Table Of Content

Absolute Essentials of Strategic Management is an absolute essential for students on a range of business and management courses and practicing managers interested in the seminal and classical works that have shaped strategic management. Its concise and engaging style makes it the ultimate companion for learned colleagues from neighbouring disciplines also curious about this dynamic and all-embracing ﬁ eld of study and application. Dr Vinh Sum Chau, Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Kent Business School, University of Kent Absolute Essentials of Strategic Management Strategy is a foundational aspect of management education, whilst strategic thinking is an essential business skill. This shortform textbook provides the absolute essentials of the field, focusing on how strategy works as a managed process. The author, an experienced management educator, provides a clear and concise structure that enables readers to understand and excel in the core strategic skills that are essential to contemporary business globally. This concise and coherent text is a unique alternative to bloated strategic management textbooks and will be welcomed by students and reflective practitioners around the world. Barry J. Witcher is Emeritus Reader of Strategic Management at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia. He has taught at Strathclyde University and Durham University and published in many of the world’s leading management journals. Absolute Essentials of Business and Economics Textbooks are an extraordinarily useful tool for students and teachers, as is demonstrated by their continued use in the classroom and online. Successful textbooks run into multiple editions, and in endeavouring to keep up with developments in the field, it can be difficult to avoid increasing length and complexity. This series of shortform textbooks offers a range of books which zero-in on the absolute essentials. In focusing on only the core elements of each sub-discipline, the books provide a useful alternative or supplement to traditional textbooks. Absolute Essentials of Green Business Alan Sitkin Absolute Essentials of Operations Management Andrew Greasley Absolute Essentials of Strategic Management Barry J. Witcher For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Absolute-Essentials-of-Business-and-Economics/book-series/ABSOLUTE Absolute Essentials of Strategic Management Barry J. Witcher First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Barry J. Witcher The right of Barry J. Witcher to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-36537-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-43079-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Visit the eResources: www.routledge.com/9781138365377 For my wife, Kate Contents Introduction 1 1 Strategic management 2 2 Purpose 11 3 The external environment 16 4 The internal environment 29 5 Objectives 37 6 Business-level strategy 47 7 Corporate-level strategy 57 8 Global-level strategy 70 9 Strategy implementation 81 10 Strategic control 89 11 Strategic leadership 98 Index 106