Cambridge Business Association
Corporate Radar
Book

Corporate Radar

Tracking the Forces That Are Shaping Your Business

Karl Albrecht
AMACOM, 2000
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Karl Albrecht wrote this book for executives who want to implement a formal system for collecting strategic data. The book appears to present a scientific method, but it actually provides a collection of subjective tools or scans. An executive needs these scans to track the forces that shape business. This collection of subjective tools makes the book valuable. If you follow the author’s system, you will be aware of or anticipate most events that have a potential impact on your business. The book is written in a very straightforward, direct style. The author uses contemporary examples to amplify his message. getAbstract recommends this book to executives, managers and change agents in medium to large companies.

Summary

The Need for Corporate Radar

Corporate radar is a strategic thinking system designed to help executives chart the future of their companies. It recognizes that change today does not follow a continuum from previous change. A strategy or solution that was effective in the past does not guarantee your business’ survival in the future. You must "move beyond standard business parameters and fully explore new variables...that present real threats or opportunities." Use corporate radar to gather this information. No business should forge ahead without a way to forecast its future. Corporate radar is the "disciplined process of investigating, studying, analyzing, and thinking about the various dimensions of your business environment." To survive, keep it turned on all the time.

Corporate radar is not a new concept. Andy Grove, among others, wrote about the need to watch for changes in your business environment and identified "inflection points," critical change moments. Corporate radar systematically addresses the components you should follow when conducting a full-blown, on-going radar scan of your specific business environment. This is an environmental scan.

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About the Author

Karl Albrecht is a world-renowned thinker, speaker and author on organizational and individual performance. He is chairman of Karl Albrecht International and has provided consulting services and seminars in Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Australia, as well as throughout the U.S. His many books include Service America! (coauthored with Ron Zemke), The Only Thing That Matters, and The Northbound Train. He Lives in San Diego, California.

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