Financial Times Essential Guide to Developing a Business Strategy, The
Description
Want to take your company to the next level? You need a roadmap, a strategy. Preferably one that is simple, workable and saleable. This book provides you with just that. It sets out a straightforward strategy development process, the 'Strategy Pyramid', and guides you through it. It uses a lively central case study throughout, as well as drawing on examples of how real businesses have developed winning strategies. Whether you are intent on growing your business, or setting out on your start-up, this book offers an uncomplicated, practical and readable guide on how to get the strategy you need for your business to succeed.
It offers sound advice on the following areas:
- Setting goals and objectives
- Forecasting market demands
- Gauging industry competition
- Tracking competitive advantage
- Targeting the strategic gap
- Bridging the gap with business strategy
- Bridging the gap with corporate strategy
- Addressing risk and opportunity
The FT Essential Guide to Developing a Business Strategy will help businesses of all sizes to chart and realise their growth ambitions.
Reviews / Votes
'This is the most succinct and most practical handbook on business strategy on the market. In just a couple of hundred well-written pages, it synthesizes the most important ideas in the field. What sets it apart - and brings it to life - is that every concept that is introduced is immediately illustrated in practice through the use of a real-life case study.'
Jules Goddard, Fellow, London Business School and author, with Professor Tony Eccles, of Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense: Why Some Organisations Consistently Outperform Others
'A concise and highly practical guide to the fundamentals of strategic analysis and strategic planning.'
Robert M. Grant, ENI Professor of Strategic Management, Bocconi University, Milan, Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University, Washington, and author of Contemporay Strategic Analysis, now in its eighth edition
'This is the ideal companion to Evans's The Financial Times Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan. A plan worthy of investment is only as sound as its underpinning strategy. This terrific little book shows the manager just what he or she needs to do to build that strategy. Where has this book been for the last fifty years?'
Jonathan Derry-Evans, Partner, Manfield Capital Partners
'It will be an enormous help to busy managers who are developing a business strategy for the first time, or trying to improve on previous attempts. This is another Evans book to be kept to hand on the desktop, not to be shelved!'
Grahame Hughes, Founding Director, Haven Power Ltd
'If you are a small business or start up, this is an excellent guide to help you get your strategy right. Business strategy is all too often discussed in the context of big business. Vaughan Evans, on the other hand, makes it relevant to SMEs, demonstrating not only why but
how to develop the right strategy to succeed.'
Anthony Karibian, CEO, bOnline Ltd. and serial entrepreneur
'This is a really good and practical guide - clear, insightful, straightforward and practical. It is a must-have guide for anyone setting out to build or grow a business. If strategy can be likened to charting a wise and successful course though challenging waters, then Evans proves
once again that he is a master mariner.'
James Courtenay, Global Head, Advisory and Infrastructure Finance, Standard Chartered Bank
'Vaughan Evans is doing himself and his ilk out of the day job. With this easy-to-follow manual on how to develop a winning strategy, managers and investors won't need to engage pricey strategy consultants any more. Thanks!'
Ken Lawrence, Partner, Gresham Private Equity
'A seminal business strategy manual, as invaluable to the entrepreneur, manager or business advisor as to the student of strategic planning.'
James Pitt, Partner, Lexington Advisors UK Limited
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Vaughan Evans is an independent strategy consultant (www.managingstrategicrisk.com) with a background in industry economics. He worked at management and technology consultants Arthur D. Little and at investment bank Bankers Trust. Vaughan graduated from Cambridge and has a Sloan Fellowship with distinction from London Business School. He is the author of four previous books, including the best-selling Financial Times Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan.
Content
Introduction
Why strategy?
What is strategy?
What is the output?
What is the outcome?
What is a strategic plan?
What is strategic planning?
The Strategy Pyramid
Business vs corporate strategy
Part One: Strategy Development
1. Knowing Your Business
Identifying key segments
Essential example: Apple's saviour segments
Segmentation in a start-up
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - the business
2. Setting Goals and Objectives
Setting long-term goals
Essential example: Life at Mars
Setting SMART objectives
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - goals and objectives
3. Forecasting Market Demand
Sizing the market
Forecasting market demand
Essential tool: Moving averages
Essential example: No wrap for the cinema
Forecasting demand for a start-up
Market demand risks and opportunities
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - market demand
4. Gauging Industry Competition
Assessing competitive intensity
Assigning customer purchasing criteria
Deriving key success factors
Essential tool: Economies of scale
Essential example: Jessops is shuttered
Gauging competition in a start-up
Industry competition risks and opportunities
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - industry competition
5. Tracking Competitive Advantage
Rating competitive position
Essential tool: Product/market risk
Reviewing resources and capabilities
Essential tool: The value chain
Essential example: The everlasting Monsoon
Creating competitive advantage in a start-up
Essential example: Of diet, dance and detectives
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - competitive advantage
6. Targeting the Strategic Gap
Targeting the portfolio gap
Targeting the capability gap
Profiling the ideal player
Specifying the target gap
Essential example: Could Liverpool FC be champions again?
Targeting the gap in a start-up
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - strategic gap
7. Bridging the Gap: Business Strategy
Opting for a generic strategy
Essential tool: The experience curve
Strategic repositioning and shaping profit growth options
Essential tool: Uncontested market space
Making the strategic investment decision
Essential example: Sainsbury's fights back
Bridging the gap for a start-up
Business strategic risks and opportunities
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - business strategy
8. Bridging the Gap: Corporate Strategy
Optimising the corporate portfolio
Essential tool: The growth/share matrix
Creating value from mergers, acquisitions and alliances
Essential tool: Parenting value
Building strategically valuable resources
Essential tool: Core competences
Essential example: UU U-turn
Corporate strategic risks and opportunities
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - corporate strategy
9. Addressing Risk and Opportunity
Reviewing plan in a market context
Appraising opportunity versus risk
Essential tool: Expected value and sensitivity analysis
Essential example: Britney does it again
Essential case study: Extramural Ltd - risk and opportunity
Part Two: Strategic Planning