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Strategic Management

(15 reviews)

Kennedy B. Reed, Virginia Tech

Copyright Year: 2020

ISBN 13: 9781949373950

Publisher: Virginia Tech Publishing

Language: English

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Reviewed by Jiwon Suh, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 3/7/24

This book covers core topics that should be included in a strategic management textbook. I particularly like that the book has a chapter devoted to corporate governance, ethics, and social responsibility. I hope to see that vertical and horizontal... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers core topics that should be included in a strategic management textbook. I particularly like that the book has a chapter devoted to corporate governance, ethics, and social responsibility. I hope to see that vertical and horizontal alignment within an organization is highlighted at the beginning of the book. I see it in Chapter 10.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This book contains core and major models, concepts, frameworks, and theories that should be included in a strategic management textbook. Especially, this book also explains a balanced scorecard and its linkage with organizational mission and vision.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The main content is highly relevant. The concepts and frames that are included in the book are not fast-changing. This book uses a variety of examples to explain concepts to help students understand. These examples are a good mixture of timing (old and relatively new) and I believe such examples should be aged well to evaluate.

Clarity rating: 5

This book was well-written. This book uses clear language so that students including undergraduates can easily follow.

Consistency rating: 5

This book is consistent with all the structures and contents that are expected in the strategic management textbooks.

Modularity rating: 5

The topics in this book are well divided into 11 chapters so that faculty members can easily develop a semester-long course. On page 2, the authors also provide 6 modules on how these chapters can be used in a shorter course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The way of chapter sequencing is easy to follow: understanding strategic management -> external analysis -> internal analysis -> strategy development -> implementation. Every chapter provides ‘Learning Objectives,’ ‘Key Takeaway,’ and ‘Exercises’ from which students can effectively learn about the topics in the chapters. Also, figures, pictures, videos, and other sources are very helpful.

Interface rating: 4

External sources were hyperlinked with the original sources. This book also provides enough space between paragraphs and the next sections. This helps readers. It would be very helpful if the book included an Index at the end of the book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn’t find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book uses examples from different cultural backgrounds, such as an example of ancient China and wars on Russian soil on pages 18-20 and an example of Starbucks in Korea on page 33.

I'd like to use this book for my Strategic HR management course in the public and nonprofit sectors. Although this book doesn't 100% fit my course, I can use this book to explain and provide core/major concepts of strategic management.

Reviewed by Sergiy Dmytriyev, Assistant Professor of Management, James Madison University on 9/10/23

The textbook covers all key topics in the strategic management such as overall strategy, business- and corporate-level strategies, the analysis of external and internal environments, international strategy, organizational design, innovation, etc.... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook covers all key topics in the strategic management such as overall strategy, business- and corporate-level strategies, the analysis of external and internal environments, international strategy, organizational design, innovation, etc. Each sections ends with the reference list of the cited sources, and the Glossary of key terms is provided at the end of the book.

The book is well-written which makes it an easy read.

The content is up-to-date, with plenty of contemporary business situations and examples. At the same time, these examples are of general nature and can be used in a classroom for many years ahead, without become obsolete. Having said that, the textbook also has a number of historical examples which is a must to have in order to learn from strategic successes and failures.

The text is written in a more informal way than in some other strategic management textbook. This makes this textbook better perceived by undergraduate students, who are rather more excited by its interesting and accessible prose.

Consistency rating: 4

The textbook utilized common terminology and frameworks used in the strategic management field, and is consistent throughout the whole text. The only thing, sometimes I could have a feeling that there were many interesting narratives and examples, but some of them might not be well connected among themselves, which could make the reading slightly less coherent, though it wasn't a big deal.

Indeed, the text is readily divisible into smaller reading section since many of them start and end in a similar fashion making them standalone pieces. I didn't find many self-references which serves the modality purpose well.

The book is well organized in terms of the sequence of introduced topics and the transitions between them.

Interface rating: 5

The textbook offers an easy-to-follow navigation structure such as a numeration for each section/subsection as well as consistent headings' styles and the use of colors and graphical designs.

I didn't find any grammatical errors or typos in the text which speaks to its high quality.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The textbook is full of various examples from different countries which helps keep the reader's mind open to insights from different cultural environments. Yet, I wish there would be more examples with female and minority managers - I realize that today those groups are still underrepresented in leadership roles, but the author could have considered purposefully selecting those stories/backgrounds which may appeal to and inspire different audiences.

Most sections in the textbook end with discussion questions (often provoking ones) which can help with kicking off interactive discussion in class. The key information is summarized in the form of tables or graphs that make it easy to review the summarized learnings. There are also many videos throughout the book which can help break the monotony of reading with interesting visual experiences.

To sum it up, the textbook offers a typical content for a strategic management textbook (in terms of key strategic topics, terminology, theories and frameworks, etc.), yet it does it in a more appealing way compared to some more "formal" available textbooks in the market. In addition to offering discussion questions and exercises at the end of each section, the textbook also utilizes a more accessible prose for undergraduate students, as well as provides many illustrative or summary tables and graphs, as well as short business stories and videos done in an interesting way.

I really like the textbook and this year I started using it in my Strategic Management course.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Gale, Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management, Loyola Marymount University on 4/10/23

[Note: I used the book in my Strategic Management class in Spring 2023 semester. I have, in the past, used the open textbook, Mastering Strategic Management on which this one is based as well as a commercial version of the text which was picked up... read more

[Note: I used the book in my Strategic Management class in Spring 2023 semester. I have, in the past, used the open textbook, Mastering Strategic Management on which this one is based as well as a commercial version of the text which was picked up by a pubisher.] The coverage in the book is pretty standard for Strategic Management texts. It's a little light on implementation/execution particularly on reward systems, strategic leadership and a bit on culture. Like most of the texts, it really doesn't cover the online world. Because it was done in 2020 and used some of the materials some of the materials need newer examples--and to reflect lessons of the pandemic and de-globalization (in Chap. 9) There is a glossary but no index.

The coverage of the book is accurate in the concepts handled.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

All strategic management textbooks suffer from obsolescence--it is the nature of the subject matter and the need for ongoing revision of relevant examples. The concepts change more slowly. Use of the book requires instructors to fill that in to make the material relevant. The prior book (from 2020) was not updated for years which made it hard to use. Hopefully this one will be.

The book was extremely well-written and edited. This is remarkable since there was a team who worked on it at VPI. Kudos for doing a good job.

It is consistent. The framework used is very standard in strategic management texts.

The book is well done with coherent chapters and headings and subheading breaking up the text. I was able to use some of the materials out of order.

Strategic management textbooks lend themselves to a logical organization based on the analytic process common to the topic. This book is consistent with that. I did find that references and credits, which are listed in the chapter sections, are a bit distracting and would be better, in my opinion, at the end of the chapters. Likewise, I would prefer that the Exercises be at the chapter end as well. Learning Objectives at the beginning of each chapter are useful as well as the Takeaways in the sections.

My students and I used the PDF version of the book which is pretty standard with only limited jumps for Table of Contents. .

I didn't find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I did not see anything culturally insensitive or offensive in the book. There is, as is typical in the texts in the field, not a lot of cultural variety. There are no Black or Hispanic business in the examples.

The book did what I wanted it to in the course. I thought that Chapter 7 on Innovation is a bit of a hodge-podge of topics and doesn't flow all that well. The Powerpoint slides that the author made available are very uneven and I wasn't able to really use them--though I didn't really need to since I have taught the course for so long. They are not the equivalent of what commercial publishers provide with their texts. I did not use the text bank that is also available.

Overall, a good quality textbook that is usable with the caveats I raised earlier.

Reviewed by Stephen Horner, Associate Professor, Allen Community College on 6/9/21

Chapter one is a good an example of the type of comprehensiveness that I like. The text addresses most of the major models and concepts within the strategy domain. It also includes examples of strategy and strategic management from antiquity and... read more

Chapter one is a good an example of the type of comprehensiveness that I like. The text addresses most of the major models and concepts within the strategy domain. It also includes examples of strategy and strategic management from antiquity and classic military history encompassing ancient, modern, and postmodern eras. In addition, the critique of strategic management is refreshing to see in an introductory textbook chapter.

I find no glaring inaccuracies.

The cross disciplinary relevance of the text is demonstrated by allusion in chapter one to strategy throughout history. The text also has relevance in terms of relating the topic to contemporary issues.

