Examining some of the new and emerging issues in strategic management, Loizos Heracleous offers a fresh approach to the established ideas of strategy. Beginning with the historical development of the strategy field, including the influence of industrial organisation and the resource-based view, he develops a new perspective labelled an 'organisational action' view of strategy. This approach is theoretically underlain by organisation theory and takes seriously such issues as the role of agency, the need for a longitudinal focus on process, the complexities of strategy implementation, and organisational facets such as strategic choice, organisational culture, organisational discourses and learning. Combining theoretical subtlety with an applied orientation, Heracleous examines topical areas such as corporate governance, inter-organisational networks, and organising for the future. With original research and extensive surveys of the strategy literature, combined with a strong practical orientation, this book is ideal for MBA students, strategy researchers and the more thoughtful practitioner.

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.

Now available as a 60 day review copy in Paperback! ISBN: 1-4129-2121-X"Finally! We have a comprehensive, reflective and critical overview of the field of strategy in the new Handbook of Strategy and Management." -Cynthia Hardy, Head of Department of Management, University of Melbourne Presenting a major retrospective and prospective overview of strategy, this Handbook is an important benchmark volume for management scholars worldwide. The Handbook frames, assesses and synthesizes the work in the field. Chapters are grouped under four specific areas of strategy and management: Mapping a Terrain; Thinking and Acting Strategically; Changing Contexts; and Looking Forward. Within these parts, leading international scholars provide historical overviews of the key themes, address the central approaches which have characterized these themes, critically assess the quality of current theory and knowledge, and set out agendas for future theoretical and empirical development. The resulting volume is a unique overview of the inputs and dynamics to shape strategy and management and will be crucial reference for academics and students.

Any organization must ask three interrelated questions in order to develop its strategy: where are we, where do we want to be, and how will we get there? While the questions do not change over time, the realities and environments that companies face do. Given today's realities, how should companies answer these questions as they face the challenges of the 21st century? In this book, leading business school educators use their academic, yet managerially-relevant, research to explore these questions. They divide the book into three sections - Understand Your Situation, Develop Your Options, and Lead the Change - and take the reader through some of the latest thinking that helps answer these questions. All the authors have extensive international experience of working with senior managers and are well known academic researchers in their field. They present their ideas in a straightforward, lively, and purposeful way. Their goal is to inform, challenge, and provide practical advice and tools. The book serves as a guide to a range of contemporary business challenges, such as managing uncertainty, creating new markets through innovation, energizing people, leading clever people in organizations with limited hierarchy, and introducing radical change. The central focus is on the core concerns and responsibilities of senior management - strategy and leadership. Clear, crisp, and to the point, this book provides an invaluable and coherent summary of some of the best current business school thinking on contemporary challenges facing organizations. It will be an ideal guide for both MBAs and practicing managers.

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management has been written by an international team of leading academics, practitioners and rising stars and contains almost 550 individually commissioned entries. It is the first resource of its kind to pull together such a comprehensive overview of the field and covers both the theoretical and more empirically/practitioner oriented side of the discipline.