Strategic Management 5e
Awareness, Analysis and Change
http://www.bized.co.uk/premier/titles/thompsonmartin.htm

John L. Thompson, University of Huddersfield
Frank Martin, University of Stirling
ISBN-13: 9781844800834
eISBN-13: 9781844808373
ISBN: 1844800830
eISBN: 1844808378
Strategic management 5e is essential reading for all students of strategy at undergraduate, diploma and MBA level. Structured around a traditional analysis, formulation and implementation framework, based on a mini-case approach, and supported by unrivalled supplementary resources, John Thompson's accessible text encourages students to think about strategy through the successes and failures of real companies. In addition, the unrivalled subject coverage introduces readers to topics of contemporary interest including emergent strategy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Chapter Abstracts

• Ch. 1 Introducing the Strategy Process
  Chapter One covers strategic management and strategic change; corporate, competitive and functional strategies; strategic management in terms of three interrelated aspects - awareness, choice and implementation tactics, position and pattern; the three broad approaches to strategy creation, namely visionary ideas, planning and emergency and how to understand the place of strategy in small businesses, the public sector and nonprofit organizations
• Ch. 2 The Business Model: The Organisation Mission and Objectives
  Chapter Two covers the business model; the terms vision, mission and objectives; the various stakeholders of the organization and assess their impact on objectives; economic theories of the firm which help explain objectives and decisions; the significance of profits; the possible objectives of certain not-for-profit organizations; official and operative objectives, the impact of personal objectives and policies and explain how they are used to help achieve objectives and the key issues involved in social responsibility and business ethics
• Ch. 3 Strategic Thinking
  Chapter Three covers the difference between the market- or opportunity-driven, resource-based and competitor-influenced views of strategy, the three views frequently integrated in strategy creation, how some strategies are tactical responses to competition in a dynamic external environment explain why thinking is vital in strategy creation and implementation and how to define synergy and explain its significance in both competitive and corporate strategy
• Ch. 4 Environmental Analysis and Strategic Positioning
  Chapter Four covers that opportunity-driven strategy depending upon an ability to manage and to manage in the business environment; issues of complexity, dynamism and uncertainty in relation to the organization's environment; changes ehich might be forecast; the important aspects of government policy on competition and its regulation; the organization as an open system and PEST analysis to assess the impact of a number of environmental forces; Porter's five forces model for analysing the attractiveness of an industry; the significance of effective strategic positioning and adding value; SWOT analysis; scenario planning and constructing an experience curve and explain its significance
• Ch. 5 Resource-Led Strategy
  Chapter Five covers the resource-based view of strategy, strategic resource audit for an organization, how competitive advantage might be created through adding value in any functional area of the business, it is related to intrapreneurship in established organizations, the critical strategic contribution of people, the key aspects and implications of employee empowerment, what is meant by the term learning organization, the importance of information in strategic decision-making, the contribution information technology can make and the significance of personal perspectives, the ways in which the Internet has affected company strategies - and continues to do so, an organizational value chain and explain how it might be used for evaluating competitive advantage and the significance of branding and corporate reputation as an organizational asset
• Ch. 6 Competitive Strategy
  Chapter Six covers the notion of dynamic, tactical change in a competitive environment, product (service) differentiation and cost leadership, their role in the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage; and how Michael Porter used these themes to create four important generic strategies, why competitive strategies must be changed in a dynamic environment if any advantage is to be sustained, a number of key competitive platforms and how an organization can evaluate its competitive strategies against those of its competitors
• Ch. 7 Success, Culture and Values
  Chapter Seven covers the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness, how success might be measured and assessed, the significance of financial measures of performance, how strategic competency and admiration are important themes in a holistic approach to evaluation, the difficulties involved in measuring the effective performance of many not-for-profit organizations, the impact of corporate culture on the management of an organization, and on managers and other employees, the manifestations of culture in an organization, Handy's four organizational cultures, different sources of power and how broad cultures differ throughout the world and the important aspects of Japanese business culture
• Ch. 8 Strategy Creation
  Chapter Eight shows the distinction between three broad modes of strategy creation - the planning, visionary and emergent approaches, how emergent strategy includes adapting to new opportunities and changing intended strategies incrementally as they are implemented, how an overreliance on formal planning systems can bring about a strategic crisis and the relevance of military planning for understanding business strategy creation
• Ch. 9 Strategic Planning
  Chapter Nine covers how to distinguish between planning as a cerebral activity carried out by all managers and systematic strategic (or corporate) planning, a number of approaches to corporate planning and, in relation to these, who should be involved in planning, the concept of the planning gap, what is involved in a contemporary approach to planning, the contribution of a number of planning techniques, how corporate planning would be used in the public sector and the idea of spheres of influence
• Ch. 10 Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
  Chapter Ten covers the term strategic leadership, how a strategic leader is responsible for the meta-strategy which embraces creation and implementation, factors which contribute towards effective strategic leadership, how to differentiate between a number of different leader styles, a number of critical leadership issues such as finite shelf-lives and succession, visionary leadership, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and the conditions for making an organization intrapreneurial
• Ch. 11 Strategic Alternatives, Strategy Evaluation and Strategy Selection
  Chapter Eleven covers a number of possible strategic alternatives, separated into limited growth, substantive growth and retrenchment clusters, innovation and show how it is essential for sustaining competitiveness, how selected strategies might be implemented through internal or external growth, how organizations pursue different strategic alternatives and means at various times in their development, the key criteria for evaluating the appropriateness, feasibility and desirability of a particular strategic alternative, why there might be a trade-off between these factors, the contribution to this evaluation of techniques described earlier in the book, a number of alternative theories of decision-making and explain why subjectivity can sometimes result in poor decisions and the role of judgement in strategic choice
• Ch. 12 Strategic Growth.