This text is written at a basic level easily accessible to the common reader and especially suited to today's college senior.

The text uses the A-F-I framework consistently throughout.

The chapter topics are organized following the traditional analysis-formulation-implementation (A-F-I) framework allowing the course to be easily divided into modules. In addition, the authors have developed their own modular framework overlaying the A-F-I model.

The text uses the traditional analysis-formulation-implementation framework while taking a critical asssessment of the use of that framework.

The layout and flow of the text are satisfactory. In addition, I appreciate the smaller chunks in each chapter supplemented by references cited only in those specific chunks.

The writing demonstrates no systematic grammatical difficulties. The use of the Engish language is proper and acceptable.

The authors recognize changing sociocultural values and demonstrate sensitivity of the theory and practice of strategic management to such changes.

I found the text to be quite readable. It spawned in me new ideas for ways of reaching my students.

Reviewed by Yuan Li, Assistant Professor, James Madison University on 5/29/20

The text covers all major topics discussed in a standard strategic management textbook. Some topics that could be included or discussed more in detail are strategic leadership, innovation management, and corporate entrepreneurship. The pdf version... read more

The text covers all major topics discussed in a standard strategic management textbook. Some topics that could be included or discussed more in detail are strategic leadership, innovation management, and corporate entrepreneurship. The pdf version of the text does not include an index or glossary, which can be an enhancement to the book.

The content is accurate, error-free, and unbiased. However, there are a few typos in the book. Some of the labels are incorrect. For example, Level 3 of Table 10.4 is labeled incorrectly.

The content is up-to-date. For the most part, the examples are classic and do not need to be updated frequently. However, some of the examples, especially those related to movies are dated. Nevertheless, necessary updates can be easily implemented.

One of my favorite things about this text is its clarity. The text is written in a language that is accessible to all undergraduate students, including freshmen. Jargon and technical terms are explained in layman’s terms using real-world examples.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The chapters of the text are self-contained and can be individually assigned to students or used as additional readings to supplement a different text.

The structure of the text is clear and follows the structure of a standard strategic management textbook. The only difference is that international strategies are discussed before corporate-level strategies. Many of the tables and the text repeat each other. I think some of the tables can be eliminated.

There are no significant interface issues in the text. There are no hyperlinks in the pdf version of the book. All navigation is done through the search and find function of the pdf reader. The text in the examples and vignettes is too small and hard to read, at least for the pdf version I have. Overall, I would describe it as a no-frills text.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally offensive in any way. The examples include both American and non-American firms mostly competing in the US market.

This is a great book for an introductory level strategic management class. Students do not have to be a management major to understand the book. Instructors can easily supplement the book with examples that are relevant to the background and major of their students. I find the book an interesting and enjoyable read. The authors did a great job in making strategic management interesting to students.

Reviewed by David Flanagan, Professor of Management, Western Michigan University on 12/12/19

This book covers all the major topics needed in a strategic management course plus a few other useful topics. read more

This book covers all the major topics needed in a strategic management course plus a few other useful topics.

First rate book. Easy to read with no errors (conceptually or grammatically).

All the conceptual information is up to date. I do have students do assignments where they research more recent examples.

Students comment that it is straight forward and easy to read. Key concepts are defined.

The text flows well from start to finish.

The chapters break up the material well as do sections within chapters.

good structure

easy to interface with

Well edited and credibly written

I detected nothing that could be insensitive

The authors are outstanding in their field. Can't find more credible sources.

Reviewed by Jason Kiley, Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University on 5/21/18

Overall, the book has very good coverage of the topics typically included in a strategy textbook. To be more specific, I reviewed the book against a commercial book that I have used in the past. I looked at 43 topics that is a union of the content... read more

Overall, the book has very good coverage of the topics typically included in a strategy textbook. To be more specific, I reviewed the book against a commercial book that I have used in the past. I looked at 43 topics that is a union of the content I would use across the two books. The commercial book covered 41 topics, and Mastering Strategic Management ("MSM") covered 39. Of the discrepancies, three topics in the commercial book and one topic in MSM were topics that were probably timely when written but are less relevant now. Excluding those, each book had one topic that I would have liked to have seen in the other.

Across a number of topics, the exposition that fit my expectations about the material covered, explanations of the material, and examples that fit the material. Strategy covers a number of models that have been around for some time, and the authors seemed to do a good job of thinking about which models are reasonable to describe as they were conceived and which ones should be adjusted a bit to better reflect the underlying mechanisms or modern circumstances.

One small exception (shared in most strategy books) is the description of the BCG matrix using market share (as originally conceived). That notion is very sensitive to specification of markets, and I've seen more helpful formulations that describe it a little more generally as having dimensions that reflect using and generating cash.

The main content is fine and highly relevant. However, there are some examples which have not aged well. This is not so much the fault of the authors, as the business-relevant content is fine, but an example using Jared from Subway reads very differently in light of subsequent revelations. That is perhaps the most glaring, but there are a few others that have not aged well (e.g., the AppleTV has become reasonably successful in subsequent iterations). That said, this book is well within the norms of example relevance over time.

The book is written directly and clearly. In terms of style, it is more approachable than some alternatives, in part because I never got the sense that the authors were lowering the information density to produce more text.

Terminology and approach are generally consistent. Strategy is at the intersection of other disciplines, so there is often a change of perspective, but that comes with the content. That said, the authors have combined those well into a logical, consistent narrative.

For the most part, this book would be easy to use out of order or as selections. The chapters have numbered subdivisions that are logically coherent, and, in my view, it would be clear to students to assign selections. My initial read suggests that the brief motivating examples to begin chapters and the conclusions of chapters would be helpful to include even if the middle sections are selected from or reordered.

Overall, the organization and flow are consistent and logical, and it generally mirrors that of most strategy books. In a couple of places, the ordering is a bit different (e.g., international strategy before corporate-level strategy), but the broader logic may actually be more linear that way.

I used the epub 3 version of the book. The table elements tended to be built with markup instead of images, so they rendered nicely on a high-resolution display. Cross references were often done with links, and many text boxes were also done with markup, so the book takes advantage of the technology it uses for distribution. Given the prevalence of mobile devices among students, this is a strong positive for this book compared to others.

The writing is clear, error-free, and straightforward, including the consistent use of active voice.

Though the book (like many strategy and business textbooks) has a somewhat US-centric presentation, there are plenty of examples that include diversity along a number of dimensions where that kind of diversity is not the topic of the example. That broad level of inclusiveness is a positive for the book.

Overall, I found the book to be consistently high in quality, coverage, and consistency with other books in this area. Using it as an alternative or replacement for other books should be straightforward. The anonymous authors have done the field and our students a real service in writing this book.

Reviewed by Jiyun Wu, Associate Professor , Rhode Island College on 5/21/18

The book covers key areas of strategic management, much like other strategic management textbooks. read more

The book covers key areas of strategic management, much like other strategic management textbooks.

The content is accurate, though there are a few typos.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The examples are a few years old and need to be updated.

The book is very lucidly written. I think it is one of the best written textbooks.

The book is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The text is easy to follow.

The topics are organized well and easy to follow.

I didn't encounter any problem with navigation.

I did not detect any grammar errors, although I did find a few typos.

The book is culturally relevant.

Please update the examples and correct the few typos in the text.

Reviewed by Edward Ward, Professor, Saint Cloud State University on 2/1/18

Relative to the other textbooks I have used in my strategic management course, this textbook is comprehensive. Topics include analyzing the environment, leading strategically, selection of business level strategies, ethics, organization design,... read more

Relative to the other textbooks I have used in my strategic management course, this textbook is comprehensive. Topics include analyzing the environment, leading strategically, selection of business level strategies, ethics, organization design, and more. However, it does not have a separate chapter about small business strategy.

This book is accurate as evidenced by the frequent references from both research journals and practitioners' publications. There is little in the way of the author's opinions, rather facts are emphasized.

The relevance of the book is excellent in that historical examples are often used, which by definition will not need to be updated. The examples of recent strategy uses (e.g. a goal by Coca-Cola on page 40 is for 2012) are in need of only slight modifications.

This is the paramount strength of the book. When the vocabulary (i.e. jargon) of strategic management is used, facile explanations and examples are used to clarify the term. An example is Figure 2.5, which explains financial performance measures for students who did not major in finance or accounting.

