How can managers analyze their current and future business strategies? This textbook introduces the fields of business analysis and strategic management to provide students with an understanding of the key questions that need to be asked to understand an organization's options.
The second part of the book provides tools and techniques to help organize and improve corporate strategy. Uniquely, the authors provide resources to assess aspects of strategic goals which are sometimes overlooked such as financial performance, ethical and environmental considerations and business models. They cover a diverse range of companies from Supermarkets like Aldi and Tesco to Caermory Whiskey and Chinese manufacturing.
This textbook is perfect reading for students who want to apply strategic thinking to organizations and benefits from the inclusion of new case studies throughout the text as well as 10 extended cases in a separate section.
Part I: The Four Big Questions You Need to Ask 1. The First Big Question: Where is the organisation now? 2. The Second Big Question: What options are open to the organisation? 3. The Third Big Question: What is the best way forward for the organisation? 4. The Fourth Big Question: How is this to be achieved? Part II: Helping You Answer the Four Big Questions 5. Organisation Structure and Strategy 6. Strategy Making Processes 7. Organisation Environments 8. Market Based Competitive Advantage 9. Organisation Resources 10. Financial Performance and Investment Appraisal 11. Corporate Social Responsibility Part III: Case Studies 12. Case Studies: Analysis and synthesis 12.1. Caermory Whisky 12.2. Continuum and the Mackenzie Group of Companies 12.3. KH: Change in the Third Sector 12.4. Loyalty and Competition in a Changing Market Place: The Supermarket Challenge 12.5. Morrison Supermarkets Plc. Part 1(1899 - 2007) 12.6. Wm. Morrison Supermarkets Plc- Part 2(2008 - 2015) 12.7. Tesco : Losing ground in the UK 12.8. Aldi: A Low-Cost Retail Giant's Distinctive Business Practices 12.9. British Retailer Sainsbury's: On the Road to Recovery 12.10. Bags of Luck - The Beginning of the End of Chinese Surrogate Manufacture? 12.11. Cool-Comfort Shoes International Company Limited and Its Ace-of-Biz