  Chapter Twelve covers the typical growth patterns of large companies, the issues involved in the key focus-diversify dilemma, the extent of diversification in various countries, highlighting how the extent of diversification has changed in recent years, why organizations might seek to diversify, often by acquisition, the risks involved in this strategic alternative, why acquisitions often fail to bring the desired level of benefits, the stages involved in designing an effective acquisition strategy, why strategic alliances and joint ventures might be preferred to acquisition or takeover as a strategic means of growth, alternative forms of strategic alliances and joint ventures, giving examples of each, the key issues involved in implementing such strategies effectively and appreciate the potential value of franchising and licensing in supporting growth
• Ch. 13 International Strategy
  Chapter Thirteen covers how the issues covered in Chapters 11 and 12 can be applied at an international level, what is meant by a global strategy, why internationalism is essential for many organizations, the important considerations in international strategies, a simple stage model of international development, the value and relevance of different market entry strategies in an international context, how franchising has been behind the growth of a number of well-known international brands and a number of constraints and outline a selection of possible future influences on international growth
• Ch. 14 Failure, Consolidation and Recovery Strategies
  Chapter Fourteen covers the four possible outcomes of strategic change when companies are in difficulties, a number of retrenchment and turnaround strategies, the thinking behind divestment strategies and the implementation issues involved, the key issues behind management buy-outs and buy-ins, which strategies are important during a recession, the possible strategies for individual competitors in declining industries, what is meant by corporate decline and failure, the main symptoms of failure, the most likely causes of decline and a Z-score, a possible predictor of corporate failure
• Ch. 15 Strategy Implementation
  Chapter Fifteen covers the vital significance of strategy implementation, how strategy and structure are linked in a circular process, the processes involved in the implementation of both intended and emergent strategies, the problems inherent in implementing strategic change effectively, the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization, five basic structural forms which an organization might adopt and why structures evolve and change as organizations develop and grow
• Ch. 16 Managing Strategy in the Organisation
  Chapter Sixteen covers a number of alternative approaches to the management of a corporate portfolio, how to distinguish between the alternative control mechanisms which large, diverse organizations might use, the terms heartland' and 'corporate parenting' and explain their significance and implications, the role and contribution of corporate headquarters to large, multibusiness organizations, the role and skills of general managers in these organizations, organizations at the beginning of the twenty-first century, how to distinguish between resource allocation issues at corporate and business unit level, risk and the risks faced by organizations and how they might be approached and managed and the main issues in crisis avoidance and management
• Ch. 17 Leading Change
  Chapter Seventeen covers the dynamics of change and change management and why organizations must be change-oriented if they are to grow and prosper, the major forces for change and types of change situation, and draw up a hierarchy of levels of change, how change can be incremental or more discontinuous and transformational, why people frequently resist change, alternative ways of overcoming resistance, different approaches to the planned management of change, the importance of power and how it is used in change situations and ways in which managers can improve their political effectiveness in organizations
• Ch. 18 Final Thoughts
  Chapter Eighteen covers the purpose of strategy and why we study it, the ten key determinants of strategy, the relative significance of various strategic competencies for individual organizations, the key strategic paradoxes introduced in Part One and debated throughout the book and a model for a crisis-averse organization