Strategic Corporate Management for Engineering

PREFACE ; THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRADITION: CREATING A KNOWLEDGE GAP ; STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: BREAKING THE TRADITION ; BRIDGING THE GAP: A NEW APPROACH ; THE CHAPTER LAYOUT ; Part I: Preparing for the Strategic Management Task ; Part II: Strategic Planning: Internal Corporate Issues ; Part III: Strategic Planning: External Corporte Issues ; A NOTE TO THE CORPORATE READER ; A NOTE TO THE STUDENT READER ; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ; TABLE OF CONTENTS ; LIST OF FIGURES ; PART I: PREPARING FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ; 1. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: A BACKGROUND ; THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT HISTORY ; The Timeline ; Military Origins ; 18th Century Craft Society ; Industrialization and the Early 20th Century ; Post-War Management ; Modern Managaement Foundation ; 21st Century Strategy ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; 2. THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION ; THE CONTEXT OF EMERGING ISSUES ; Knowledge Workers ; New Markets and New Competition ; Information Revolution ; Economic Opportunities ; THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRADITION ; The Existence of the Project Management Tradition ; The Management Knowledge Gap Impact ; Education Impact ; Continuing Education Impact ; CIVIL ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS ; The Strategic Knowledge Requirements ; Leadership ; Markets ; Technology ; Economics ; STRATEGY - THE DEFINITIONAL BASIS ; Strategy Defined ; Strategy Managemetn - An Environment for Strategy ; Strategy Planning - The Implementation Side of Strategy ; The Strategic Plan - Putting it All Together ; THE QUESTION-ANSWER METHODOLOGY ; Objectives, Development, and Context ; Development ; Precautions ; TAKING THE NEXT STEP ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; PART II: INTERNAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ISSUES ; 3. THE FIRST STEPS: VISIONS, MISSIONS, AND GOALS ; THE ORGANIZATION VISION ; Organization Beliefs ; Identifying Organization Beliefs ; Organization Purpose ; Specifying the Organization Purpose ; Long-Term Goal ; Comprehensive Statement ; THE MISSION STATEMENT ; Creating the Mission Statement ; Target Group ; The Mission Emphasis ; Mission Implementation ; Mission Timing ; Putting it Together ; THE ORGANIZATION GOALS ; Goals as Objectives and Milestones ; Ownership of Goals ; Integration of Goals ; Demonstrate Commitment to the Goals ; Goal ; Change in Goals Over Time ; LEADERSHIP IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ; Leadership as Caretaker ; Caretaker Responsibility ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - VISION, MISSION, AND GOALS IN BUSINESS CREATION ; 4. CORE COMPETENCIES OF THE CIVIL ENGINEERING FIRM ; EXAMINING CORE COMPETENCIES ; Relationship to Civil Engineering ; Learning From Outside Examples ; Honda ; Hewlett Packard ; Lessons Learned ; THE NEED FOR CORE COMPETENCIES ; How Core Competencies Diverge From Current Business Practice ; Reevaluation of Business Practices ; The Difficulty in Civil Engineering ; Creating a Business Foundation ; Setting a Course for Long-Term Expansion ; IDENTIFYING CORE COMPETENCIES ; Individual Competencies ; Organization Competencies ; Leveraging Core Competencies ; Building on Individual Competencies ; Leveraging Organizational Competencies ; TAKING THE NEXT STEP ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY ; SHIFTING CORE COMPETENCIES ; 5. KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION RESOURCES ; THE CHANGING RESOURCES OF ORGANIZATIONS ; KNOWLEDGE WORKERS AS AN ORGANIZATION INVESTMENT ; Costs of Employee Mobility ; Leveraging Global Knowledge Perspectives ; TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES: ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE ; The Technology Catalysts ; Internal ; External ; A NEW ROLE ; THE STRATEGIC TRANSITION ; Technology Needs Assessment ; The Technology Pursuit ; Evaluating Needs - Not Marketing Hype ; A Technology Integration Checkpoint ; ESTABLISHING A TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION STRATEGY ; Concentric Circle Integration ; TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS TO SUPPORT NEW BUSINESS VENTURES ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES FOR MARKET COMPETITION ; 6. ORGANIZATION AND EDUCATION ; WHY EDUCATION AS A FOCUS ; Bridging the