This book explores goal-oriented action and describes the variety of options offered by strategic management in guiding public organisations. The book is based on the idea that planning is only one option in orienting the functioning of public organisations and applies resource-based and network studies to the public sector. Whilst most of the existing literature on strategic management relates to local government, this book examines developments within central governments and public agencies external to government hierarchies. The book also addresses the strategic distinction between politics and administration often neglected by existing research, and illustrates the connection between goal setting and actual performance of government organisations.

This book explores goal-oriented action and describes the variety of options offered by strategic management in guiding public organisations. The book is based on the idea that planning is only one option in orienting the functioning of public organisations and applies resource-based and network studies to the public sector. Whilst most of the existing literature on strategic management relates to local government, this book examines developments within central governments and public agencies external to government hierarchies. The book also addresses the strategic distinction between politics and administration often neglected by existing research, and illustrates the connection between goal setting and actual performance of government organisations.

This study focuses on propositions, rules of thumb, and techniques that have proven effective in directing the thinking, k choices and behavior of policy makes. Professor Starling shows how the concepts and methods of political science, economics, systems analysis, psychology, history, cognitive science and philosophy can be applied in the contemporary policy process.

Value-added methods refer to efforts to estimate the relative contributions of specific teachers, schools, or programs to student test performance. In recent years, these methods have attracted considerable attention because of their potential applicability for educational accountability, teacher pay-for-performance systems, school and teacher improvement, program evaluation, and research. Value-added methods involve complex statistical models applied to test data of varying quality. Accordingly, there are many technical challenges to ascertaining the degree to which the output of these models provides the desired estimates. Despite a substantial amount of research over the last decade and a half, overcoming these challenges has proven to be very difficult, and many questions remain unanswered-at a time when there is strong interest in implementing value-added models in a variety of settings. The National Research Council and the National Academy of Education held a workshop, summarized in this volume, to help identify areas of emerging consensus and areas of disagreement regarding appropriate uses of value-added methods, in an effort to provide research-based guidance to policy makers who are facing decisions about whether to proceed in this direction.

As health policy at a national level has ever increasing impact on local health services, it is essential that public health students understand how the development and implementation of policy and strategy provide the framework for improving quality, innovation, productivity and prevention in the delivery of healthcare. The book is divided into two sections, with section one covering a strategic overview of national policies, and section two giving specific local implementation of policy examples to support section one. Case studies and examples will help the reader to understand the policy and strategy and to apply them to their local setting.

This book proposes a model for understanding how innovative policy decisions are taken in complex political and organizational systems as well as the possible strategies that the promoter of the innovation can employ in order to maximize the probability of successful adoption and implementation. It presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of decisional situations in order to design the most appropriate strategies for overcoming conflict (e.g. of the NIMBY variety) and/or increasing the engagement of potentially interested actors. The book includes a template for decisional case studies, a protocol for the definition of a decisional strategy, and an exercise in decisional analysis.

Now in its sixth edition, Business Policy and Strategy: An Action Guide, Sixth Edition provides students with an analysis of how basic functions - such as marketing, finance, production, operations, R & D, and human resources are coordinated to develop business policy. The authors demonstrate the how-tos of formulating, implementing, and evaluating corporate strategy. Students will understand strategic management - its decision-making processes, interface with environmental change, formulation of strategic alternatives, executive decision making, and built-in synergy. The importance of business policy and strategy has surged to the forefront of the business world. Internationalization of business, deregulation, mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, and international joint ventures - coupled with a new emphasis on shareholder value - contribute to a feeling of uncertainty in the global marketplace. On top of this, the constantly changing e-commerce environment makes strategic planning even more essential. Students need to know how to function in this business environment. The authors provide a concise review of basic and alternative policies in strategy formulation. They use a case study of business situations that give students a powerful tool and efficient tool for mastering strategy development. The book blends practicality and realism - based on the authors' years of experience in corporate industry and management development - with advances in theory. The definitive supplementary text, Business Policy and Strategy: An Action Guide, Sixth Edition captures the business curriculum in one action packed volume.