What is admirable as to the book's consistency is it's sequence of chapters, such as starting with "Mastering Strategy" as chapter one, through "Selecting Business Level Strategies" in the middle of the text, and concluding with corporate governance and ethics. There is also consistency in terms of the key takeaways and exercises throughout the book.

This is another strength of the book. For example, in clarifying "Entrepreneurial Orientation" sections such as "Autonomy", "Competitive Aggressiveness", and "Innovativeness" are presented in small sections that in total describe the term. This is done consistently in the book, such as in chapter eight the terms vertical integration, backward vertical integration, and forward vertical integration.

The topics are presented in a deductive order, starting with a superordinate term such as "Strategies for Getting Smaller", followed by retrenchment and restructuring. By describing a construct by its dimensions, the construct is more readily understood by students.

I don't think there are any such problems.

There are not any grammatical errors. I do think the reading level is for undergraduates rather than MBA students.

The photographs and examples are varied in terms of surface characteristics.

It is superior to my present textbook in terms of being written in a conversational style, which is complemented by useful tables such as 8.7 on page 293. These tables and other graphics will assist students with a visual learning style. The only negative that comes to mind is if this textbook is to be used for a MBA course, outside readings will need to be assigned.

Reviewed by Jorge Zazueta, Adjunct Professor, American University on 2/1/18

The book covers all the standard topics in Strategic Management in a well-structured and cohesive manner. The table of contents provides detail on contents and the interactive PDF version is an excellent way to navigate the text. Electronic... read more

The book covers all the standard topics in Strategic Management in a well-structured and cohesive manner. The table of contents provides detail on contents and the interactive PDF version is an excellent way to navigate the text. Electronic versions are searchable, obviating the need for an index.

I didn't find any inaccuracies or biases in the text (although I ran into a few minor typos). Each concept follows a critical discussion inviting the reader to reflect on the topic, rather than being dogmatic.

The topics covered are well established Strategic Management ideas with direct application in actual business practice, making the content both relevant and time enduring.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is clearly written and enjoyable. It provides straight commentary on the ideas discussed and is very easy to read. A minor drawback is that it lacks memorable design around many of the classic frameworks. For example, when discussing the diamond model in chapter 7, its elements are defined in the form of a table--rather than in a diamond shape.

The narrative is consistent throughout both in depth and style.

While the content follows a logical path, chapters are concise and mostly stand-alone, making it easy to use individual chapters or to tailor content for a class.

The topics follow a standard order of ideas in a consistent and logical flow, while maintaining modularity.

The interactive PDF version is clean and easy to use. A comprehensive table of contents is always available without being intrusive and the book is fully searchable. Making it convenient for student research or review. A keyword search results in a list of references to different chapters in the book, with a short summary of the content discussed.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Other than a few minor spelling typos. I found no errors.

The nature of the book is mostly transparent to cultural issues. Examples are business focused and do reflect a wide world view.

It is a great introductory text to Strategic Management. It covers all the standard material in a concise, easily accessible way. I would have enjoyed a bit more quantitative material, such as basic formulas from economics or discussions about how to quantify market competitiveness for example. Perhaps, that´s the material for a second book….

Reviewed by Bill Rossman, Instructor, Penn State University on 2/1/18

The book covers the major topics expected to be covered in a strategic management textbook. read more

The book covers the major topics expected to be covered in a strategic management textbook.

The material covered in the textbook is accurate and error-free.

Th material is up-to-date, however, some of the examples in the book could quickly become outdated. For example, there is an example referencing a 2001 movie which students may not understand. The book could easily be updated to keep examples up-to-date.

The book is clearly written without unnecessary jargon. Definitions for key terms could be emphasized to help students identify key terms and concepts. Additionally a glossary would be beneficial for students to quickly reverence the definition of key terms.

The book is consistent with other texts on the topic of strategic management.

The book is modular and chapters could be reorganized without issue. Instructors could assign chapters or subsections as they see fit without loss of educational value.

The book flowed well, the only change I would make is to move the corporate-level strategies to follow the business-level strategies. The instructor could easily make this change when assigning chapters in the textbook.

I did not encounter any issues with the interface of the textbook. The location of charts and images were appropriate and supported the material.

The book was free of grammatical errors.

The text was not insensitive or offensive.

Supporting material such as glossary, online assignments or self check exercises could be included. Overall, the book is well thought out and easily adaptable for instructors to use.

Reviewed by Sam Cappel, Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University on 6/20/17

I found the book to be comprehensive, covering in detail important parts of strategic management. read more

I found the book to be comprehensive, covering in detail important parts of strategic management.

I found the book to be accurate and well referenced. Examples were used which were most instrumental in helping students to understand important concepts.

The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement. Many of the examples used are classic or very timely. It would require little work to update concepts and examples.

The book is written without unnecessary jargon. Terms commonly used in the study of Strategy are fully explained.

The framework of the book allows for easy transitions from one topic to another. Throughout the book there is consistency in the straight forward approach to topics. There is a consistent attempt within this book to explain complex concepts in such a way as to allow undergraduate students to master them easily.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is well divided into a logical sequence of intuitively developed reading sections. Sections within the book serve to reduce confusion which can occur when learning a subject area with the diversity and complexity of Business Strategy

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I like the flow of the text but prefer a flow which started by simply following the strategic management process step by step.

I had no issues with the interface of the textbook. Navigation was simple and charts were well placed and clear.

I found no grammatical errors i the text.

Culturally the book was sensitive in dealing with issues such as ethics and the role of diversity in the workplace.

With the current push for on-line offerings I feel that it is now imperative that offerings include test banks, power-points, on-line readings, films and perhaps simulation tools that can be used on-line. I love the book for in-class use but feels that it does not offer enough support to be viable for extensive on-line offerings,

Reviewed by Cynthia Steutermann, Multi-Term Lecturer, University of Kansas on 8/21/16

This book does a somewhat good job of covering many aspects of strategic analysis. For instance, the discussions relative to cost leadership, differentiation, and focused strategies were good. However, I found this book to be lacking in critical... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This book does a somewhat good job of covering many aspects of strategic analysis. For instance, the discussions relative to cost leadership, differentiation, and focused strategies were good. However, I found this book to be lacking in critical discussion areas, such as the importance of evaluating a firm's internal financial assets. While it mentioned current ratio, debt to equity ratio, and net income .. it does not show how to calculate those ratios. And, there are many, many more financial ratios that should be covered in great detail to effectively analyze an organization's internal financial capabilities. This was an area I would consider to be seriously lacking in content.

Other critical areas missing from this textbook were the discussion of entrepreneurial strategy and competitive dynamics, as well as managing innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. Likewise, this textbook did not include any strategic management cases which greatly supports a student's ability to apply concepts to a multi-page case of an organization they may be familiar with.

Also, while there was included on the website a table of contents, no such table of contents exists in the .pdf version that students would actually use. In general, this book is not written at the level of sophistication and comprehensiveness I would expect to use for college students, particularly since a strategic analysis course is often taught as a capstone course (undergraduate senior level of student). In my opinion, this textbook is written more at the senior in high school or college freshman level.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book's accuracy is adequate, although there are many areas of strategic analysis which I would consider to be missing in this textbook.

The one area of relevance and longevity I found to be questionable was the various references to "At the Movies". Some of the movies are quite dated and students may not have even heard of them. Or, if they have heard of the movie, they may not have seen it. While the intent seems to be a creative way to illustrate basic concepts, the use of movies is not (in my opinion) the most relevant way to accomplish this, at least to the extent that this is repeated throughout the textbook.

The book is written clearly, although not at the college reading level I would expect it to be written at.

Consistency rating: 3

The text is inconsistent since it references certain figures that actually do not exist. For instance, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix is referenced to be in figure 8.7. There is no BCG matrix figure, nor any figure 8.7. In fact, there are very few figures in the book. There are some pictures (unidentified mostly) but no figures that illustrate important concepts.

The book's modularity is done well. Within each chapter there are several smaller reading sections.

The book's organization/structure flow is generally good. I believe the organization and flow would be better if corporate-level strategies followed business-level strategy, and then the chapter about international markets would follow after that. This textbook, instead, has business-level strategy, international markets, then corporate-level strategy.

The images are generally not distorted, although on page 172 the Arby's graphic and text are out of proportion. Page 177 includes some type of graphic that is only shades of grey. I don't know what that is intended to represent.

The text contains no grammatical errors that I observed.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way that I observed.

