Understanding Strategic Analysis

Understanding Strategic Analysis is a concise and practical guide for organisational strategic analysis, strategy development, decision-making, and implementation. The book takes the reader step by step through the background of strategic management and the process of developing a new strategy. It considers how to assess the strategic capabilities and context of the organisation, how to identify and choose between the various strategic options, and how to successfully implement the change in strategy. Mini-case studies and reflective questions provide stimuli for class discussion, whilst chapter objectives and summaries structure and reinforce learning. The final chapter sets out a complete worked example to illustrate the process as a whole. Refreshing and concise, this text provides valuable and practical reading for postgraduate, MBA and executive education students of strategic management, as well as practising managers in organisations of all sizes. Online resources include a short Instructor’s Manual, chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides, and a test bank of exam questions.

Though their primary concern, organizations in the creative industries don’t only succeed or fail based on the exercise of their creative resources. Their fortunes also depend on their understanding and approach to the problem of competition. In Strategic Analysis: A creative and cultural industries perspective, Jonathan Gander offers a much needed introduction to how the practice of strategic thinking and analysis can be applied to this diverse and dynamic field. The book employs a range of competitive scenarios and case studies in which to practically apply a recommended set of analytical frameworks and examine the strategic challenge facing the enterprise and the wider sector. This concise and practical text focuses on providing a clear series of steps through which to identify and tackle strategic issues facing an enterprise, making it perfect reading for students and practitioners in the creative sector who seek a strategic understanding of the competition they are involved in.

This succinct textbook takes students through the key stages of strategic management: analysis, formulation, and implementation, with an emphasis on providing students with the essential tools of analysis.

Strategy and strategic planning at the firm level often gets a bad reputation because managers aren't trained in it and the tools are unfamiliar, infrequently used and often poorly applied. The outcomes of these efforts can therefore be incomplete, biased, and far too subjective -- and the results disappointing. One purpose of this book is to overcome this problem of familiarity by developing a systematic approach to conducting a strategic analysis. From assessing the general industry environment to analyzing industry forces and firm resources, well known models are introduced and explained. This culminates in selecting a strategy that is consistent with industry and firm specific conditions. Another problem is that the entire strategic process might seem fruitless, especially if it is treated as an episodic or occasional task. If the result of all that work is a document that gets put on a shelf or in a closet, what is the point? The second purpose of this book is to develop the idea that strategic development is a broad based and ongoing process. Strategy may ultimately be the responsibility of the CEO but it needs (and benefits) from the engagement of others. Done right, that engagement and development aligns the organization more effectively. In addition, the models connect to and reinforce each other. To use them well requires reflection and revision. In short, the process is not ever completely done - it becomes less an end than a shared way of looking at the world.

One of the many important skills a business analyst needs in requirements discovery is the ability to effectively plan, conduct and manage a set of interviews to get the requirements right, be they strategic, operational or IT-oriented. In Strategic Requirements Analysis Dr Karl A. Cox offers a process, guidelines and ideas - that have been tried and tested in practice - for conducting interviews and shows you how to turn interview findings into strategic requirements models all on one page, to present to your clients, customers, team and supervisors.

Designed to complement case analysis in university and professional strategic management courses. This book aims to develop the basic general management skills required to understand a business, sense the opportunities and problems that it faces, deal effectively wth strategic decisions, and set in place the people and operations to implement those decisions. The authors have focused on analytic concepts that contribute to a practical understanding of specific strategic issues; these concepts are linked into a comprehensive framework that helps students learn to set priorities for both analysis and action.

A brand new introductory text in strategic management which presents the key theories and frameworks for the analysis, formulation and implementation of strategy in a concise and accessible format. The book has been written for undergraduate and postgraduate students on one-semester or short courses. It is also particularly well suited to students of e.g. engineering, computing or other non-business disciplines taking a module in business strategy.

In the last few years, competition has become increasingly more complex, variable and dynamic, as can be seen in phenomena like globalization and technological acceleration. To cope with the dynamism and uncertainty of competition, enterprises need capabilities that enable them to respond to competition, as well as to improve their analytical skills and knowledge in order to better manage new strategic projects. Strategic analysis uses both quantitative and qualitative tools to understand both competitive contexts and available company resources. In Strategic Analysis: Processes and Tools, author Andrea Beretta Zanoni develops a theory of strategic analysis and offers models for the application of strategic analysis tools during all phases of the process including planning and decision-making, the development of control, and the formulation of a strategic diagnosis.