`This excellent volume brings together some of the most influential readings in business strategy and explores the content and process of business strategy from a variety of different theoretical stances. It will serve as a comprehensive introduction to the literature and will become required reading for students of economics, organisational behavior and business' - Costas Markides, London Business School
Strategy for Business provides a comprehensive selection of essential readings, covering six key areas in business strategy:
§ What is Strategy?
§ Competition and Industry Effects
§ Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies
§ Strategic Innovation and Firm Size
§ Organisational Structures, Learning and Knowledge Management
§ the Global Information Economy
It contains dynamic chapters on strategy and includes classics in the field of strategy which continue to provide the theoretical background of more recent innovative work. Strategy for Business will be essential reading for those seeking an understanding of the changing nature of organizations and the world of business. It is particularly intended for students taking courses in strategy, organizational change and more general management courses at undergraduate level; it will also be an excellent resource for masters and postgraduate students.
This text is a course Reader, in a series of three (alongside Decision Making for Business, and Policy Issues for Business), which make up the main teaching texts of The Open University undergraduate course Business Behaviour in a Changing World (B300).
SECTION ONE: DIFFERENT VIEWS OF STRATEGY
What Is Strategy? - Michael E Porter
Theories of Strategy - Richard Whittington
Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent - Henry Mintzberg and James A Waters
SECTION TWO: INDUSTRY EFFECTS
Analyzing the Industry Environment - Robert M Grant
Industry Evolution - Robert M Grant
The Firm Matters More Than the Industry - Charles Baden-Fuller and John Stopford
SECTION THREE: FIRM EFFECTS: RESOURCES, CAPABILITIES AND CORE COMPETENCIES
The Firm as an Administrative Organization - Edith T Penrose
Looking Inside for Competitive Advantages - Jay B Barney
Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management - David J Teece, Gary Pisano and Amy Shuen
SECTION FOUR: STRATEGIC INNOVATION AND FIRM SIZE
Limits to the Learning Curve - William J Abernathy and Kenneth Wayne
Architectural Innovation - Rebecca M Henderson and Kim B Clark
The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms
Strategic Innovation in Established Companies - Constantinos Markides
SECTION FIVE: ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES, LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism - David J Teece
Perspectives on Alfred Chandler's Scale and Scope
Absorptive Capacity - Wesley M Cohen and Daniel A Levinthal
A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation
Strategic Thinking and Knowledge Management - Ysanne Carlisle
SECTION SIX: CHANGING CONTEXTS: THE GLOBAL INFORMATION ECONOMY
Global Strategy - Sumantra Ghoshal
An Organizing Framework
Increasing Returns and the New World of Business - W Brian Arthur
Global Strategy in the Twenty-First Century - George S Yip