Reviewed by Daniel Forbes, Associate Professor, U. of Minnesota on 6/10/15

The book covers most of the chapters commonly found in a strategy textbook, and the content within each chapter is also similar in terms of the key topics & models addressed. One exception is strategic entrepreneurship, which is not covered as... read more

The book covers most of the chapters commonly found in a strategy textbook, and the content within each chapter is also similar in terms of the key topics & models addressed. One exception is strategic entrepreneurship, which is not covered as a separate chapter as is often the case but is instead partially covered under "Entrepreneurial orientation" within Chapter 2, "Leading strategically". Another exception is that there is only one chapter on corporate strategy, whereas many books have a second chapter on strategy alternatives (M&A, etc.). However, some of this content has been folded into the corporate strategy chapter. The PDF I reviewed did not contain a glossary or index.

The book provides an accurate introduction to contemporary strategic management. The authors' perspective is consistent with mainstream scholarly views in the field.

Most strategy textbooks tend to gravitate towards concepts and models that have a relatively long "shelf life," and this one is no exception. The book contains current examples and timely content. The book also does a good job presenting strategy in ways that undergraduate students, in particular, will find relevant. It does this through an emphasis on familiar, everyday brands (Facebook, Redbox) and through cultural references, such as its "Strategy at the movies" segments, which link concepts in the book to recent popular films.

The book is written in clear and accessible prose, and it carries a sense of humor. At times I would have liked to see clearer definitions that were easier to find in the text (e.g., highlighted or placed in sidebars). For example, the concept of "cost leadership" is introduced with good examples, but a concise definition seems lacking. Having clear definitions on key concepts is helpful to students studying for exams and for faculty who want to check concepts for consistency across materials without re-reading entire sections.

The book is internally consistent. It provides a framework for understanding strategy that is coherent and, at the same time, generally consistent with other major texts.

The text seems modular, and reorganizing the material is unlikely to pose a problem. It would be easy to rearrange the materials within a strategy course - provided, of course, that foundational concepts (e.g., "capabilities") have been established early on, as would be required in working with any major strategy text.

The book's flow is logical and it adheres to a structure that is common in strategy texts. One slightly unusual sequencing is the presentation of international strategy before corporate strategy (the reverse is more common), but these two chapters remain adjacent and there is a reasonable case for doing this. Given the overall modularity of the book, moreover, instructors can rearrange chapters as they see fit without much difficulty.

The interface reflects the thoughtful and creative selection of accompanying visual materials, especially photos and illustrations. There are fewer charts and tables than in the average strategy text. Some instructors and MBA students might find the text easier to navigate with fewer visual interruptions overall and perhaps more data or charts included in addition to the pictures. Overall, I think this interface that would be well received by undergraduate students, in particular.

The book's grammar is fine.

The book does not appear to be culturally insensitive. Examples are drawn primarily from the U.S., as is common in many major strategy texts, but there are also many examples drawn from outside the U.S.

Overall, I think this book is a very solid and worthwhile contribution to the set of available strategy textbooks. A particular strength of the book is its accessible writing style and its selection of "user-friendly" illustrations and examples. I think the book would be especially well-suited to first-time students of strategy who seek a general introduction. I also like that the book avoids delivering long, arbitrary lists of items in presenting material (e.g., "the nine reasons firms do acquisitions"), which is a common weakness of strategy textbooks. Instead, this book is generally succinct and reasonably comprehensive. At the same time, instructors & students seeking a more advanced treatment of strategy may find coverage of some topics to be relatively light. For example, limitations of the 5 Forces model are only briefly addressed and issues of industry evolution do not seem to be addressed.

Reviewed by David Try Ph.D., Instructor , Northwest Community College on 10/9/13

I found this text to be well-written and high quality, with up-to-date material, examples and case studies. In my experience, both as an instructor and retired practitioner, this textbook covers all basic concepts and topics at an appropriate... read more

I found this text to be well-written and high quality, with up-to-date material, examples and case studies. In my experience, both as an instructor and retired practitioner, this textbook covers all basic concepts and topics at an appropriate depth for an Introduction to Business Strategy/Policy course. The backend - index, glossary, on-screen reader and search engine - were accurate and faultless.

Diagrams, tables and case studies were up-to-date, professional quality and accurate. I found the text well supported by the supplemental teaching resources (quizzes, PowerPoint's, teaching notes, etc.) As with any USA based textbook, and to be fair hardly unique to this one, the content is USA-centric. Examples and in-text case studies do tend to examine issues through the lens of USA companies, and occasionally USA laws/regulations. Within this caveat, all material was well-edited, error-free, unbiased and including appropriate supplemental instructor material.

As with most introductory courses, the basic components of Business Strategy tend not to change rapidly. New tools, techniques, occasionally fads, as well as the inevitable rebranding (i.e. Management by Objectives [MBO] becomes Outcome Based Key Performance Indicators) are adopted by Business relatively slowly. The textbook covers certain recent advances in strategic and policy, as appropriate for a textbook at an introductory level. Looking forward, advances to this textbook would tend to focus on maintaining current and timeliness of in-text examples, update trends and data, and incorporate emergent strategies which could emerge in response to changing economic, business or global events, such as a global recession.

The textbook to be quite readable and engaging, and makes good use of current business examples. Terms and business jargon are properly defined, both within the text and by using small ‘call-out' (?) boxes on the side of pages and through the use of examples.

The concepts and ideas in the textbook are presented in a clear and logical order. Terminology is used consistently. As well, I found the ‘readability' of the textbook to be internally consistent – with no sense that different authors/editors had writte

The material is covered in 12 chapters, with 2 to 4 sections each, making it easy to assign weekly readings and cover the content within one semester. Chapters are fairly consistent in length and complexity. Instructors have the option to re-organize the course / subject order prior to students downloading the textbook should they wish. The text is not overly self-referential.

The flow or order of idea/concept presentation is consistent to most Strategy texts, and appropriate for an introductory textbook. Within Chapter layout is consistent; each chapter begins with "Learning Outcomes" and concludes with "Key Takeaways" and exercises, which can be assigned as homework.

Neither I, nor any of my students, experienced any interface issues at all. The underlying technology appeared faultless. The navigation process is logical and all images and text were clear and high quality, even on smaller e-reading devices. As well, color use is consistent, assisting in overall navigation. Interestingly, as the first e-textbook for NWCC Business, my students appreciated the ability to perform in-text searches and hyper-link to external electronic references (in text URLs), as well as textbook's cost of course!

I found zero (0) grammatical errors, or ‘broken' URL links. Well edited

This text is not culturally or sexually insensitive, or offensive. Overall, examples are based on business culture with limited applicability on cultural relevance. One chapter focuses on Ethics and Social Responsibility and examines these issues from a strategic perspective, with examples. However, the focus is principally from a business perspective, as compared to social, legal or moral perspectives. As the text is fairly USA-centric, Canadian students may feel that Canadian and possibly Asian business strategies should receive greater emphasis.

Overall, I was very impressed with the quality and professionalism of the text. A ‘newbie' to e-textbooks, I was surprised by the usefulness of additional features available with electronic textbooks (searching, imbedded URLs, etc.). As noted above, the textbook content is somewhat USA-centric. Examples and in-text case studies tend to focus on USA companies, and occasionally USA laws/regulations. However, given the highly integrated nature of Canadian and USA business environments, there is some value in this. And, it was certainly not difficult to incorporate Canadian examples into the Lectures. This review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.

Table of Contents

• I. Chapter 1: Mastering Strategy: Art and Science
• II. Chapter 2: Assessing Organizational Performance
• III. Chapter 3: Evaluating the External Environment
• IV. Chapter 4: Evaluating the Internal Environment
• V. Chapter 5: Synthesis of Strategic Issues and Analysis
• VI. Chapter 6: Selecting Business-Level Strategies
• VII. Chapter 7: Innovation Strategies
• VIII. Chapter 8: Selecting Corporate-Level Strategies
• IX. Chapter 9: Competing in International Markets
• X. Chapter 10: Executing Strategy through Organizational Design
• XI. Chapter 11: Leading an Ethical Organization: Corporate Governance, Corporate Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Ancillary Material

• Virginia Tech Publishing

About the Book

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT  offers an introduction to the key topics and themes of strategic management. The authors draw on examples of familiar companies and personalities to illustrate the different strategies used by today’s firms—and how they go about implementing those strategies. Students will learn how to conduct a case analysis, measure organizational performance, and conduct external and internal analyses. In short, they will understand how organizations operate at the strategic level to be successful.