Management Knowledge Gap ; Enhancing Career Advancement Opportunities ; Enhancing Personal and Professional Development ; Ensuring Competency in Discipline Fields ; WHAT TO STUDY ; Discipline Advances ; Management Advances ; Professional Development ; Strategic Management ; HOW TO EDUCATE ; Formal Education Opportunities ; University Programs ; Private Education Providers ; Corporate Universities ; Informal Education Opportunities ; Self-Study Books ; Internet-Based Education ; THE COMMON ISSUE - DISSEMINATION ; ORGANIZATION EDUCATION EXAMPLES ; Arthur D. Little School of Management ; US Army Corps of Engineers ; Lessons Learned ; JUSTIFYING EDUCATION COSTS ; Strategic Objectives Approach ; Knowledge of Emerging Issues ; Minimization of Knowledge Gaps ; Preparation for Employee Replacement ; Opportunity Costs ; SUMMARY ; NEXT STEPS ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - INTEGRATING EDUCATION INTO THE ORGANIZATION ENVIRONMENT ; PART III: EXTERNAL MANAGEMENT ISSUES ; 7. FISCAL MANAGEMENT: PUTTING A FOCUS ON LONG-TERM BOTTOM-LINES ; THE THREE PERSPECTIVES OF FINANCIAL NUMBERS ; PROJECT-BASED FINANCES - A PROJECT PERSPECTIVE ; Private Funding ; Public Funding ; ORGANIZATION FINANCES - AN INTERNAL PERSPECTIVE ; Balance Sheets ; The Components ; Income Statements ; Components ; Budgets ; INDUSTRY AND REGIONAL ECONOMICS - AN EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE ; Economic Forecasting ; Time-Series Charts - A First Model Approach ; Leading Economic Indicators - Compiled Statistics ; Econometric Models ; THE STRATEGIC APPLICATION OF FINANCE ; Finance as a Basis for Selecting Customers ; Selecting Financially Sound Companies ; Finance as a Basis for Partnerships and Alliances ; Management Team ; ECONOMIC FORECASTING: SURVIVING ECONOMIC ROLLER COASTERS ; Anticipating Trends: Breaking the Reactive Management Tradition ; RETURN ON MANAGEMENT: AN EMERGING FINANCIAL CONCEPT FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING ; SUMMARY ; NEXT STEPS ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM FINANCIALS ; 8. EVALUATING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES ; WHY MARKET ANALYSIS AND EXPANSION ; Expansion Needs by the Numbers ; Strategic Differentiation ; Client-Based Expectations ; Summary ; REACTIVE VS. PROACTIVE MARKET RESPONSES ; Traditional Market Outlook: Reacting to Current Industry Forces ; Competitors ; Customers ; New Entrants ; Substitutes ; Creating a Strong Foundation: Setting the Market Direction ; Competitors: Differentiation Rather Than Competition ; Customers: Anticipated Rather Than Reactive Needs ; New Entrants: Block Rather Than React ; Substitutes: Value Added ; DETERMINING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES ; Private Clients: Opportunities by Growth and Expansion ; Opportunities Related to the Balance Sheet ; Opportunities Related to Economics ; Opportunities Related to Management Interests ; Public Clients: Opportunities By The Numbers ; Census Data ; Budgetary Numbers ; THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET ; RISK ANALYSIS: THE FINAL STEP IN MARKET EXPANSION ; Risk Profile ; Risk Perspectives ; Objectives Analysis ; Boundary Analysis ; Probability of Return ; Economic Analysis ; Summary ; A SUMMARY CHECKPOINT ; NEXT STEPS ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - EXPANDING BEYOND AN ESTABLISHED MARKET ; 9. COMPETITION: BATTLE IN THE CIVIL ENGINEERING ARENA ; PUTTING COMPETITION INTO A STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE PERSPECTIVE ; Knowing Your Position ; Knowing the Competitor's Position ; Analyzing the Competition ; Competitive Perspectives ; Competition from a Market Leader's Perspective ; Building On Core Competncies ; Investing in the Future ; Developing a Corporate Perspective ; Summary ; Competition from a Market Challenger's Perspective ; Evaluating Market Opportunities ; Changing Strength into Weakness ; Investment as a Tool for Opportunity ; Summary ; REMEMBERING THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP ; PUTTING THE BATTLE PLAN IN PLACE: TECHNOLOGICAL MARKETING IN THE 21ST CENTURY ; The Internet as Delivery ; The Presentation Components: The Marketing Forces ; The Introduction ; Company Background ; Objectives ; Project History ; The Personnel ; Real-Time Communication ; SUMMARY ; DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ; CASE STUDY - BATTLING THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE ; 10. PUTTING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT INTO ACTION ; REFERENCES ; INDEX