Navigating Strategic Decisions

Based on four decades of experience and research, Navigating Strategic Decisions: The Power of Sound Analysis and Forecasting explains how to improve the decision-making process in your organization through the use of better long-term forecasts and decision support. Filled with time-tested methodologies and models, it provides you with the tools to establish the organization, processes, methods, and techniques required for analyzing and forecasting strategic decisions. Describing how to foster the conditions required for forecasts to materialize, this book will help you rank project valuations and select higher value creation projects. It also teaches you how to: Assess the commercial feasibility of large projects Apply sanity checks to forecasts and assess their resource implications Benchmark best-in-class strategic forecasting organizations, processes, and practices Identify project risks and manage project uncertainty Analyze forecasting models and scenarios to determine controllable levers Pinpoint factors needed to ensure that forecasted future states materialize as expected This book provides you with the benefit of the author’s decades of hands-on experience. In this book, John Triantis shares valuable insights on strategic planning, new product development, portfolio management, and business development groups. Describing how to provide world-class support to your corporate, market, and other planning functions, the book provides you with the tools to consistently make improved decisions that are based on hard data, balanced evaluations, well considered scenarios, and sound forecasts.

Readers and leaders interested in planning and leadership in higher education will receive two primary benefits from the book Navigating Through Turburlent Times........ First, a strategic decision making model that they can apply with their leadership teams in universities, systems and Boards. Second, they will be exposed to real life experiences from turbulent or unstable environments that they will likely confront during their careers. The six components of the strategic decision making model are laid out in detail and used as the focus for recognizing and resolving issues that contribute to instability. The integration of the model with the actual experiences provides leaders and their support teams with a comprehensive tool to address current and future challenges. The model components include: 1) an organizational mentality committed to strategic thinking, 2) a maximum amount of historical data and information for analysis to inform decision makers, 3) highly globalized scans of the future integrated with other decision making information, 4) ongoing strategic planning processes, 5) transparency to incorporate all key constituencies in planning and 6) a planning and assessment framework that allows leaders to weigh and filter information into thoughtfully constructed strategic alternatives and action plans. The success of the model is based on the integration of all components, with strategic thinking permeating all aspects of decision making. Ultimately leaders and leaders in waiting will be able to better anticipate and resolve problems through the use of the six major interactive components of the model. Problems (as reflected through the experiences) that create instability such as dramatic funding reductions, unanticipated leadership successions, rapidly increasing student costs, limited communications with constituencies, limited planning and strategic thinking, etc. can be considered from the outset of thoughtful, strategic planning and thinking exercises and not simply "fixed" after alternative strategies are in place.

Over the past ten years, there has been growing interest in the process of strategic decision-making among both managers and researchers. Strategic decisions are important for five main reasons: They are large-scale, risky and hard to reverse; they are a bridge between deliberate and emerging strategies; they can be a major source of organizational learning; they play an important part in the development of individual managers and they cut accross functions and academic disciplines. Strategic Decisions summarizes the current state of the art in research on strategic decision-making, with chapters prepared by leading strategy researchers. The editors also present implications for current application and proposed directions for future research.

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision." - Helen Keller. Are you ready to see your leadership challenges with new eyes? " DECISION DYNAMICS," the latest transformative entry in the acclaimed "LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMED" series. This book is a deep dive into the art and science of decision-making that will challenge you to rethink how you lead and make strategic choices. What will you discover? Unlock the Psychology of Decision-Making: Learn how decisions are made and how to improve them. Understand the common pitfalls of decision biases and how to avoid them using a blend of intuition and analysis. Master Problem-Solving Strategies: Navigate complex problems with ease. Enhance your ability to tackle challenges head-on, from identifying issues to implementing solutions. Harness Data-Driven Insights: Leverage analytics and data to make informed decisions that align with your strategic goals. Cultivate Ethical Leadership: Make decisions that are effective, ethically sound, and aligned with your values. Empower Teams for Better Outcomes: Discover how to foster an environment where collaborative decision-making thrives. Decision Dynamics offers a meticulous blend of theory and practical tools, including: Scenario analysis exercises Decision-making simulations SWOT analysis templates Risk assessment frameworks And much more! Who should read this book? Whether you are a seasoned executive seeking to refine your strategic decisions, a mid-level manager aiming to improve your team's effectiveness, or an emerging leader building your decision-making arsenal, Decision Dynamics will equip you with the tools and insights needed to succeed. Join us on this journey to transform your decision-making skills and elevate your leadership to new heights. Your next big decision starts here! Are you ready to make decisions that solve problems, drive growth, and inspire your team? If yes, Decision Dynamics is your indispensable guide to becoming the visionary leader you aspire to be.