An older version of Mastering Strategic Management  (2015) by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing can be found here: https://open.lib.umn.edu/strategicmanagement/

About the Contributors

Reed B. Kennedy, Associate Professor of Practice, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech

Reed B. Kennedy is an Associate Professor of Management Practice in the Management Department, where he teaches management courses. He began his career as a naval officer before entering his primary career in healthcare administration, where he served in senior executive roles in various hospitals for over 20 years. He then worked as a business consultant for the Small Business Development Center for the New River Valley at Radford University. His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Masters of Healthcare Administration from Medical College of Virginia / Virginia Commonwealth University, a Masters in Public Health and a Graduate Certificate in Global Planning and International Development from Virginia Tech. Reed served as the chief textbook reviser on this project. He worked with the contributor and editorial teams from project start to completion.

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• Wiley - PMC COVID-19 Collection

Strategic Management Theory in a Post‐Pandemic and Non‐Ergodic World

Michael a. hitt.

1 Texas A&M University

Jean‐Luc Arregle

2 EM‐Lyon

R. Michael Holmes, Jr.

3 Florida State University

4 University of Johannesburg

From time to time, organizational environments undergo cataclysmic upheavals – changes so sudden and extensive that they alter the trajectories of entire industries, overwhelm the adaptive capacities of resilient organizations, and surpass the comprehension of seasoned managers . (Meyer et al., 1990 , p. 93)

This quote, written 30 years ago, describes the pandemic environment in which the world exists today. As Meyer et al. ( 1990 ) explained, such quantum discontinuous changes require entrepreneurial responses. In the ongoing Covid‐19 pandemic, firms must devise strategies to deal with short‐term discontinuities and significant uncertainty to survive. After the pandemic eases, longer‐term strategic changes may be needed to navigate the competitive landscape arising in the ‘New Normal’ which has resulted from technological, socio‐political, and institutional changes (Ahlstrom et al., 2020 ) that resemble the causes of environmental jolts explained by Meyer et al. ( 1990 ). This New Normal is unlikely to be a static equilibrium, because the pandemic shock has triggered another unexpected dynamic. As Nobel Laureate Douglass North ( 1999 ) explained, we now exist in a non‐ergodic world in which the new equilibrium after major disruptions continues to change thereafter, similar to dynamic equilibria in open systems. Thus, firms need new and more flexible strategies to achieve what North described as adaptive efficiency. While it is unclear which changes caused by the pandemic will persist, it seems evident that certain aspects of the business environment will change with the current crisis serving as a tipping point. Hence, this new environment (during the pandemic and thereafter) begs the question ‘How does strategic management theory help us understand how firms can navigate the New Normal?’. We examine two main strategic management theories prominent in the field for the last three decades – resource‐based theory and agency theory – in light of the opportunities and challenges likely to emerge in the non‐ergodic New Normal environment, and comment on implications for strategic management more broadly.

We begin with one of strategic management’s most influential theoretical perspectives, resource‐based theory (RBT). Although the disruption has been more significant for some firms and industries than others, firm resources are critical for surviving the pandemic and the resulting economic disruption. In the short term, financial resources are needed for survival. Because of the lockdowns and severe recession, many firms suffered severe declines in revenue and as a result, experienced significant cash‐flow problems. Thus, they have had to deplete cash reserves or access cash from other sources (e.g., leverage and/or the sale of assets) to remain solvent. For many firms, survival (i.e., existing competitive advantage and its value appropriation) has become a more pressing concern than long‐term sustainable competitive advantage from valuable, rare, inimitable, and non‐substitutable (VRIN) resources. This short‐term shift in priorities has been strengthened by the threat‐rigidity effect, which suggests that firms respond to challenges by curtailing new innovation and narrowing their focus to what has worked in the past (Staw et al., 1981 ). As a result, many firms have curtailed risk taking and reduced their focus on long‐term strategic commitments in favour of short‐term objectives, primarily focusing on survival.

Yet, firms also must prepare for the New Normal environment that will ensue in the post‐pandemic period. Many firms have shown an ability to adapt to the pandemic in the short term, but they likely will require different resources and new ways to use them in the long term. Thus, resource orchestration takes on added importance. Firms may require more flexible resources and new capabilities to compete in the new environment which includes a rapidly changing competitive landscape. Firms may need to focus less on resource attributes (VRIN) and more on routines and processes that allow them to reconfigure resources and capabilities to operate effectively in the new environment, in order to achieve the adaptive efficiency envisioned by North ( 1999 ). Commonly, routines evolve over time as firms learn what is needed to adapt. However, when environmental jolts and disruptions occur, routines also must change quickly to allow firms to acquire/develop new resources and bundle them to create new capabilities rapidly (Sirmon et al., 2007 , 2011 ). Thus, firms must possess or rapidly develop dynamic capabilities to manage their resources more flexibly and effectively (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000 ; Teece, 2007 ).

Fixed assets, especially those that are location bound, historically have been viewed as a source of competitive advantage. However, these assets are difficult to redeploy for alternative uses. Some firms may need to obtain more liquid and adaptable resources, which can support the reconfiguration of other resources. As one example, the stock of expensive office space, stores, or market‐seeking resources that firms have developed over decades may be less essential or may become a liability in the pandemic and post‐pandemic environment, as employees and customers become increasingly willing and able to perform activities (e.g., work and make purchases) remotely. Because intangible resources often are more flexible, they likely will take on added importance. Technology and human capital are perhaps the most critical resources on which redeployment and reconfiguration efforts depend. Thus, they may be critical for creating new capabilities to deal with the expected uncertainty in the New Normal environment. For example, Rindova and Courtney ( 2020 ) argued that firms can develop adaptive strategies or shaping strategies to deal with uncertainty. Whereas adaptive strategies help firms to identify attributes of uncertain markets and environments and to design ways to respond, shaping strategies help firms identify opportunities created by the uncertainties and exploit them proactively (Eisenhardt, in press ). Ironically, although firms must innovate to compete in the New Normal environment, the economic recession and decline in the collocation of human capital (e.g., due to the increase in remote workers) has made innovation more difficult. Thus, although shaping strategies might be more important in the longer term, they also are more challenging and riskier. These observations suggest the following potential research questions:

• How do firms develop dynamic capabilities that allow them to change their resources and capabilities rapidly in the New Normal environment?
• How do firms avoid inertial tendencies and attempt to reduce their exposure to risks during major and difficult‐to‐foresee economic disruptions?
• Which firms earn higher returns over the longer term: those that engage in adaptive strategies or those that engage in shaping strategies during major economic disruptions?
• How might firms facilitate innovation, an activity often viewed as location bound, to a remote work environment?

Agency Theory

Agency theory’s primary focus is the relationship between principals and agents. Agents sometimes act in their own interests rather than in principals’ interests. Most agency theory arguments centre on actions to maximize shareholder (principal) value (Keum, 2020 ). One issue of debate, even before the pandemic, was short‐term versus long‐term value. Some management scholars have been critical of firms emphasizing short‐term financial returns over long‐term value (Porter and Kramer, 2011 ). The pandemic has highlighted the debate because many firms chose to focus on survival in the short term, yet, they still face pressures to identify different strategies to succeed in the long term. Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, ensuring that managers (agents) emphasize owners’ interests has become more critical yet also challenging, because resources are scarce, firm survival is threatened, and some managers’ jobs are at risk. Moreover, most owners and managers lack experience with events like the pandemic, which makes it more difficult for them to identify strategic decisions and actions that maximize shareholder value. The usual cognitive processes and heuristics to achieve and evaluate this outcome may be less effective due to the unprecedented disruption.

Although concern for non‐owner stakeholders, such as customers, employees, and the community, has increased recently, the pandemic has heightened this concern. The economic disruption has harmed some of them severely, creating new questions about and focusing more attention on firms’ responsibilities to these stakeholders. As a result, stakeholder theory is likely to be more important in the post‐pandemic period and may serve as a critical complement to agency theory. Shareholders’ short‐term returns may be less important than preserving the firm’s reputation and integrity and taking actions that protect the firm’s potential to create value in the long term, especially in the New Normal environment. Consistent with this view, Barney ( 2018 ) argued that treating shareholders as the firm’s only residual claimants is inconsistent with RBT’s logic on profit appropriation. He argued that non‐owner stakeholders must receive value before the shareholders, because the support of such stakeholders is necessary to create value in the first place. These arguments challenge historical emphasis in agency theory research on executives and shareholders to the exclusion of other stakeholders. Moreover, Barney and Mackey ( in press ) argued that stakeholders should be viewed as complementors because more value is created when they work together than when they work separately. Thus, like these scholars, we recommend integrating stakeholder theory more thoroughly into theories of the firm.

