Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making
The effectiveness of a good strategy well implemented determines a business' future success or failure. Yet history is full of strategic decisions, big and small, that were ill-conceived, poorly organized and consequently disastrous. This updated guide looks at the whole process of strategic decision-making, from vision, forecasting, and resource allocation, through to implementation and innovation.

Strategy is about understanding where you are now, where you are heading and how you will get there. There is no room for timidity or confusion. Although the CEO and the board decide a company's overall direction, it is the managers at all levels of the organization who will determine how the vision can be transformed into action. In short, everyone is involved in strategy.

But getting it right involves difficult choices: which customers to target, what products to offer, and the best way to keep costs low and service high. And constantly changing business conditions inevitably bring risks. Even after business strategy has been developed, a company must remain nimble and alert to change, and view strategy as an ongoing and evolving process.

The message of this guide is simple: strategy matters, and getting it right is fundamental to business success.
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Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making
The effectiveness of a good strategy well implemented determines a business' future success or failure. Yet history is full of strategic decisions, big and small, that were ill-conceived, poorly organized and consequently disastrous. This updated guide looks at the whole process of strategic decision-making, from vision, forecasting, and resource allocation, through to implementation and innovation.

Strategy is about understanding where you are now, where you are heading and how you will get there. There is no room for timidity or confusion. Although the CEO and the board decide a company's overall direction, it is the managers at all levels of the organization who will determine how the vision can be transformed into action. In short, everyone is involved in strategy.

But getting it right involves difficult choices: which customers to target, what products to offer, and the best way to keep costs low and service high. And constantly changing business conditions inevitably bring risks. Even after business strategy has been developed, a company must remain nimble and alert to change, and view strategy as an ongoing and evolving process.

The message of this guide is simple: strategy matters, and getting it right is fundamental to business success.
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Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making

Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making

Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making

Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making

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Overview

The effectiveness of a good strategy well implemented determines a business' future success or failure. Yet history is full of strategic decisions, big and small, that were ill-conceived, poorly organized and consequently disastrous. This updated guide looks at the whole process of strategic decision-making, from vision, forecasting, and resource allocation, through to implementation and innovation.

Strategy is about understanding where you are now, where you are heading and how you will get there. There is no room for timidity or confusion. Although the CEO and the board decide a company's overall direction, it is the managers at all levels of the organization who will determine how the vision can be transformed into action. In short, everyone is involved in strategy.

But getting it right involves difficult choices: which customers to target, what products to offer, and the best way to keep costs low and service high. And constantly changing business conditions inevitably bring risks. Even after business strategy has been developed, a company must remain nimble and alert to change, and view strategy as an ongoing and evolving process.

The message of this guide is simple: strategy matters, and getting it right is fundamental to business success.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781610394765
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 05/26/2015
Series: Economist Books
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jeremy Kourdi is a business consultant and executive coach, founding director of the executive coaching firm Entendeo Ltd, and the author of twenty-five books. Formerly senior vice president with the Economist, he has also worked with a wide range of organizations including The Economist Group, Duke Corporate Education, HSBC, Novartis, Pearson, Tetra Pak, Zurich/Farmers Insurance, the IMD Business School and London Business School. He also has an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Kent.

Table of Contents

List of figures x

List of tables x

Part 1 Understanding Strategy

1 What is business strategy? 3

A clear view 3

What strategy is not 7

The choice of strategy 8

Avoiding pitfalls 9

Key questions 12

2 What strategic thinking can achieve 14

Creating value for customers 15

Understanding your organisation's purpose 16

Creating value for the organisation 20

Key questions 21

3 The different views of strategy 23

The classical administrator 23

The design planner 25

The role player 26

The competitive positioner 27

The visionary transformer 31

The self-organiser 34

The turnaround strategist 34

Choosing the right approach 36

Understanding the different views of strategy 40

Taking account of the unexpected 41

Key questions 44

Part 2 Developing Strategy

4 Forces that shape business strategy 49

The past matters 49

The undiscovered country: the future 58

Key questions 66

5 Scenarios 67

Taking the right road 67

Avoiding business-as-usual thinking 71

Scenario planning 72

Using scenarios 75

Key questions 79

6 Involving and engaging stakeholders 80

Mapping an organisation's stakeholders 80

Building a stakeholder map 81

Managing an organisation's stakeholders 82

Moving beyond transactions 91

Key questions 91

7 Resources and strategy 92

The benefits of a resource-based view 92

Avoiding pitfalls 95

Understanding resources 97

Identifying resources 98

Accessing performance over time 99

Managing and developing resources 100

Benefiting from the interdependence of resources 101

Assessing why performance has followed a particular path 102

Upgrading your resources 103

Key questions 104

8 Strategies for growth 106

Organic growth 106

Mergers and acquisitions 109

Strategic alliances, partnering and joint ventures 114

Diversification 117

Specialisation 118

Balancing core and context 118

The perils of growth 119

Key questions 120

9 Developing a business strategy and thinking strategically 122

The essence of successful strategies 122

Developing a business strategy 124

Thinking strategically 132

Key questions 134

Part 3 Implementing Strategy

10 Vision 137

Guiding visions at work 138

The characteristics of a compelling vision 140

Developing a guiding vision 140

Communicating the vision 140

Using the vision 141

Getting commitment to the vision 141

Avoiding pitfalls 142

Key questions 142

11 Leading people through change 144

Leadership lessons in an era of volatility and change 144

21st-century leadership 150

Developing your leadership style 162

Leading people through change 166

Key questions 170

12 Implementing business strategy 172

Leading change 172

Achieving employee engagement 174

The balanced scorecard technique 179

Avoiding pitfalls 182

Key questions 186

13 Strategic innovation 187

Understanding innovation 187

21st-century innovators 189

Building a culture of innovation 193

Bottom-up and top-down innovation 195

Deep-dive prototyping 196

Value innovation 196

Avoiding pitfalls 198

Key questions 200

14 Competitiveness and customer focus 202

The nature of competition 202

The impact of competition 204

Techniques for building competitiveness 205

Avoiding problems with competitors 209

Achieving customer focus 210

Techniques to ensure customer focus 215

Key questions 217

15 Sales, marketing and brand management 220

Pricing 220

Selling 223

Internet sales 226

Brand management 230

Customer loyalty 232

Key questions 234

16 Managing knowledge and information 237

The strategic value of knowledge and information 237

Techniques for managing knowledge and information 239

Information orientation 243

Organisational learning 246

Key questions 249

17 Managing finance and risk 251

Improving profitability 251

Avoiding pitfalls 257

Reducing and managing business risks 258

Key questions 265

18 Making strategic decisions 267

Operational business decisions 267

Decisions involving legal issues 271

Problem solving 272

International business decisions 281

Avoiding pitfalls 289

Key questions 292

Notes and references 292

Index 299

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