Contemporary Strategy Analysis [Paperback]

“Grant excels in combining accessibility and rigor in his coverage of difficult concepts in corporate strategy. His Contemporary Strategy Analysis is one of the best available textbooks for advanced undergraduates and MBAs.” George Yip, LondonBusinessSchool

"The new edition of Grant′s extraordinarily well–written textbook has the same accessible style as prior editions. This comprehensive textbook makes complicated material understandable and clear. The many new capsule examples of recent business events as well as text material based on new research keep the book completely up–to–date. The book also contains revisions of core materials for even greater clarity. Students rave about this book." Constance Helfat, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

"By skillfully weaving scholarly ideas with modern–day issues, Contemporary Strategy Analysis provides students of strategy with a leading edge textbook that links the practical realities of strategic management to the intellectual foundations of strategic thinking." Ari Ginsberg, New York University, Stern School of Business

The new edition of this popular casebook considers current business theory in the context of real business situations.

Specially–written cases illuminate key concepts and techniques in strategic management.

Focuses on well–known companies from North America, Europe and Asia.

New case on Eni S.p.A. and the World oil and gas industry.

Updated cases include Laura Ashley Holdings PLC, DaimlerChrysler, the U.S. airline industry, Harley Davidson Inc., Wal–mart, Eurodisney, and the Virgin Group.

Designed to accompany the best–selling text, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Fifth Edition (Blackwell, 2004).

Additional support is available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/grant. The website features Teaching Notes to accompany the case studies and a selection of downloadable cases.

This best–selling text has gained widespread recognition for its rigorous approach to business strategy analysis. Introducing students to the fundamental concepts and principles of strategy, it reflects current academic thinking and management practice, and gives students the tools they need to formulate and implement strategies that will enhance the performance of their organizations.

Now in its fifth edition, the book has been thoroughly revised and updated to:

• feature additional material on the strategic planning processes within companies
  
• reflect recent work in the areas of resources and capabilities, industry evolution, and global strategy and the multinational company
  
• include revisions to the section on knowledge management to reflect the maturing of this field
  
• provide a more integrated view of corporate scope, and the organization and management of the multi–business firm
  
• reconsider the shareholder value model, with more coverage of values and corporate social responsibility

Additional support is available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/grant. The website features a Guide for Instructors, downloadable PowerPoint slides, and a selection of new cases to help lecturers plan their courses and make teaching even easier.

Robert M. Grant is Professor of Management at Georgetown University. He is also on the editorial boards of Strategic Management Journal and Strategy and Leadership. His business experience ranges from producing meat pies (Kraft Foods) and retreading tires (Firestone), to strategy consulting with American Express, ENI, and other companies. He is also the author of Cases to Accompany Contemporary Strategy Analysis Fifth Edition (Blackwell, 2005).

Part 1: The Concept of Strategy Introduction and Objectives Strategy is about winning. This chapter investigates the role of strategy in organizational and personal success - not only in its business context, but also in relation to other fields of human endeavour including welfare, entertainment, politics and sport. We examine the nature of strategy, and we distinguish strategy from planning. Strategy is not a detailed plan or program of instructions; it is a unifying theme that gives coherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an individual or organization.

We go on to examine the role of analysis in strategy formation. If strategy is purely a matter of intuition and experience, then there is little point in studying this book - the only way to learn is to go and do. The key premise that underlies this book is that there are concepts, frameworks, and techniques that are immensely useful in formulating and implementing effective strategies.

By the time you have completed this chapter, you will be able to: * Identify the contribution that strategy can make to successful performance-both for individuals and for organizations. * Describe the origins and development of business strategy. * Recognize the multiple roles of strategy within an organization.

Though its primary purpose is to guide management decisions toward superior performance through establishing competitive advantage, strategy also acts as a vehicle for communication and coordination within an organization. Finally, you will be equipped not only with insight into the fundamentals of business success, but with a specific framework that shows how strategy is a link between the firm and its business environment. This link provides the foundations for further learning about how to formulate winning strategies.

Since the purpose of strategy is to help us to win, we start by looking at the role of strategy in success.

THE ROLE OF STRATEGY IN SUCCESS

Exhibits 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 outline examples of success in three very different fields of endeavor: Madonna in popular entertainment, General Giap and the North Vietnamese armed forces in warfare, and Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in politics. Can the success of these diverse individuals and the organizations they led be attributed to any common factors?

For none of these four people can success be attributed to overwhelmingly superior resources: * Madonna possesses vitality, intelligence, and a tremendous capacity for work, but lacks outstanding talents as a vocalist, musician, actress, or any other of the principle vocations within popular music. * The military, human, and economic resources of the Vietnamese communists were dwarfed by those of the United States and South Vietnam. Yet with the evacuation of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel from Saigon in 1975, the world's most powerful nation was humiliated by one of the world's poorest. * The election triumphs of Bill Clinton in 1996 and Tony Blair in 1997 were against an ideological tide of conservatism. Clinton had to overcome the Republican landslide of 1994 and record disapproval ratings, while Blair was handicapped by the supposed unelectability of the British Labor Party.

Nor can success be attributed either exclusively or primarily to luck. Among all four, lucky breaks provided opportunities at critical junctures. None, however was the beneficiary of a consistent run of good fortune. More important than luck was the ability to recognize opportunities within they appeared and to have the clarity of discretion and the flexibility necessary to exploit these opportunities.

It is my contention that the key common ingredient in all four success stories is the presence of a soundly formulated and effectively implemented strategy. These strategies did not exist as a plan; in several cases the strategy was not made explicit. Yet in all four, we can observe a consistency of direction based upon a clear understanding of the "game" being played and an acute awareness of how to manoeuvre into a position of advantage.

* Madonna's preeminence as a "superstar" and her earnings over the ten-year period 1984-1993 have been built upon a multimedia, multimarket strategy spanning recorded music, concert tours, music videos, films, and books with an appeal based upon successive renewals of her image and brilliant marketing through exploiting sexuality and sexual imagery and challenging conventional standards of decency. * The victory of the Vietnamese communist forces over the French and then the Americans is a classic example of how a sound strategy pursued with total commitment over a long period can succeed against vastly superior resources. The key was Giap's strategy of a protracted war of limited engagement. With American forces constrained by domestic and international opinion from using their full military might, the strategy was unbeatable once it began to sap the willingness of the U.S. government to persevere with a costly, unpopular foreign war. * The electoral victories of Clinton and Blair vindicate a classic strategy principle: in a two-firm market with distributed customer preferences, market share is maximized by targeting median-customer preferences. Thus, in a two-party political system, vote maximization requires targeting the "swing voter" in the same way that the quest for market share in news weeklies and soft drinks results in Time and Newsweek and Coca-Cola and Pepsi competing for the middle ground with similar offerings. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.