The notion of multiple stakeholders as residual claimants strongly influences the application of agency theory because all important stakeholders can be viewed as principals each with different claims (McGahan, 2020 ). This discussion also shows that RBT and agency theory are linked, especially through the appropriation of profits. These observations suggest the following potential research questions:

• Why has the pandemic harmed some stakeholders more than others? How can managers respond effectively to these effects and mitigate them in the future?
• How do managers build and maintain relationships with multiple principals that make different claims on firms?
• With multiple stakeholder principals, how do managers determine the appropriate distribution of value to each of those principals?

The post‐pandemic non‐ergodic New Normal likely will continue to create significant complexity and uncertainty for managers. It may reveal boundary conditions for RBT, agency theory, and perhaps other theories (e.g., those emanating from industrial organization economics; Porter, 1980 ) that help us understand and explain firm behaviours and performance. More broadly, to address the substantial changes occurring, firms must adapt to or shape their environments by identifying, creating, and exploiting opportunities. The extension to and heavier emphasis on resource orchestration, rather than specific resource attributes, illustrates an outcome of these boundary conditions. Likewise, the complexity and uncertainty may reduce the value of single‐purpose theories, such as agency theory, and heighten the value of more systemic theories, such as stakeholder theory. Along these lines, Harrison ( 2020 ) argued that understanding value creation in this new non‐ergodic world requires the integration of theories that explain systems, resources, and stakeholders. And, recently, Hitt et al. ( 2020 ) found that firms within dynamic, uncertain environments were more willing to engage in riskier entrepreneurial strategies (e.g., shaping) versus more incremental advantage‐based strategies (e.g., adapting) when they had developed strong relational capital with important stakeholders.

Organizational hybridity, which is an integration of different strategies, logics, and structural forms (e.g., structural flexibility) to manage complex problems, may be required to manage resources and stakeholders more effectively in the post‐pandemic era. Additionally, firms need the agility to design and implement strategic changes effectively, which requires fluidity, speed, and mindsets that encourage innovative thinking and resilience. Thus, the sensing, seizing, and transforming components of dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007 ) are even more complex in this New Normal environment. These efforts depend importantly on the skills of firms’ managers (dynamic managerial capabilities – Adner and Helfat, 2003 ). And, while top executives have similar levels of cognitive capabilities (Hitt and Tyler, 1991 ), developing and leveraging new dynamic capabilities also require harnessing the cognitive and emotional skills of the top management team and other critical stakeholders inside and outside the firm (Hodgkinson and Healey, 2011 ). The substantial uncertainty and increasing emphasis on stakeholders as principals require supra‐dynamic managerial capabilities to create organizational hybridity and to manage the complex resource acquisition, and organizational capability development processes (i.e., resource orchestration) needed to agilely design and implement innovative strategic changes in the New Normal non‐ergodic world.

[Correction added on 26th October 2020, after first online publication: the author name has been updated from R. Michael Holmes to R. Michael Holmes Jr.]

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Strategic Management in Public Administration

Strategic management is an approach to strategizing by public organizations or other entities that integrates strategy formulation and implementation, and typically includes strategic planning to formulate strategies, ways of implementing strategies, and continuous strategic learning. Strategic management can help public organizations or other entities achieve important goals and create public value. Strategy is what links capabilities and aspirations. Four broad types of strategists (as individuals, teams, organizations, and collaborations) in public administration exist: the reactor (low aspirations, low capabilities), the dreamer (high aspirations, low capabilities), the underachiever (low aspirations, high capabilities) and the savvy strategist (high aspirations, high capabilities). There are eight approaches to strategic planning. More comprehensive process approaches include those influenced by the Harvard Policy Model, logical incrementalism, and stakeholder management. More partial process approaches include strategic negotiations, strategic issues management, and strategic planning as a framework for innovation. Finally, two content approaches also exist, namely, portfolio and competitive forces analyses. Seven approaches to strategic management systems can be discerned. These include: the integrated units of management approach (or layered or stacked units of management), strategic issues management approach, contract approach, collaboration approach (including the lead organization, shared governance, and network administrative organization approaches), portfolio management approach, goal or benchmark approach, and hybrid approaches. Strategic planning and management are approaches to identifying and addressing challenges. Neither is a single invariant thing but is instead a set of concepts, processes, procedures, tools, techniques, and practices (and structures in the case of strategic management systems) that must be drawn on selectively and adapted thoughtfully and strategically to specific contexts if they are to help produce desirable results. While there are a variety of generic approaches to both, the boundaries among them are not necessarily clear, and strategic planning and management in practice are typically hybridic. Research is accumulating about which approaches to strategic planning and management work under which circumstances, how, and why, but much work remains to be done.

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The article reveals the role of marketing in strategic management. The reasons for the sharp growth in the value of strategic planning and management. Discusses approaches of foreign and domestic scientists to reveal the nature of strategic management. Presents the most common problems of practical implementation of strategic management systems in domestic practical management.

A study about strategic management at internal security and governors together with the leadership obstaclesİç güvenlikte stratejik yönetim ve liderlik kısıtlılığı ile mülki amirlerin durumuna dair bir çalışma

Strategic management, the road map for achieving the organization's goals and objectives, evaluating the environmental factors; ways and methods of an organization are followed to achieve the objectives; and it is the implementation of the Strategic Planning. Strategic planning is a tool that provides direction and meaning to an organization's daily operations. It relate these factors together with the desired future condition of organization by evaluating the values, the current situation and the enviroment of organization. Strategic management objectives; to create a continuous commitment to the organization's mission and vision, to maintain a sense of support and define the mission and vision and to create a clear focus on the strategic function of the organization In terms of action and decision-making processes.The presence and  attendance of any other public or private organizations depends on the existence and success of internal security organization, because management of internal security organizations affacts the environmental factors of all the other institutions.The classic and new approach to public administration in security management is also lacking and the most important solution to solve this problem is possible tohether with strategic administration. Strategic security management requires an operational structure that is more local and has a shorter intervention process. In addition to this, it is also possible to develop hybrid or situational security solutions (classical-modern or civil-militarist) in accordance with the current situation. A strategic security management model that, has mission with immediate intervention and highest level of smearing may be able to make the transition to a security system that is compatible with the basic philosophy of the public administration nowadays.Beside these, it is known governors and district governors do not make strategic plans.   They are being deprived of the opportunity to see the opportunities and dangers by making the strategic plan. There are some obstacles in front of the governors and district governors to be strategic leaders that make easy to show strategic approaches.Even though they have leadership qualities and features, for these obstacles it appears that the governors and district governors were also deprived of the benefits of strategic management.   ÖzetStratejik yönetim, çevresel faktörlerin de değerlendirilerek örgütün amaç ve hedeflerine ulaşması için yapılan yol haritası, bir örgütün amaçlarına ulaşmak için izleyeceği yol ve yöntemlerdir ve Stratejik Planlamanın uygulanmasıdır. Stratejik planlama bir örgütün günlük faaliyetlerine yön ve anlam sağlayan bir araçtır. Örgütün değerlerini, mevcut durumunu ve çevresini değerlendirip bu faktörleri örgütün arzulanan gelecek durumu ile ilişkilendirir. Stratejik yönetimde hedef; organizasyonun misyon ve vizyonuna sürekli bir bağlılık oluşturmak, misyon ve vizyonu destekleyen ve tanımlayan bir anlayışı devam ettirmektir, ayrıca eylemler ve karar süreçleri açısından örgütün stratejik işlevine dair açık bir odaklanma oluşturmaktır.Kamusal veya özel tüm diğer örgütlerin varlıkları ve devamları iç güvenlik örgütlerinin varlık ve başarısına bağlıdır, çünkü iç güvenlik örgütlerinin yönetimi diğer tüm kurumların çevresel faktörlerini etkilemektedir. Bu nedenle her örgüt ile iç güvenlik yönetimi birbirleriyle ilişkilidir. Son dönem kamu yönetimi yaklaşımları stratejik güvenlik yönetiminin önem kazandığını göstermektedir. Stratejik Yönetimin başlatıcısı olan, Stratejik Planların yapım ve uygulanma aşamasında illerde her bakanlığın tek tek temsilcisi olan valiler anahtar rol oynamaktadırlar. Vali ve kaymakamların İl İdaresi Kanunu başta olmak üzere mevzuattan ve fiili durumdan kaynaklanan mevcut etkin konumları gereği illerde Stratejik İç Güvenlik yönetiminin uygulanması için son derece vaz geçilmez pozisyonları bulunmaktadır.Bunların yanında Vali ve kaymakamların stratejik plan yapmadıkları görülmektedir.  Stratejik plan yapmayarak fırsat ve tehlikeleri görme imkânından yoksun olmaktadırlar. Vali ve kaymakamların kişisel olarak stratejik yaklaşımlar sergilemelerini kolaylaştıracak olan lider olmaları ya da liderlik yapmaları önünde de bazı engeller bulunmaktadır. Kendilerinde liderlik vasıf ve özellikleri olsa bile bu engeller nedeniyle Vali ve kaymakamların stratejik yönetim getirilerinden de yoksun olduğu ortaya çıkmaktadır.  

Strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine

In a modern regional economy in Ukraine, there is a need to improve the mechanisms of strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration. Problems of the economic regional development in Ukraine explains the need to pay attention to strategic management by the regional economic development in the sphere of public administration. The issue of strategic management by the regional economic development in the sphere of public administration has been covered in the scientific works. But despite active scientific researches the strategic management by the regional economic development public administration in Ukraine isn’t still studied properly. The strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine have been investigated. The normative legal base of strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine are generalized. The main components of normative legal base of strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine are The Constitution of Ukraine, laws of Ukraine, Codes of Ukraine, Acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and others. The features of strategic planning of regional economic development in the sphere of public administration in Ukraine are considered. In today’s conditions, the state of regional socio-economic and ecological development in Ukraine require the improvement of provision of strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine. The ways for improving the provision of strategic management by the regional economic development in public administration in Ukraine are determined.

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Journal of Business Strategy

ISSN : 0275-6668

Article publication date: 1 November 2006

This article examines the relationship between budgeting and strategic management, especially in terms of strategic planning. Strategic management presents managers with a process for making decisions and guiding a firm's actions, while budgeting provides information on funding and accountability. The article takes the position that the two processes should be tightly integrated as they serve complimentary but distinct purposes.

Design/methodology/approach

The article develops a model of how strategic management and budgeting should be intertwined. The model describes a cascading process by which a firm's general strategic direction and financial condition drive tactical decisions and resources allocations at lower organizational levels.

The article discusses ideas on how the budgeting and strategic management might be administered so as to have the best impact on firm performance. A key observation in the article is that overall firm performance is likely to be improved when the two types of planning are use properly. The article argues that disconnections between the two will result in budgets that hinder implementation of the firm's strategies or strategies which cannot be supported by the firm's finances.

Originality/value

The article provides several ideas for managers on how to achieve better integration between strategic planning and budgeting. They include creating a cascading planning process, in which strategic and financial decisions progressive move down through an organization's hierarchy, establishing standing strategic review committees, using rolling budgets, and the proper application of available technological tools.

• Strategic management
• Budgetary control

Blumentritt, T. (2006), "Integrating strategic management and budgeting", Journal of Business Strategy , Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 73-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/02756660610710382

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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Introduction

Review Article

Austin J Bus Adm Manage. 2018; 2(3): 1033.

An Overview of Strategic Management Practices

Palladan AA¹* and Adamu MA²

¹School of Business, Fce (T) Gombe, Nigeria

²Muhammad Ahmed Adamu School of Business Fce (T) Gombe, Nigeria

*Corresponding author: Ahmad A. Palladan, School of Business Education, Federal College of Education, Ashaka Road, PMB 60, Gombe, Nigeria

Received: April 12, 2018; Accepted: May 29, 2018; Published: June 05, 2018

The paper reviewed relevant literatures on strategic management practice. Being a conceptual paper, we start by highlighting the origin and meaning of strategy and strategy planning. This was followed by discussions on factors that affect strategy formulation, strategy implementation as well as factors bedeviling strategy implementation. Essentiality of strategic management practices as a radical improvement method was equally highlighted.

Keywords: Strategic management; Strategy planning; Strategy implementation

The term strategy originated from a Greek word “strategos”, meaning army guidance from the position of Commander General. The use of this concept dates to at least 400 years B.C. (Jeżak 1990). Prussian military general and theoretician Karl von Clausewitz argued that strategy is concerned of creation of the war plan and determination of war campaigns and individual undertakings under their scope (Pszczołowski 1976). The word “strategy” gains recognition in other fields of human activity, particularly in politics and, noticeably later, in economy. However, in the second half of the 19th century, down with development of the U.S. economy, phenomena of strategic element occurred. Business strategies caused speeding up of business development and resulted also in the changing of the modern management (Gliński, Kuc & Szczepankowski, 2000). This latter on led to the spread of the concept to corporate management.

There is no single definition of strategic management, which is generally acceptable (Markiewicz 2011). Despite all that, we present here some of the definitions found in the extant literatures. It is a top management activity, which deals with decisions making in, regards to the purpose of the organizational mission, vision, philosophies, objectives, strategies and well-designed policies. It also encompasses the development of long term plans for efficient management of environmental opportunities and threats in line with the organizational strengths and weaknesses (Sababu, 2007). According to Pearce and Robinson (1991), Strategic Management involves a combination of decisions and actions that guide toward the formulation and implementation of plans intended to achieve organizational objectives. Strategic management entails the planning, directing, organizing and controlling of firm’s strategies that reflects decisions and actions that enhances a company’s competitiveness. Irwin (1995) opined that strategic management is a business operating game plan game plan, for enhancing firm’s competitiveness, creating customer satisfaction and achieving targeted performances. Strategic management led to business continuous success, growth and competitive advantage brought about by implementing the predetermine plans efficiently and effectively. This action facilitates the means, through which organizations analyze the environment, create their desired position, fashion out appropriate strategies and implement them accordingly. Strategic management process entails understanding the strategic situation of an organization, making strategic options for the future and turning strategy into action. It involves strategic analysis, choice and execution. More so, Porter (1985) opined that strategy is the aspirations and practices an organization employ in order to stay afloat amidst severe competition. A well-managed organization should have the ability to seriously find a place for itself in the contemporary competitive business environment [1]. Strategy is a management technique which gives an organization direction. This refers to holistic actions that are tailored towards actualizing the future of the organization. Porter (1980) affirmed that analysis of strategy or strategic analysis is part of strategic management method that examines the forces of the external environment, organization capability and expectation of stakeholders. Strategy execution is the conversion of strategy plans into action. It entails implementation of strategies and managing the resulting changes.

Components of strategic management

Rahimnia, Castka, and Sharp (2005) argued that similar types of strategies have been established across basically different organizations (publishing firms, automotive industries, hospitals, administration, ICT companies, and tertiary institutions) because they are of facing related environmental conditions notwithstanding of their internal organizational differences.

Strategic planning

According to Bryson (2004, p. 6). defines strategic planning as “an effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it” Much wider than program, project, budget, or operation planning’s, strategic planning is ‘big picture’ approaches that solve the most serious issues facing an organization’s long-term efficiency and effectiveness (Kemp, Funk, & Eadie 1993; Poister & Streib, 1999). Its usage has grown reasonably over the past decades, at all levels of government and agencies as they have recognized the need to respond to emerging issues promptly. Again they need to adjust to changing circumstances, and move into the future in a resolute in order to ensure continued viability and fit with a changing environment (Berman & West, 1998; Berry & Wechsler, 1995; Poister & Streib, 2005). Several procedures for conducting formal strategicplanning attempts have been postulated (Bryson, 2004; Denhardt, 1985; Eadie, 1983; Gibson, 1993; Kauf man & Jacobs, 1987; Nutt & Backoff, 1992; Pindur, 1992), but all advocates of strategic planning give emphasis to the need for flexibility in fashioning the process to fit the circumstances and the organization’s needs at a specific time [2]. Nevertheless, strategic planning in the public organizations mostly incorporates the following common factors: identifying/clarifying mission and mandates, identifying core values, developing a vision of the future, assessing internal strengths and weaknesses, conducting an environmental scan and a situational analysis of how the agency relates to its environment. Furthermore, the organization need to identify the strategic issues facing the organization, establish strategic goals and objectives, develop and assess the feasibility of strategies for achieving those goals and objectives, create and implement action plans to move the strategies forward, and monitor and evaluate progress and update strategies as might be required.

