How Strategy Works in an Interconnected, Automated World Leaders already know that the classic approach to strategy--analyze, plan, execute--is losing relevance. But they don't yet know what replaces it. As everyone and everything becomes more interconnected and digitized, how do you operate, compete, and win? Ming Zeng, the former Chief of Staff and strategy adviser to Alibaba Group's founder Jack Ma, explains how the latest technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the mobile internet, and cloud computing are redefining how value is created. Written especially for those outside the technology industry or the startup arena, this book introduces a simple, overarching framework to guide strategy formulation and execution in this data-rich and highly interactive environment. Revealing the revolutionary practices that he and his team have developed at Alibaba, Zeng shows how to: Automate decisions through machine learning Create products informed by real-time data from customers Determine the right strategic positioning to maximize value from platforms and suppliers Repurpose your organization to further human insight and enable creativity Lead your company's transformation into a smart business With insights into the strategies and tools used by leaders at Alibaba and other companies such as Ruhan and Red Collar, in a variety of industries from furniture making to banking to custom tailoring, Smart Business outlines a radically new approach to strategy that can be applied everywhere.

In today's complex commercial environments, marketing has become a central aspect to every successful business. Businesses need flexible, effective means of gaining commercial traction by managing their relationships with audiences, stakeholders and competitors. They require effective marketing and branding that move beyond the standard forms of brand orientation and commercial interaction. New marketing models must think smart to create innovative strategies which have long-term sustainable economic goals. The Smart Marketing Book is a practical, reliable and concise title that offers the core marketing principles - applicable for anyone who wishes to improve their organization's financial and creative values. It is a straightforward guide that avoids unnecessary and time-consuming practices. An illustrative handbook that covers marketing principles and topics through visual innovation. A credible statement to all marketers trying to source the most relevant strategies from a field cursed with infinite information.

This book will help organizations evolve into a fully collaborative social business. It serves as a step by step playbook to achieve organizational change, process efficiencies and technology acumen: Proven solutions for the real people, process, and technology obstacles businesses face in using social media behind the firewall. How to have the successful internal conversations with stakeholders, partners and global teams that lead to successful external conversations with the social customer Strategies for improving organizational dynamics, collaboration, governance, training, engagement, policies, technology integration, workflows, social CRM, and metrics Many organizations today have already evolved into social brands. They may be active on Twitter and Facebook; they may have corporate blogs and communities and they are trying hard to engage effectively with the social customer. However, behind the firewall, chaos, anarchy, and conflict reign. In Smart Business, Social Business, leading enterprise social business consultant shows how to build an internal framework based on change management that will lead to success with social media: one that will make external engagement more effective, meaningful, and sustainable. Michael Brito systematically identifies the internal culture, process and technology obstacles to long-term success with social media, and offer best practice solutions. He discusses a wide spectrum of issues, offering actionable intelligence and helping decision-makers build strategies and plans that deliver value. Topics addressed include change management, organizational models and dynamics, internal communications, collaboration, governance, metrics, training, employee activation, policies, technology integration, workflows, social CRM, and much more. Drawing on his own experience working for Silicon Valley companies, HP, Yahoo! and Intel, Brito presents dozens of examples and case studies. Using this book, companies can begin to transform their organizations from just a "social brand" to a fully collaborative and dynamic "social business.”

``An exceptional tool for the challenges facing today's corporate planner. It should be read by every manager involved in planning and strategy.'' --Robert R. Lindberg Vice-President, Corporate Development Transamerica Corporation Shows managers how to anticipate market trends, threats, and opportunities, and how to develop strategies that can help their companies respond and grow. Thoroughly revised from the acclaimed 1984 edition, with over 50% new material, the 2nd edition emphasizes a market-responsive approach to creating strategies that any business manager can use to generate effective strategic options in today's constantly changing marketplace. New chapters cover external analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis, and developing strategy in mature or stagnant markets, and there is expanded coverage of sustainable competitive advantages (SCA).

Scientists from management and strategy, information systems, engineering and telecommunications have discussed a novel concept: Smart Business Networks. They see the future as a developing web of people and organizations, bound together in a dynamic and unpredictable way, creating smart outcomes from quickly (re-)configuring links between actors. The question is: What should be done to make the outcomes of such a network 'smart', that is, just a little better than that of your competitor? More agile, with less pain, with more return to all the members of the network, now and over time? The technical answer is to create a 'business operating system' that should run business processes on different organisational platforms. Business processes would become portable: The end-to-end management of processes running across many different organizations in many different forms would become possible. This book presents you the outcomes of an energizing and new direction in management science.

"In business, imitation gets a bad rap: some business leaders see imitators as 'me too' players forced to copy because they have nothing original to offer. In Copycats, Oded Shenkar challenges this viewpoint. He reveals how imitation - the exact or broad-brushed copying of an innovation - is as critical to prosperity as innovation, especially when the two are used together."--Inside jacket.