The Strategy Compass

This book is ideal for all MBA students everywhere in the world and also for senior managers interested in strategy or strategic planning. As its title implies it is a strategy compass which will unerringly guide its users to sustained success. It has been used with many companies and many MBA groups.

This text by Cliff Bowman and David Asch is designed for courses in strategic management, business strategy and business policy. It will be particularly suitable for MBAs, post experience students and undergraduates taking a one semester course. It will also appeal to practising managers in a wide range of organisations who are interested in developing a sound understanding of strategic issues. The book avoids an overly theoretical approach, concentrating instead on new ideas concerning the content and process of strategy and blending this with empirical findings in the area. The result is a book which focuses on implementing strategy, taking a more action oriented approach. Case study material arising from many years of teaching in leading management schools world-wide has also been included to make this an ideal text for a variety of courses.

Different strategies lead to different supply chains, and a lack of strategic choices leads to a blurred focus. This book introduces the concept of the 'strategy-driven supply chain', which changes the role of supply chain from operational-tactical to tactical-strategic. Building on the fundamentals of the author's previous bestselling book, Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics, this new work defines a mission and purpose for supply chain management which puts supply chain at the heart of the triangle of service, cost and cash. The Strategy-Driven Supply Chain explains the need for integrated value planning and execution as the next step beyond S&OP and IBP and how to use a strategy-driven scorecard with a focus on Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) as the overall value metric. The Strategy-Driven Supply Chain includes numerous tools to put these ideas into action, including a method to analyse financial metrics and compare them to key competitors, and exercises to define an organization's strategic choices (or lack thereof). It also features real-life examples of how to use the supply chain triangle to engage sales, finance and operations and case studies that illustrate the impact of strategy on the supply chain and financial metrics. This practical guide outlines a seven-step approach to integrating the people, process, tooling and analytics aspects of the change journey to the strategy-driven supply chain.

Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics is a step-by-step guide to balancing the triangle of service, cost and cash which is the essence of supply chain management. Supply chains have become increasingly strategy-driven, and this Supply Chain Triangle approach puts the supply chain at the heart of the strategy discussion instead of seeing it as a result. Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics fully reflects the 'inventory' or 'working capital' angle and examines the optimisation of the supply chain and Return on Capital Employed. Including case studies of Barco, Casio and a selection of food retail companies, this book covers building a strategy-driven KPI dashboard, target setting and financial benchmarking. Regular examples and diagrams illustrate how different types of strategies lead to different trade-offs in the Supply Chain Triangle. This ground-breaking text links supply chain, strategy and finance through financial metrics, therefore creating value for the shareholder. Online supporting resources include worksheets covering basic financial concepts such as cash flow and working capital, with example data sets and guidelines/exercises to make it interactive.

When the status quo no longer works, the contrarian perspective reigns! In this innovative business how-to, leadership expert Marcia Daszko draws on her expertise to guide leaders at any level through a three-step process to radically improve their businesses: first, recognize and stop outmoded ways of thinking that fail to move the business forward (like focusing on the bottom line, conducting performance appraisals, and searching for best practices); second, start taking steps to introduce new, innovative ways of thinking and contrarian practices (such as developing leaders with the capacity to effect change, creating an interconnected team, and seeking knowledge through questions); and finally, transform your company into a more resilient, adaptive, and united organization. Recent studies have reported that 90% of start-ups will fail. In Silicon Valley alone, this means that more than 5,400 of the current 6,000 startups will flounder and disappear. But risky and cash-strapped start-ups are not the only corporate fatalities: More than 60% of the original Fortune 500 corporations no longer exist. Given these statistics, how can organizational leaders and their employees beat the odds and survive? The only solution is to question the usual business practices, re-think how to lead and inspire, challenge the accepted beliefs, and toss out the failures to accelerate business growth and profitability. Using Marcia's three-part stop, start, transform method, readers will learn to pursue significant untapped opportunities, achieve their organization's competitive edge, and pivot, disrupt, and adapt to unexpected levels of success.

For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure. During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the peculiarly misshapen beaks of chickadees, ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert began to feel stifled in the isolated, sterile environment of the lab. Worried that she was losing her passion for the scientific research she once loved, she was compelled to experience wildness again, to be guided by the sounds of birds and to follow the trails of animals. In March of 2012, she and her husband set off on a 4,000-mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic, traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft, and canoe. Together, they survived harrowing dangers while also experiencing incredible moments of joy and grace -- migrating birds silhouetted against the moon, the steamy breath of caribou, and the bond that comes from sharing such experiences. A unique blend of science, adventure, and personal narrative, The Sun is a Compass explores the bounds of the physical body and the tenuousness of life in the company of the creatures who make their homes in the wildest places left in North America. Inspiring and beautifully written, this love letter to nature is a lyrical testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Winner of the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition: Adventure Travel

This book explores the concept of a fourth industrial revolution as an expression of the current technological, economic, and social changes sparked by the growing interconnectivity and intelligent automation that have emerged in the 21st century. It seeks to identify and explain the legal challenges posed by this phenomenon in four main areas: content, economy, security, and people.Part I, Content, considers e.g. the problems posed by new uses of protected works in the digital environment, and the new rules on liability for intermediary services contained in the Digital Services Act.Part II, Economy, is particularly concerned with the regulation of Big Tech in the EU’s Digital Markets Act, ecommerce and EU consumers’ rights, the taxation of online platforms, and digital advertising.Part III, Security, addresses the European Union Strategy for Cybersecurity, the use of biometric data systems and facial recognition technologies for law enforcement purposes, and the security implications of the Proposal for an EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, as well as the challenges entailed by the European Union’s positioning itself as a major cyber defence actor.Part IV, People, discusses the Data Protection Litigation System under the GDPR, the right to disconnect from work, the proposed EU Catalogue of Fundamental Digital Rights, the countering of terrorist propaganda online through the TERREG and the DSA, and AI and Fundamental Rights.