FIVE

Take It andMake It Your Own

Not every hardball strategy requires great originality of thought or the creation of something brand new. Many businesses achieve success by recognizing the value of an existing idea, practice, or business model and making it their own.

Ray Kroc didn’t invent the fast food restaurant or the assembly line burger. He recognized the potential of Dick and Mac McDonald’s Southern California burger joint, cut a deal to franchise it, built the McDonald’s Corporation, and eventually bought out the founding brothers. (Kroc first spotted the business as an anomaly—he was the exclusive distributor of a milkshake machine called the Multimixer and was amazed when he learned that the McDonald’s restaurant had ordered eight ...

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