Description
Book SynopsisThis book is about competition between businesses; it is a guide to principles of competitive business strategy which offers helpful ideas for devising ways to prevail in confrontation with business competitors. Based on the author''s course in strategy which has been enthusiastically received over more than ten years by executives and students, comprising a diverse international audience, the book is a thought-provoking complement to standard textbooks on corporate strategy.
Taking a fresh approach, it concentrates on the idea that maintaining a business over a period of time depends to an important degree on executives being able to compete successfully with others operating their businesses in the same commercial arena. Since strategy is a mind game, its principles are revealed wherever humans compete. This book draws, chapter by chapter, on illustrative instances and examples involving vigorous competition between determined rivals in business and beyond.
The author argu
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.
1 Introduction.
Heritage.
Contemporary perspectives.
Classic perspectives.
Delineation of strategy.
Primary concepts.
Levels of direction.
Principles.
2 Competition.
Strategic threshold.
Dynamics of harmony.
Dynamics of confrontation.
Threshold of confrontation.
Competition.
Competition and games.
Purpose.
Competitive context.
Competitive intelligence.
Appendix 2: The practice of competitive intelligence.
3 Assessment.
Strategic assessment.
Design.
Strategic appraisal.
Strategic issues.
Alternative courses of action.
Evaluation.
Contemporary criteria.
Classic criteria.
Appendix 3: The look of a Strategic Assessment..
4 Integrity.
Initiative.
Creating momentum.
Flexibility.
Adapting to circumstances.
Balance.
Maintaining stability.
5 Security.
Time.
Impressions of time.
Deception.
Impressions of reality.
Power.
Impressions of dependence.
6 Feasibility.
Capability proposition.
Assets.
Resource-based view.
Maintenance of wherewithal.
Ability.
Core competencies.
Capacity to transform.
Alliances.
Strategic satellites.
7 Morality.
8 Conclusion.
Alexander's strategy.
Policy objectives.
Strategic thresholds.
Principles of strategy.
Finally . . . .
Endnotes.
Index.
