Strategic Management for Results: Practical Strategies for Sustainable Outcomes (First Edition)

Strategic Management for Results: Strategies for Sustainable Outcomes teaches graduate students of management about strategic planning and decision making. Unlike many traditional textbooks that focus on strategy in an overly broad or theoretical manner, this reader approaches strategy as results-driven, data-driven, and dynamic. Featuring contemporary topics that are of high interest to students, the book emphasizes the practical, rather than the theoretical. The book is divided into four sections. The first, "Charting the Direction of the Organization," helps students understand the management process and define a meaningful vision. The second, "Understanding the Organization in Context," addresses governance, social responsibility, corporate and resource sustainability, and the external environment. In the third section, "Considering Strategic Options," the selected readings talk about assessing an organization's capabilities, evaluating the value chain, and examining innovation. The final section, "Managing for Results," offers insight into ensuring that strategies are complete and clear, placing strategies in a global context, and leading strategically. Each section ends with a written case study for class discussion which can be supplemented with a recommended video case. Vignettes before each chapter talk about hot topics, and the trends companies are currently following. Throughout the book, global and multinational strategic plans are considered from a results-orientation, supported by extensive research and practical experience. Strategic Management for Results is appropriate for graduate-level strategic management courses, upper-division electives on management, and MBA courses on strategic management. The material has been extensively class-tested, and is also helpful to professionals in both for-profit and non-profit business environments.