General Management

Stop! If you have been looking for the one resource for managing a business of any size, this is it. Based on the extensive business experience of five experts, this authoritative guide provides an in-depth look at what every leader must know about managing across departments, functions, divisions, or companies. Drawing on decades of combined experience, John Colley and colleagues detail the wide range of skills, tools, and conceptual understanding as well as the qualities of leadership that a successful general manager must acquire. In an era of specialization and specialists, the authors return due focus to the generalist. No other book so passionately and thoroughly examines the roles and responsibilities of the general manager and the full scope of this distinct, pressure-filled occupation. The authors explore the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the job and discuss how the skilled manager moves an organization from abstract goals to definitive action. For every profit center or plant manager, function head, division president, or CEO, this book is indispensable reading.

This concise overview of the practice and processes of management in the African context is the first of its kind, and the introductory volume in the new Essentials of Business and Management in Africa short-form textbook series. This book covers the activities that all managers undertake regardless of their functional specialization and is organised around a model of management that consists of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. After introducing each topic, the authors discuss particular characteristics of Africa and African countries and how these influence the topic being covered; for example, relative levels of poverty, prevalence of small and informal businesses and the inadequacy of infrastructure will influence aspects of planning and decision-making, and motivation. Each chapter includes illustrative real-life examples and experiential exercises/short cases. The book begins with a general overview of the African continent and ends with discussions of ethical issues and corporate social responsibility including the management philosophy of Ubuntu. Undergraduate and postgraduate students in Africa and other parts of the world with an interest in the area will appreciate the focus on a region so little discussed in the business and management literature. Due to this dearth of material, this book will also appeal to current and future practicing managers in African countries.

This book provides an examination of the general manager, which encompasses their roles as strategist, organizational designer and institutional leader. Instead of exclusively focusing on the economic aspect of general management, this book explores a humanist perspective based on the conviction that maintaining high ethical standards is a precondition to the healthy, long-term prosperity of firms and, more importantly, the development of employees. Bringing together a team of contributors from several prestigious business schools in Spain, Portugal, and Central and South America, this book develops the field of general management through academic thinking, research and practical experience in the form of original and relevant case studies from the perspective of Ibero-American business communities. After explaining the foundations of its call for humanist general management practices, the authors focus on themes inherent to strategy and organizing such as sustainability, business model innovation, strategy in emerging markets, strategic alliances, digital strategy and organizational learning. They conclude by focusing on institutional leadership, and provide a fresh look at boards of directors, risk management, family businesses, stakeholder management and the work of CEOs. General Management in Latin and Ibero-American Organizations is an invaluable resource that will be of great interest to practitioners and students in the field of international business, management, organization studies, strategy in emerging markets, leadership and corporate governance.