Publisher's acknowledgements
Introduction
The Strategy Pyramid
How to use this book
Business vs corporate strategy
Section 1: Knowing Your Business
Overview
Essential tools
1. Identifying key segments
2. Issue Analysis (Minto)
Example: British Aerospace’s super segment
Useful tools
3. The 80/20 Principle (Pareto)
4. The Segmentation Mincer (Koch)
5. 5C Situation Analysis
6. SWOT Analysis
Section 2: Setting Goals and Objectives
Overview
Essential tools
7. Setting long-term goals
8. Setting SMART objectives
9. Maximising shareholder value
10. Balancing stakeholder interests
Example: Which goals count for RBS?
Useful tools
11. Creating Shared Value (Porter & Kramer)
12. Economic Value Added (Stern Stewart)
13. Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map (Kaplan & Norton)
14. Core Ideology (Collins & Porras)
15. Business as a Community (Handy)
Section 3: Forecasting Market Demand
Overview
Essential tools
16. Sizing the market and Marketcrafting (Evans)
17. The HOOF Approach to Demand Forecasting (Evans)
Example: Galileo’s Hiccup in Market Demand
Useful tools
18. Smoothing through moving averages
19. The Income Elasticity of Demand
20. Survey methods of demand forecasting
a. Survey of customers’ intentions
b. Salesforce estimation method
c. The Delphi method
d. Pilot test marketing
21. Statistical methods of demand forecasting
a. Trend projection
b. Regression analysis
c. Barometric method (NBER)
Section 4: Gauging Industry Competition
Overview
Essential tools
22. The Five Forces (Porter)
23. Assessing customer purchasing criteria
24. Deriving key success factors
Example: Woolworths succumbs to the five forces
Useful tools
25. Weighing economies of scale
26. Corporate environment as a sixth force
27. Complements as a sixth force (Brandenburger & Nalebuff)
28. PESTEL analysis
Section 5: Tracking Competitive Advantage
Overview
Essential tools
29. Rating competitive position
30. The Resource and Capability Strengths/Importance Matrix (Grant)
Example: Cobra Beer’s clever competitive advantage
Useful tools
31. The Value Chain (Porter)
32. The Product/Market Matrix (Ansoff)
33. Cross,Spider and Comb Charts
34. Benchmarking
35. Structured interviewing
Section 6: Targeting the Strategic Gap
Overview
Essential
Vaughan Evans has been a strategy consultant since the mid-1980s, working with a broad range of corporate clients, from small firms to global giants, and with over 50 financier clients, both structured lenders and private equity. For the last ten years he has been independent, specialising in business strategy, business planning and strategic due diligence. Vaughan is a graduate of Downing College, Cambridge and a Sloan Fellow with distinction of London Business School. He has written four previous books including the bestseller The Financial Times Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan.
I wish I had thought of the idea for this book. Or could have done it so well! The selection of topics is excellent, the commentary astute, and the explanations simple and engaging. Richard Koch, entrepreneur, co-founder L.E.K. Consulting, author of The 80/20 Principle This is a new, very practical and delightfully pithy approach to strategy making. It offers a fabulous compendium of the major strategy tools, woven into a no-nonsense, step-by-step strategy process. An enormously refreshing and helpful book, invaluable to novices and strategy experts alike. Marcus Alexander, Professor of Strategy and Enterprise, London Business School A really practical guide to strategy development. All the relevant tools are explained in detail, but highlighting the essential ones is a master stroke that will save endless hours! Adrian Beecroft, Chairman, Dawn Capital and former Senior Managing Partner, Apax Partners A comprehensive inventory of the tools and analytical frameworks of strategy. The key value of this book is the guidance it offers on how to apply these tools – and this is rooted in Vaughan Evans’ deep experience of working with them. Robert M. Grant, ENI Professor of Strategic Management, Bocconi University, Milan This is an interesting and usable book. Evans helps you navigate through the myriad of theories and toolkits on business strategy with a highly practical approach. Whether your business is a start-up, an SME or a multi-national, use it to help you devise a coherent strategy. Anthony Karibian, CEO, Bonline Ltd and co-founder, Euroffice Ltd and XLN Telecom Ltd (both exited) Everything you need from a tool kit, comprehensive, practical and high added value. Mike Garland, Partner and Head of Portfolio Group, Permira Advisers LLP This book really works. I hope it becomes a standard for every management team seeking private equity; it would certainly make my life much easier. David Williamson, Managing Director, Nova Capital Management A broad yet accessible explanation of the range of strategy tools actually used by businesses. Whether you are an experienced strategy specialist or newer to the field, you will find this an invaluable guide. Robert Samuelson, Executive Director Group Strategy, Virgin Media Strategy is at the heart of a successful business – with this excellent book, Vaughan Evans has provided an extremely clear roadmap to achieving that success. James Courtenay, Global Head, Advisory & Infrastructure Finance, Standard Chartered Bank A very satisfying read. This is a guide to strategy which covers all the necessary ground in a very straightforward and no nonsense way, employing a number of good real life examples of strategy in practice. It is written by a true expert and will prove an invaluable tool for anybody involved in the running of a business. Vince O’Brien, Director, Montagu Private Equity and Past Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association It can be difficult to keep up to date with all the latest developments in the world of strategy, let alone how one guru’s work blends with those of his predecessors. Vaughan Evans has done it for us. He gives us a thorough refresher course, with each leading strategy theory, model or matrix presented as a tool in the manager’s toolkit – and carefully placed in each step of the strategy process. Each tool is described in a lucid and vivid style seldom found in a business manual. Refreshing and invaluable for a DIY strategist. Christine Harvey, former Director of Business Analysis and Planning, GlaxoSmithKline R&D &nbs
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