New Book

A unique collection of briefing papers on:

Business Strategy

A compendium of winning ideas, essential techniques, unique insights and cutting-edge trends in international business management

David Norman

This book is a compilation of executive briefing papers designed to be insightful, critical and concise reviews of topical international business issues of concern to senior executives. Each article is around 1000 or so words with a couple of original charts and references for follow-up reading. Individual paper topics typically took between two and four weeks of dedicated completely original desk research, writing and publishing to complete. This was underpinned by a continuous on-going topical management literature scanning and reading commitment.

They were originally researched, written and published by the Author as an annual subscription service for the international Management Advantage Programme (iMAP between 1991 and 1994. In issuing them for the first time in book form they have been published here completely unaltered. Despite more than a decade having passed since the original work (before the internet and emails!) it is amazing that much of what was researched and written is just as valid today as when it was first published. Very little has changed on many topics. They could rightly be called classics having stood the test of time well.

Besides the contents pages the free chapter sample PDF download contains three topics drawn from different sections. From STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - The Changing Focus of Management - Four decades of management fads and fashions - from MBO to empowerment. Find out the winners for the future? From CUSTOMERS - The ‘Customer Satisfaction’ Blunder - Why merely satisfying customers is not enough. How to ‘enchant’ them to increase loyalty that doubles profits. From COMPETITION - Reconfiguring for Lean Supremacy - Challenges seriously flawed assumptions about cost behaviour and customer value. Different approaches essential for success.

For your FREE ‘Business Strategy’ sample book chapters PDF download or buy online now.

Book Chapter Synopsis

Introduction

  1. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
    1. The Changing Focus of Management
      Four decades of management fads and fashions - from MBO to empowerment. Find out the winners for the future?
    2. Tomorrow’s Firm
      Discover what makes a learning organisation, lean corporation, reengineered firm and an intelligent enterprise.
    3. Reinventing the Firm
      Relentless expansion of ‘clever’ value added will guarantee prosperity. Customer obsessed, lean, process managed, intelligent and liberated is the way of the future.

  2. CUSTOMERS
    1. The ‘Customer Satisfaction’ Blunder
      Why merely satisfying customers is not enough. How to ‘enchant’ them to increase loyalty that doubles profits.
    2. Targeting the Best Customers
      Markets don’t buy anything, only customers do. Why dynamic segmentation will help you win a bigger market share.
    3. The Service Quality Conundrum
      Why so many well intentioned initiatives fail. How to go about differentiating products and services for market leadership.

  3. COMPETITION
    1. The West’s Competitivemess
      Several international studies confirm managerial ineptitude as the basis of relative declining prosperity, and what to do about it.
    2. Reconfiguring for Lean Supremacy
      Challenges seriously flawed assumptions about cost behaviour and customer value. Different approaches essential for success
    3. Having it All
      Explains being ‘better than the best’. Ultra low cost, superior quality, high productivity and exceptional flexibility are vital.

  4. INFORMATION STRATEGY
    1. Why Information Strategies Fail
      Why IT has not lived up to expectations. Picking the right techniques is essential to setting successful investment priorities.
    2. Business Process Reengineering
      Takes the mystery out of BPR. Shows how firms reduce costs by 70% and time-to-market by 80%. Explains 5 steps to success.
    3. Getting Reengineering Right
      How to avoid failure and guarantee success. Refocus corporate energy on the 9 largely ignored people management processes.

  5. CREATIVE DECISION-MAKING
    1. Better Ideas into Faster Action
      Visual Reframing is a devastating competitive weapon. Learn about making 10 times better decisions in 60% less time.
    2. The Tyranny of the Flipchart
      Modern brainstorming for action and results works by getting the best out of people. Reduced conflict, stress and meeting time. Improved commitment, creativity and team-spirit.
    3. New Frontiers in Decision-Making
      The next step beyond visual reframing - transitional reframing. Underpinned with computer software to broaden each participants thinking skills and deliver faster more insightful results.

  6. CULTURE AND CHANGE
    1. Making Change Stick
      Examines why many popular change methods are ineffective. Tells you about many valuable and novel approaches which really work.
    2. Thinking in Loops
      Learn faster than your competitors. A review of several modern systems methods and what they can do to help management performance.
    3. Breaking the Mindset
      Why we are unable to act effectively in the face of stagnating performance. Twelve fundamental mindshifts that are needed for improvement.

For your FREE ‘Business Strategy’ sample book chapters PDF download or buy online now.