This work offers a summary of the book "BEATING THE COMMODITY TRAP: How to Maximize Your Competitive Position and Increase Your Pricing Power" by Richard A. D'Aveni.

Richard D'Aveni is professor of strategic management at Dartmouth College. He has been described by the London Times and CNN as being among the world's top management thinkers. Dr. D'Aveni has acted as an adviser to several Fortune 500 CEOs, the presidents of two G-7 countries and numerous other CEOs.

In Beating The Commodity Trap, D'Aveni explains that "commoditization" – the process of making one product or service become completely interchangeable with that provided by others – is occurring everywhere.

The conventional answer to commoditization is to differentiate. However, according to D'Aveni, a better approach is to get to understand what kind of commodity trap is arising in your industry and then work to identify and resolve the dilemmas and challenges which are posed by each kind of trap. In fact, by coming up with a commodity trap specific business strategy, you can not only escape and destroy the trap but you can also position your firm to take advantage of the trap to grow even more in the future.

This book is an absolute "must-read" for managers seeking to maximize their firm's performance.