Business Planning

How did BMW recover from the edge of bankruptcy to become on of Europe's strongest companies? Why did Saatchi and Saatchi's global strategy bring the company to its knees? Why has Philips's outstanding record in innovation not been translated into success in the market? What can be learnt from the marriage contract about the conduct of commercial negotiations? These are some of the questions addressed as John Kay asks `What makes a business successful?' Drawing on his own business experience and on concepts in economics, legal theory, and sociology, the author presents a fresh approach to questions of business strategy. He rejects the military analogy which underpins much strategic thinking, in which success depends on size and share, on vision and leadership, on shifting patterns of mergers and alliances. John Kay argues that outstanding businesses derive their strength from a distinctive structure of relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers, and explains why continuity and stability in these relationships is essential for a flexible and co-operative response to change. By integrating organizational and financial perspectives on the performance of the firm, Kay not only gives insights into the creation of effective business strategies, but sheds light on the success - and failure - of national economies. As the single market develops, this book - full of insight and rigour, yet lively in style - is probably the most important European contribution to strategic thinking for many years. It will be vital reading for all who want to understand what distinguishes the successful company.

Following Thomas Fuller's dictum that "a danger foreseen is half avoided," Thierauf has developed a technique called problem finding which allows corporate planners to go beyond problem solving to confront future problems and identify future opportunities. This approach contrasts with typical problem-solving efforts which are based on the "management by exception" principle, that is, things that have gone wrong are corrected after the fact. The author demonstrates how the problem finding approach can be applied to all types of problems with vastly improved results, and illustrates his points with real-world examples.

"Planning: Universal Process is undoubtedly the best book ever written on the art and intellectual discipline that constitutes effective planning, in which every unit of our society, indeed every individual, must continually engage. Each chapter is an amazing and fascinating selection of pertinent items from anthropology, history, economics, and architecture all combined through innovative analytical reasoning that demonstrates the importance of planning in attaining success in human endeavors." Simon Ramo Co-founder, TRW, Inc.

Nersesian challenges traditional forecasting methods that rely strictly on econometric models, arguing that they ignore a fundamental aspect of the business cycle--human emotional responses to economic stimuli. Nersesian advocates instead the development of forecasting models that incorporate human behavior into the process, and he provides a tool--computer simulation--which can be used for this purpose. By using simulation to factor potential consumer responses into the forecasting process, Nersesian is able to tie forecasting to the consequences of human behavior and thereby determine the way in which attitudes play a role in affecting the future course of business.

Scenario-driven planning is a new management technology for strategy design that employs computed or "strategic" scenarios to improve the quality of managerial thinking. Strategic scenarios--the outcomes of modeling strategic situations--produce insight much richer than that expected from environmental scenarios alone. They bring to the consulting and upper-level management audiences a better way of handling strategic uncertainty, providing the tools managers and strategy students need for thinking and dialoguing about complex strategic issues.

Shows how managers in any organizational setting can improve their own and their teams' results through a unique, step-by-step approach to setting goals and then - most importantly - by putting them into action. Curtis lays bare the linkages between organizational culture, philosophy, ethics, and the management of information and change, and shows how they contribute to goal setting and achievement. Throughout Curtis argues that deciding "what to do" may be an essential component of goal setting, but the real challenge is in "getting things done", and it is here that so many goal-setting systems fall. Part I begins by establishing the foundation for the remainder of the book. It addresses the managerial philosophy underlying goal setting. The theory of goal setting is covered in Part II. Studies are reviewed that show that organizations, teams, and individuals that set clear, challenging goals produce better results than those who do not. The next part begins by addressing goal setting from an organizational perspective. Team goal setting follows. Techniques for individual goal setting are discussed in Part V. Part VI pulls organizational, team, and individual goal setting together by examining the ways information must be managed in a goal-oriented setting. Part VII, Change and Goal Setting, provides the techniques necessary to implement the goal-setting philosophy in a rapidly changing world. The book concludes with an examination of the ultimate purpose of management, to produce positive results.

These essays, by leading academics and businesspersons from around the world, describe the current state of the art in information technology, a resource with increasingly important implications for managers and management students. Drawing on case studies from Ford, ICI, Volvo, and the U.K. Inland Revenue, the contributors discuss the place of technology in corporate strategy, its use in gaining competitive advantage, the formulation of information systems strategies, competitive dynamics in the use of value added networks, end-user computing, leadership in information management, and the development of information technology human resources.

"Not another empty call for 'obeying the customer, ' this book offers a comprehensive framework and approach by which the entire organization can learn to discover the end-result experiences that customers truly value, and then reinvent the business based on those discoveries."--Stephen A. Furbacher, President, Dynegy Midstream Services, LLP.