Strategy Books
"Strategy in Practice"
Strategy in Practice is designed to help experienced managers who are involved in, or who will be involved in, trying to debate their firm’s strategy. The emphasis is on trying to answer some fundamental questions about the firm’s future direction. In addressing these questions, some analytical techniques and frameworks are explained. The emphasis is on the quality of the strategy debate, and the concepts explained are "tools for thought".
All the tools explained in the book have been developed and used with top executive teams – they have been demonstrated to be useful in helping managers to think strategically. The book is structured to help answer the following questions: what markets should we be trying to compete in? how should we try to compete in these segments? what key competencies do we need to build to realise this competitive strategy? what do we look like now? and how can we move forward?
"Creating Market Insight"
Creating Market Insight addresses the key strategic issue facing any company: How do we make sense of our market and find those precious nuggets of knowledge that lead to real competitive advantage?
Creating Market Insight explains how firms tailor their market scanning behaviour to work well in the special conditions of their market; describes the process through which data is translated first into information, and then knowledge; differentiates routine market knowledge from true insight and details how firms turn insight into value; and, provides a detailed, step-by-step process that enables the reader to emulate the success of insightful firms. Creating Market Insight is written for managers who need to need to create value in the real world.
"The Essence of Competitive Strategy"
Within the field of strategic management, competitive strategy is concerned with the core issues of where and how to compete. The book is concerned with strategy at the individual business unit (or SBU) level.
It asks the following questions: where should we compete? what products should we compete with? and how will we gain sustainable competitive advantage in these chosen markets?
It focuses on these issues and provides a unique framework for developing viable competitive strategies using two interrelated matrices: the customer matrix and the producer matrix.
"Designing World Class Corporate Strategies: Value Creating Roles for Corporate Centres"
Designing World Class Corporate Strategies considers the key role of corporate centres within the very large, primarily multi-business organisations. At present, these corporate centres are under attack as not creating value and merely adding cost to their groups.
The authors have developed a corporate configurations model which demonstrates four ways in which corporate centres can add significant value. However this requires the centre to act in specific ways depending on the external environment in which the group is operating.
Strategy Books:
- Strategy in Practice
- Creating Market Insight
- The Essence of Competitive Strategy
- Designing World Class Corporate Strategies: Value Creating Roles for Corporate Centres
Strategy Research Watch:
- How Do You Create Market Insight?
- First Mover Advantage – Is It Worth it?
- Organisational Reputation and Economic Payoff – Is It Better to Be Good or Known?
- Customer Service - Real or Feigned and Does It Matter?
- What's the Evidence on Evidence-Based Management?
Strategy Papers:
Our strategy papers are regularly published in leading strategy and management journals. To view a selection of our papers please click on the titles below:
- Strategy in Uncertain Environments
- Strategic Intelligent Cost Reduction (ICR)
- Building the Experimenting Organisation
- Simple Rules in Not For Profit Environments
- Beneficiary Doctrine in Not For Profit Organisations
- Strategy Diagnostic Workshop
- Generic Strategies: A Substitute for Thinking?
- What Does Value Mean and How is it Created, Maintained, and Destroyed?
- How the Resource-based and the Dynamic Capability Views of the Firm Inform Corporate-level Strategy
- Strategy Workshops and Top-Team Commitment to Strategic Change
- How to Determine Your Future Resource Creation Processes
- Tacit Knowledge - Some Suggestions for Operationalization
- Top Management Ownership of the Strategy Problem
- Formulating Strategy
- Strategy Making: What Have We Learned About Forecasting The Future?