Strategy in the 21st Century, Second Edition: A Practical Strategic Management Process

For most organizations, including many large, growing, and profitable firms, strategic management is still considered an option, even a luxury. For the past 40 plus years executive level attention has been focused on functional management primarily in marketing, finance, operations, and technology, and more recently in digital transformation, data, and expanding use of Artificial Intelligence. During this time, the emphasis overwhelmingly centered on making incremental improvements in systems and processes, while recognition of the need for a strategically aligned organization capable of responding to disruptive events and accelerating rates of change was not widespread. The latter remained the province of forward-thinking theorists, consultants, and leading-edge corporations while the former was occupied by organizations accustomed to incremental and predictable rates of change in a slow-growing economy. It is not that management in these organizations consciously disregard the benefits attributed to corporate strategy. In fact, all too often they spend more time thinking about strategy than on its execution, leading to a gap in the system. Executives and managers in these organizations are not averse to change, nor are they unwilling to commit resources to developing new approaches. Their hesitancy is more often based on a healthy skepticism of the steady stream of new conceptual models and theories about strategy and strategic planning with scant consideration for the often more complex processes of strategy execution. With these considerations in mind, this book is designed for those sitting for certification, along with busy executives, managers, owners, and professionals that want to accept the challenge of strategic management. In doing so they would like a grounded understanding of strategic management; a practical approach to selecting, developing, and implementing an appropriate strategy; and a means of implementing the strategic management process in their organization. They want to be empowered to take their organization to the highest level of their aspirations, consistent with the resources and capabilities of their organization and its members. Two assumptions guided the development of this second edition. First, there is a need to understand the entire set of processes necessary to develop, implement, and maintain an effective organization strategy. Until recently, strategy formulation has occupied the attention of academics with little emphasis on strategy implementation. This has reinforced the tendency of consultants to focus on strategic planning. Secondly, the proliferation of literature, be it research-based or practitioner distilled “wisdom,” is quite confusing to strategy professionals let alone busy executives. Strategy professionals need a robust toolbox of models, tools, and techniques to call upon when needed. Growing out of strategy’s rich history of development comes a wide range of tools and techniques strategy professionals can use to facilitate their work. It is essential for strategy professionals to understand how and when to apply each of these tools to best meet the needs and priorities of the organization they serve. This book will introduce you to many of these proven tools and techniques. Consequently, we induced a summary of key developmental events and trends in the rapidly emerging discipline of strategic management. As such, the book provides a framework for analyzing strategic management processes and to serve as a guide for strategy professionals, executives, and managers in the development and management of strategy within their organizations. This book outlines the development of each phase of the strategic management process, described earlier, incorporating proven models and concepts of strategy where they can be most effectively utilized.