Explains how companies must pinpoint business strategies to a few critically important choices, identifying common blunders while outlining simple exercises and questions that can guide day-to-day and long-term decisions.

The Balanced Scorecard translates a company's vision and strategy into a coherent set of performance measures. The four perspectives of the scorecard--financial measures, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth--offer a balance between short-term and long-term objectives, between outcomes desired and performance drivers of those outcomes, and between hard objective measures and softer, more subjective measures. In the first part, Kaplan and Norton provide the theoretical foundations for the Balanced Scorecard; in the second part, they describe the steps organizations must take to build their own Scorecards; and, finally, they discuss how the Balanced Scorecard can be used as a driver of change.

Making Strategic Plans Work introduces an innovative and creative approach to understanding the theory and practice of strategic planning. Based on proverbs and folktales, the book provides detailed analyses of the stages of the strategic planning process - preparation, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It also discusses the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the process - boards, management, donors, consultants and communities and how to build their capacity for more effectiveness. It equally provides at each stage templates for assessing the effectiveness of the strategic planning process as well as the key players. The book is unique in that it uses the wisdom contained in African proverbs and folktales to discuss the stages of the strategic planning process, and roles and responsibilities of players in the process. Being metaphors, proverbs and folktales often bring out more lucidly the meanings embodied in the normally arcane language of strategic planning. Proverbs and folktales also create strong mental pictures, which are often very effective in impressing ideas upon people's minds, communicating them at a deeper level, and motivating them to action. The book is based on research, tested use of the proverbs and folktales in strategic planning practice in different contexts in combination with the author's experience as a professional organization development (OD) consultant. It will be especially useful to students, teachers, executives, board members and all players in international development, community development, organizational development, international businesses and African Studies. Volunteers and expatriates working Africa and other developing regions will equally find the book useful as it provides insight into the culture and mode of thinking of the people they work with.

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

If you’re starting a new business or planning your business’s future, there are plenty of things you should take into account. Strategic Planning For Dummies covers everything you need to know to develop a plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage — no matter what business you’re in. Written by Erica Olsen, founder and President of a business development firm that helps entrepreneurial-minded businesses plan for a successful future, this handy guide covers all the basics, including: How a strategic plan is different than a business plan Establishing a step-based planning process Planning for and encouraging growth Taking a long-view of your organization Evaluating past performance Defining and refining your mission, values, and vision Sizing up your current situation Examining your industry landscape Setting your strategic priorities Planning for unknown contingencies If you’re in business, you have to plan for everything — especially if you intend your business to grow. Whether you’re planning for a small business, large conglomerate, nonprofit, or even a government agency, this book has the planning specifics you need for your organization. Step-by-step, you’ll learn how to lay the foundations for a plan, understand how your plan will affect your business, form planning teams, discover what your strengths are, see where you are, and, finally, plan where you’re going. And there’s much more: Learn to analyze business trends that will determine your business’s future Set measurable, realistic goals that you can plan for and achieve Make strategic planning a habitual part of the organization Prioritize multiple strategies that you can implement simultaneously Set a defining vision for the organization that guides all your planning and strategy This friendly, simple guide puts the power of strategic planning in the palm of your hand. For small businesses that can’t afford to hire strategic planning consultants, it’s even more imperative. Careful, constant planning is the only way to handle an uncertain business future. With this book, you’ll have all the step-by-step guidance you need to ensure you’re ready for anything that comes.

Strategy for business and other organisations based on the premise that all organisations compete in only three ways - Scale, Scope and Structure. Presents key performance indicators to track strategic success and provide the means for analysis of performance. Includes bibliography, index, glossary of terms and appendices. Author is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, and has published articles in journals including the 'Journal of Management Studies' and the 'Journal of General Management'.

Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it -- and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, leading consultant and Wharton professor Lawrence Hrebiniak offers the first comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience, Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize, and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies. Next, he offers a systematic roadmap for execution that encompasses every key success factor: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change management, culture, and the role of power and influence in your business. Making Strategy Work concludes with a start-to-finish case study showing how to use Hrebeniak's ideas to address one of today's most difficult business execution challenges: ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition.