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Preface
Our vision in writing this
book is to offer a strategy text that will introduce students to the field of strategic
management and excite them about the dynamic nature of the business world. Today's
business students are tomorrow's business leaders, so it's appropriate that the most
distinctive feature of the book is its emphasis on general managers. The text builds on
recent developments in the management research literature and Peter Senge's book, The
Fifth Discipline, to highlight the important role of managers in the formulation and
implementation of strategy. The text's organizing framework suggests that managers' mental
models their beliefs and understandings influence strategic decision making.
The text then examines how managers' decisions and their firms' resulting strategies can
lead to the development of unique resources and capabilities that can be the source of
sustained competitive advantage and high performance.
Three key themes are
emphasized throughout the text and further reinforced in the cases;
First, this book places
managers at center stage by focusing on how managerial thinking influences strategy
formulation and implementation. Because managers make the decisions that form the basis of
strategies, the only way to understand and fully appreciate the strategy formulation and
implementation processes is to examine the thinking that causes managers to make a
particular set of decisions rather than some other set of decisions. The text draws on the
latest concepts and theories from management practice and academic research to examine
managerial thinking and decision making.
The text also emphasizes the
importance of change and the need to think dynamically about strategic management.
Strategies that are effective today will almost certainly be ineffective in the future
because companies do not enjoy the luxury of competing in static worlds. Demographic
changes produce new customer needs and wants, while the emergence of new technologies
leads to the development of new products and services, so firms' industry environments are
constantly changing. One entire chapter of the text (Chapter 5) is devoted to exploring
the ongoing evolution of industry environments.
Finally, the book
underscores the importance of organizational learning. Knowledge resides in organizations
in the heads of managers and employees, in routines and standard operating procedures, and
in the equipment and technologies that are employed. As the business world becomes
increasingly knowledge-intensive, the ability to learn, store, retrieve, and exploit new
knowledge and information will become a key source of competitive advantage. The book
therefore examines how managers can mobilize the knowledge residing in employees and in
organizational capabilities and processes to develop and maintain competitive advantage.
Discussion is included on
topics such as the problems associated with price competition, the use of litigation as a
competitive weapon, the unique challenges of service businesses, and the limitations of
boards or directors.
890 pages