What is Strategic Management In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization operates. Strategic management provides overall direction to an enterprise and involves specifying the organization's objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve those objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans. Academics and practicing managers have developed numerous models and frameworks to assist in strategic decision-making in the context of complex environments and competitive dynamics. Strategic management is not static in nature; the models can include a feedback loop to monitor execution and to inform the next round of planning. How you will benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Strategic management Chapter 2: Marketing Chapter 3: Strategic planning Chapter 4: Marketing management Chapter 5: Competitive advantage Chapter 6: Competitor analysis Chapter 7: Porter's five forces analysis Chapter 8: SWOT analysis Chapter 9: Porter's generic strategies Chapter 10: Strategy dynamics Chapter 11: Marketing strategy Chapter 12: Value chain Chapter 13: Michael Porter Chapter 14: Strategist Chapter 15: Situation analysis Chapter 16: Resource-based view Chapter 17: Diversification (marketing strategy) Chapter 18: Productive efficiency Chapter 19: Hypercompetition Chapter 20: Strategic competitiveness Chapter 21: Strategy and uncertainty (II) Answering the public top questions about strategic management. (III) Real world examples for the usage of strategic management in many fields. Who this book is for Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Strategic Management.

Turbulence is not new to the business world. In fact, turbulence is increasing, and managers are seeing teams spinning their wheels. Management systems are in a state of crisis and operations are more complex. The old top-down operations mode no longer suffices. Today's businesses demand speed and increased accuracy, forcing everyone to re-evaluate chains of command and tear down the walls between functions. Amid the responsibilities of traditional management lies problem solving. The push is toward moving decision-making authority down the ladder to all levels. Managers are no longer equipped to or capable of making the number and variety of necessary decisions in a vacuum. The current mode is to have employees deal directly with workplace issues and take corrective action without complaint and without management involvement. Coping with this reality and preparation for these improvements in workplace problem solving requires interest and motivation. Strategic Decision Making for Successful Planning can facilitate this by demystifying and simplifying the process. The book bridges philosophy and theory and puts together a practical integration of all the tools necessary to get results from your investment of time, energy, and money. What is unique about this book is while it's based on a strong academic foundation, it does not get bogged down in the human-planning or psychological process of solving problems. It doesn't provide "pie-in-the-sky" creative solutions or a five-year process for solving problems and planning for the future. Numerous techniques and tools are included to make the book the right balance between practical and academic. The book also includes an extensive case study to illustrate points made in the text.

This open access book clarifies confusions of strategy that have existed for nearly 40 years through the core thoughts of three fundamental elements. Unlike the traditional definition of strategy as "a plan to achieve a long-term goal from overall considerations”in a linear view, this book defines strategy from non-linear viewpoint as it is in the real world. The art of a strategy lies not only in the determination of development goals, but also in the identification of development problems and putting forward overall guiding ideology of solving problems. Rich illustrations as well as numerous business and military cases are presented in helping readers to understand the fundamental elements of strategy.The general scope of the book includes introductions to the three fundamental elements of strategy, three-sub decisions of a complete strategic decision, incomplete strategies, relationship between tactic and strategy, three elements of competitive and corporative strategies. There may be biases in company-level, real strategic decision-making which makes a complete strategy not necessarily a perfect one. The book introduces biases and reasons for the biases, helping industrial strategic decision-makers understand the importance of knowing the nature of the company, the industry and its environment. In addition, this book also presents principles and evaluation approaches of strategic decisions, explores the reasons for the excessive definitions of the strategy concept, and discusses directions of future’s research tasks.The book will benefit business managers who are interested in knowing what a complete strategic decision is and how to avoid errors or biases in strategic decision-making. It also benefits students in business schools (especially in MBA/EMBA programs) who are (or will be) on executive positions. Academic researchers may find it is interesting to understand strategy from the view of the three elements. The new view provides a novel insight into strategy and promotes several research directions in the future. The three elements of strategy are also applicable to military strategies and readers who are interested in military and may find its value as well.