudge what it would really be like to be in the game. Nalebuff and Brandenburger explain that the reason is that anytime you enter a game, you change it. They assert that it is a new game because you have joined the cast of players. Nalebuff and Brandenburger say people often miss this effect and therefore fail to think through how their coming into a game will change it. As these experts put it, “They think that what they see is what they’re going to get... Generally, if you want to play, you have to pay. The cost of becoming a player can be cheap when, for example, it means quoting a price over the phone. It’s more expensive if you have to pitch an advertising or marketing campaign....” In chapters five to nine, Nalebuff and Brandenburger analytically X-ray concepts such as added values; rules; tactics; scope and readiness for change. Conceptually, this text is highly didactic. Stylistically, this text is an embodiment of uniqueness. For instance, the conceptually paradoxical and structurally blended title realised from the words “Cooperation” and “Competition” underscores the linguistic and conceptual creativity of the authors. The structurally blended nature of the title also arouses readers’ curiosity and interest to read the text. Though handling a very logically technical subject matter, Nalebuff and Brandenburger employ a simple choice of words (diction) embroidered with good word combination (syntax). There is also the use of graphics to achieve effective non-verbal communication that reinforces the textual communication of the book. Though the title of the book arouses curiosity, it would be better for an illuminating subtitle to be added to it to achieve immediate explanation or amplification of the major title which is a neologism, a new word. On the whole, the text is a classic. It is a must-read for those who want to achieve business success through knowledge of modern business flexibility, creativity and profitability.
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Mastering dictionary abbreviations for literate communication
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ESPITE the fact that dictionaries are a treasury of linguistic and extralinguistic information, most people believe that they are just meant for confirming meanings of words, and nothing more. In a bid to discuss a lot of things in the limited space of a dictionary, lexicographers (dictionary writers) often resort to the use of abbreviations and symbols, especially in the course of illustration. But a lot of dictionary users, especially those in the second-language environment, find it difficult using dictionaries effectively, especially the grammar aspect, as a result of lack of knowledge of most of the abbreviations and word-class labels used.
Essential knowledge The knowledge of these abbreviations is very essential when it comes to looking up the meanings of Homographs, that is, words written the same way but belong to different word classes, e.g. Address(verb) and Address(noun). It is basically as a result of this grammatical situation that I consider it urgent and necessary to discuss most of these abbreviations to ensure effective dictionary usage on the part of the teeming English language speakers, especially those in the second-language environment. Examples of these abbreviations are n, v, adv, adj, pron, etc., and we shall at this juncture discuss them and word-class labels one after the other.
Noun symbol n: This is the abbreviation of a noun in the dictionary, and when it is put against any headword, what it implies is that the word is to be used in the nominal sense, especially in the dictionary context. How-
By Goke Ilesanmi
ever, the fact that a word is labelled a noun in the dictionary does not mean that it cannot be used otherwise in other situations, more so that the name you give to a word is based on its function in a context. For example, the word Government is labelled a noun in the dictionary, yet it can be contextually used as an adjective in another situation, e.g. The government policy. Here, the word Government is qualifying the noun Policy and is therefore an adjective, more so that an apostrophe with an S (that is, ’s) is not used.
Extension The mastery of the grammatical behaviour of nouns is very essential as it ensures effective nominal usage. For instance, some nouns can be used in the plural form, while some cannot. Also, some nouns have elasticity of grammatical features. That is, they can be used in a countable way in some situations and also in an uncountable sense in other situations. Therefore, symbols such as [C], [U], and [C,U] are placed against nouns (represented by n) in the dictionary to reflect their grammatical behaviour. Thus, when [C] is placed against a noun, it means the noun is countable. When [U] is used, it means the noun is uncountable. However, if [C,U] symbol is placed against a noun that has a single meaning, it means it can be used both in a countable and uncountable sense. But if the symbol [C,U] is placed against one of the meanings of a word having more than a meaning, that is, a polysemous word, it means the word can be used either way in that situation. The examples of words having this grammatical attribute are disorder and dispensation. These two
words have meanings with [C] and [U] separately, in addition to [C, U].
Resultant errors Lack of knowledge of these symbols makes a lot of people pluralise uncountable nouns like potential, fallout, legislation, equipment, etc., despite the fact that the symbol [U] is placed against them in the dictionary. Therefore, endeavour to make it a habit when looking up for a noun in the dictionary to check if the symbol against it is [C], [U], or [C,U]. Or check the symbol put against the meaning that matches the one you are looking for if it is a word that has more than a meaning, so as to ensure correct usage.
Verbal symbol v: This abbreviation implies Verb. Apart from the abbreviation v representing the word Verb, verbs in the dictionary also take additional labels such as [vi] and [vt]. What [vi] means is Verb intransitive or Intransitive verb, while [vt] implies Verb transitive or Transitive verb. By notional simplification, an intransitive verb refers to a verb that does not need an object, e.g. Die, Weep, etc. In other words, it is possible to say The man died; The boy wept, etc. without actually mentioning two or more people. Therefore, we would see that in these expressions, we only have a subject and no object because of the nature of the verbs used, that is, intransitive verbs. That is, the action of dying or weeping can be done by just one person.
ples of these verbs are Push, Kill, Beat, etc. That is, Gbenga pushed Ojo; Mary killed a rat; Balton beat Terry, etc. (active voice). As far as passive voice is concerned, we have Ojo was pushed by Gbenga; A rat was killed by Mary; Terry was beaten by Balton, etc. We would see that all these actions require more than the involvement of just one person. Some verbs have the double label [vi,vt] meaning that they can be used both transitively and intransitively. Examples of these verbs are Distend, Distinguish, Doublepack, etc. Note that it is possible for a verb having more than a meaning, that is, a polysemous verb, to have [vi,vt] plus [vi] and/or [vt]. That is, one of the meanings of the verb may be used transitively and intransitively; another meaning may be used intransitively; while yet another one may be used transitively if it has about three meanings. • To be continued PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. Till we meet on Monday. •GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/ CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.
Addition On the other hand, transitive verbs are verbs that require an object in active voice or an object/ doer in passive voice. Exam-
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