Stages in strategic planning: According to [3] in Adeleke (2008), for proper formulation of strategic plans, the following stages are essential: According to [3] in Adeleke (2008), for proper formulation of strategic plans, the following stages are essential:

1. Environmental Analysis: this refers to an establishment of link between the internal and external environment that the organization need to do.

2. Resource Analysis: This connotes identifying the strength the strength of the organization and weakness of its rivals.

3. Determination of the Extent of the Required Strategy change: At the top management level, there should be a decision on to modify the existing strategy or not. Some scholars refer this as ‘performance gap’ (Owolabi & Makinde 2012).

4. Decision Making: This refers to what to do and how they should be done.

5. Implementation: Implementation entails resource allocation, adapting the organizational structure to suite the strategy as well as creating conducive environment appropriate for implementation the chose strategy implementation.

6. Control: For effective implementation, there must be proper control to ensure conformity.

Strategy formulation

Thompson and Strickland [4] define strategy formulation as a phase or sub-process of strategic management in which a firm creates its direction, defines its objectives and set a course for the organization to follow. In addition, [5] posited that there are two main approaches for strategy formulation: plan or deliberate (design) and process (emergent). The planning or deliberate approach is a style of strategy formulation that is intentional and proactive. It connotes a conscious planning and is a result of formal and calculated efforts. In his opinion, Porter (1980) looks at the planned change from a design perspective, arguing that strategy development is the deliberate positioning of an organization through a sound analytical structure and directive procedures. The emergent school of thought considers strategy formulation as a constant, open ended and changeable process of aligning and realigning an organization to its change environment. They recognize the importance for organizations to arrange their internal practices to the external conditions. Furthermore, Mintzberg (1994) claim that realized strategy in organizations entails both planned and emergent approaches. He argued that organizations start with planned strategies, but subsequently environmental conditions set in leading to doing away with some of the initial strategies and adopting some new strategies along the way resulting of combination of both approaches. It is obvious that a poor or unclear strategy can adversely affect implementation efforts severely. Good implementation cannot overcome the inadequacy of a bad strategy or a poor strategic planning effort (Hrebiniak, 2006).

Strategy implementation

Numerous studies confirmed that the type of strategy that is developed [6] and the actual method of strategy formulation that is, how a strategy is, developed [7] will certainly influence the result of its implementation. Alexander (1985) posited that the need to commence with a formulated strategy that involves a good idea or model is stated as the most often-in assisting successful implementation. Good execution naturally starts with good strategic input: the soup is only as good as the ingredients [6].

Factors affecting strategy implementation: From the extant literature, we can briefly highlight the following studies that discussed the factors associated with strategy implementation. One of the most popular and most cited is Waterman, Peters & Phillips [8] (implementation factors). From their findings, they suggest seven factors, namely strategy context, structure, system, style, staff, skills and subordinates as key implementation drivers. Even though Waterman et al. could define and explain these factors, they fail to clearly show how the factors co-relate and interact during the implementation process [14]. Strategy execution and implementation are sometimes interchangeably used in the literature of strategic management. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this research, the phrase ‘strategy implementation’ is considered synonymously with ‘strategy execution’. The latter is more predominantly used in business environment, while the former is mostly employed in academia [9].

Noble (1999) argued that several perspectives were taken by different strategy gurus to define strategy implementation. We present below some of these definitions as postulated by [10] and Laffan (1983). The following lists the different perspectives. From the above perspectives as presented by [10] describe strategy execution as strategic control; [11] opined that strategy is a process. Both Floyd and Woolride (1992) opined that strategy implementation is an execution process; while Cespedes (1991) and Lffan emphasize that importance of resources and operational issues. But on the other hand, Thompson & Strickland (2003, p 356) defined strategy execution as “.... implementation and executing strategy entails converting the organizations strategic plan into action and then into results”. For this study, this definition will be employed (Table 1).

In his submission, Adegwah (2014) while assessing the implementation factors in selected secondary schools in Kenya identified four items that influenced strategy execution. These are managerial skills, organizational policies, resource allocation and reward /incentives [12]. Examined the factors responsible for strategy implementation in Saudi Arabian banks and came up with three main dimensions: process and personnel factors, project factors and organizational factors. From Iran, Ali and Hadi suggested four factors as inhibitors for effective strategy implementation in organizations. Communication, incentives change of organizational structure and competent employees are the four factors identifies by Ogunmokun and Hopper in Australia. Nyamboga and [13] discover five key factors that hinder successful strategy implementation, namely: inadequate funding, staff shortage, lack of training, inappropriate communication and lack of IT. Jame (2012) suggested four variables that he found to be the determinant of strategy implementation in the US gaming industry. The variables are strategy consensus, up to down communication, organizational structure and training. Yip (1992) advanced a framework comprising four factors that he argued affect organizational success in formulating and implementing strategies; organizational structure, culture, people and managerial processes [14]. Identified number of execution factors from a framework he formulated. He categorized the factors into four broad categories; content, context, process and outcome. Several other implementation studies could also be found in the available strategy literatures [15- 17], summarized the major findings and came up with the following eleven main factors.

1. Strategy development

2. Environmental uncertainty

4. Leadership

5. Organizational culture

6. Operational planning

7. Organizational structure

8. Communication

9. Resource allocation

10. Control

11. Outcome

This list should never be considered as definite because several strategic management schools of thought have their own assumptions and suggestions (Ukumus & Roper 1999; Mintzberg, Ahlstraund, & Lambel, 1998 and Stacey 1996); also, environment matters a lot when it comes to strategy implementation [17].

Suitability of strategic management as a radical improvement tool for organizations

The suitability of strategy implementation as a management tool for improvement to the organizational context is of great significance. The process of strategic management could be of great benefit to manufacturing and service organizations. Strategic implementation is important for organizational performance. For strategic management to result in greater performance the steps in the progression need to be efficiently manage (Njagi & Kumbo 2014). A good strategy may give an organization a competitive advantage and equally increase its performance (Njagi & Kombo 2014). In their submission, Wright, McMAham and Mc Willaims (1994) observed that strategic management plays a significant role in enhancing organizational performance in all types of organizations, large and small, international or domestic, diversified or single product and profit oriented or non- profit. Furthermore, it has been revealed in the extant literature that organizations, which implement its good strategies, generally do better than those that do not [18] Sharabati & Fuqaha 2014; Hassan, Qureshi, Sharif & Mukhtar 2013; Abu- Hassan, Tufali, Yusof & Virgiyanti 2011; Houtzschenreuter, & Kliendienat 2007; Umashankar & Dutta 2007). The main causes of failure of strategic management are implementation [19-22]. Strategic plans may fail to produce the desired results if failed to be implemented correctly. Hence Noble (1999) [22] argued that organizational strategies may be formulated using the best practice, yet these excellent strategies may fail woefully if not executed in the right way. Successful implementation of strategy is behind numerous positive outcomes in organizations, such as: higher customer satisfaction increases in customer loyalty, satisfying the need and demand of organizational stakeholders and give the organization an edge over its rivals. It will also increase productivity, improve quality and increase profit.

Strategic Management is becoming more and more pronounce in our contemporary period. Today, we are in a busy and fast period of change in all areas of our life. This process consistently changes especially the management domain is forcing managers to be ready to change at any moment and is rendering the conventional management practices less relevant. Strategic management is needed is situation were conventional norms are challenge and redefined [23-31]. During the strategic management process in an organization, such cases as leadership, structure, control systems, and human resources are the main focus as well as the techniques used by managers in implementing the defined strategy. Also, some other issues are the concern of this process such as the implementation of strategies, and the leadership style which is consistent with the strategies, organizational structure, information and control systems, and human resources management. It is the strategic management which enables organizations to get an edge on their opponents within this process.

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Citation: Palladan AA and Adamu MA. An Overview of Strategic Management Practices. Empirical Evidence. Austin J Bus Adm Manage. 2018; 2(3): 1033.