This paper presents briefly an overview of the two most influential frameworks of strategic management: Porter's Competitive Positioning and the Resource-Based View of the Firm. It then proceeds to introduce the Delta Model - a new framework developed by the authors that, we believe, significantly adds to the other two frameworks. The paper ends by offering an integrative model of management.

Emerging from the authors' work with companies such as Coca-Cola, Motorola, 3M, General Motors and Unilever, The Delta Projec t provides a unique model through which to develop strategy in the new economy. Hax and Wilde examine how globalization, deregulation and the emergence of the internet infrastructure have changed the rules for success and identify three distinct strategic positions that can be used to realign the direction of your business. Introducing new models of 'bonding', 'complementors' and 'customer lock-in' this book provides a fundamental shift in the way we think about competitive positioning.

Strategy is the most central issue in management. It has to do with defining the purpose of an organization, understanding the market in which it operates and the capabilities the firm possesses, and putting together a winning plan. There are many influential frameworks to help managers undertake a systematic reflection on this issue. The most dominant approaches are Michael Porter’s "Competitive Strategy" and the "Resource-Based View of the Firm," popularized by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad. Arnoldo Hax argues there are fundamental drawbacks in the underlying hypotheses of these approaches in that they define strategy as a way to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. This line of thinking could be extremely dangerous because it puts the competitor at the center and therefore anchors you in the past, establishes success as a way of beating your competitors, and this obsession often leads toward imitation and congruency. The result is commoditization - which is the worst outcome that could possibly happen to a business. The Delta Model is an extremely innovative view of strategy. It abandons all of these assumptions and instead puts the customer at the center. By doing that it allows us to be truly creative, separating ourselves from the herd in pursuit of a unique and differentiated customer value proposition. Many years of intense research at MIT, supported by an extensive consulting practice, have resulted in development of powerful new concepts and practical tools to guide organizational leaders into a completely different way of looking at strategy, including a new way of doing customer segmentation and examining the competencies of the firm, with an emphasis on using the extended enterprise as a primary way of serving the customer. This last concept means that we cannot play the game alone; that we need to establish a network among suppliers, the firm, the customers, and complementors – firms that are in the business of developing products and services that enhance our own offering to the customer. Illustrated through dozens of examples, and discussion of application to small and medium-sized businesses and not-for-profits, the Delta Model will help readers in all types of organizations break out of old patterns of behavior and achieve strategic flexibility -- an especially timely talent during times of crisis, intense competition, and rapid change.

A supply chain is the process of all parties involved in fulfilling a customer request, while a value chain is a set of interrelated activities a company uses to create value and a competitive advantage. In Strategic Value Chain Management the authors bring together a variety of disciplines, showing how to move from traditional supply chain management to value chain management. Research from the (ISM) International School of Management, Germany, originating from a network of companies in a range of sectors, is integrated with case studies to demonstrate particular concepts. Strategic Value Chain Management brings together theory and practice and presents tangible ways of creating competitiveness in a changing world through the use of effective models and frameworks. Challenging the traditional Porters Five Forces Model, the authors introduce the important academic disciplines of cybernetics and systems sciences as essential drivers of strategy within the supply chain, supported by case studies illustrating their implementation.

This book presents various perspectives on innovative work behaviour, focusing on problem recognition, idea generation, idea promotion and the realisation of these ideas. It first highlights important corporate issues, such as uncertainty, performance management, technological infrastructure, and strategy development, and subsequently presents studies that offer solutions. Further, the book evaluates the significance of research and development, effective communication and corporate governance. Lastly, it discusses the implications of idea realisation, examining resource dependence theory, organizational trust and eco-innovations.

Remaining competitive in the retail industry of South Africa in the digital age is a major business concern. In the age of „digital natives”, people are well-connected on various digital technology platforms and are digital consumers. Digital technologies offer retail organizations new innovative ways to create value by utilizing digital business strategies, processes, and products. This qualitative research study explores the perception of retail strategy experts and decision-makers toward realignment of IT and business strategies considering digital transformation in South Africa. Based on interviews with seven managers and decision-makers in the retail industry, the study reveals that digital technologies have disrupted traditional ways of doing business. The study proposes eight major recommendations, in which retail traders could innovate their business strategy to enhance value creation beyond traditional approaches to retailing. It provides a good starting point for academic research in a domain that is deficient in theoretical and empirical research on the South Africa retail sector, and offers retailing managers a conceptual model to guide them toward a digital business strategy for transient competitive advantages.

This book is a practical guide to every aspect of managing media businesses. Written by a team of experts and illustrated with interviews from leading industry players, it addresses the unprecedented change and uncertainty facing the industry. Do newspapers, magazines or books have a future? Will terrestrial television or cable services exist as meaningful players in five years’ time? Is there a way to make multiple consumption platforms work together in a way that extracts the revenue needed to support the creation and development of quality content? While more and more content is being published, fewer and fewer businesses are finding a way to do so profitably and sustainably. Your answers to these questions that vex your media or entertainment business will depend on your frame – a frame based on experience gained in days that were less uncertain, less fluid and much, much simpler. Those frames need to be broken if you are to survive in times of such rapid change. This book is based on IESE’s Advanced Management Program in Media & Entertainment, which IESE Business School has been running in New York and Los Angeles since 2011. It combines contributions from leading professors and practitioners, as well as real-life case studies, to establish a base upon which you can start to build the set of managerial tools that you will need to manage fast-changing media and entertainment businesses.