University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Business Strategy
Book

Business Strategy

A Guide to Effective Decision-Making

Jeremy Kourdi
Bloomberg Press, 2003
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

In this book, Jeremy Kourdi and the Economist survey the material you might cover in an M.B.A. course on corporate strategy. The book's 13 chapters are grouped into two parts. The first section, “The forces at work,” illustrates the factors working on your business that affect its ability to function, grow and compete. The second part, “Making it happen: concepts and tools for strategic decision-making,” shows you how to use various analytical tools to help your company. The range of topics is broad, so the text is concise of necessity. The downside is that the treatment of each topic is not particularly deep, though it is solid. If this alerts you to a subject of particular interest, you may have to seek greater depth and innovation elsewhere. Still, the information here will help you think about your processes and methods. getAbstract says you can rely on this accurate and well-organized compendium.

Summary

Simple But Not Simplistic

Just as it is impossible to describe all of a river’s currents and eddies, it is very difficult for you to assess all the forces acting on your business. Many of these forces appear contradictory or paradoxical. Globalization is an important force, but so is awareness of local culture. For example, think of DaimlerChrysler’s German versus American internal conflicts. Government regulation is another force that may get in your way and distort your market, but it can also help keep competition fair. Technology is becoming a force in instant mass marketing, but you must still customize it. People need to be treated as individuals, even though you are selling to them on a global scale.

Be sure you understand your competitive advantage and recheck your thinking often. Examine your human resources policies to see if they are helping you compete for the right workforce. Rethink your corporate bureaucracy and how you can make it more flexible. Do you fully understand your intellectual capital? What are you doing to use it to full advantage? How do you know what your customers truly want from you?

Many approaches to management have been developed...

About the Author

Jeremy Kourdi is a freelance writer who has written 10 business books and many articles. He writes for The Economist, and has worked with major corporations, professional associations, business schools and publishers.

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