Charting the Corporate Mind [Hardcover]

Charles Hampden-Turner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0029137063 | ISBN-13: 978-0029137062 | Publication Date: March 9, 1990 | Edition: First Printing

At the core of a company's ability to learn, improve, and compete is the process by which it resolves dilemmas that appear and reappear in constantly changing forms, e.g. whether to pursue economies of scale or flexibility; whether to target broad or niche markets. In this book, Charles Hampden-Turner describes how managers at Shell International Petroleum Company, Apple Computer, Hanover Insurance, and six other major corporations resolve these recurring dilemmas by employing his renowned mapping scheme. By delineating on a chart, or a series of charts, a manager's inchoate, often metaphorical, forms of cognitive expression, Hampden-Turner shows how solutions, previously unrealized in the recesses of the manager's mind, become readily apparent.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Charles H. Frost Tektronix, Inc. Here, finally, is a paradigm that accommodates paradox: that recognizes that our corporate domain often includes elements that must both exist and not exist at the same time. In Charting the Corporate Mind, Charles Hampden-Turner helps us resist the temptation to oversimplify our thinking about corporate problems and opportunities. At the same time, he gives us a set of tools for dealing with complexity. -- Review

From the Back Cover

Companies are now racing to learn rather than produce, and those who lead must learn most - and most quickly. The central pillar of this learning process is an organization's ability to resolve dilemmas that appear and reappear in constantly changing forms. Now available in paperback for students of strategy and management this ground-breaking book addresses key issues such as:

* How reliable do you make your product before you undermine your own replacement market?

* Do you standardise your product to provide it cheaply on a large scale or do you make it distinctive?

* Do you compete on quality and demand at premium price or do you compete on low cost?

* How much value can you afford? Is one feature best or a combination?

* Should you try to attract the widest possible market by combining numerous features or target a more defined market sector?

Hampden-Turner shows what outstanding individuals in the private sector have achieved. This book presents a tried and tested learning system which companies can adapt or fit their own circumstances. Successful users include Shell Oil, Apple Computer and Hanover Insurance. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Printing edition (March 9, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029137063
• ISBN-13: 978-0029137062
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,359,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Navigation: The simple and amazing strategy, October 11, 2003

By 

Nikhil Rastogi (New Delhi, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charting the Corporate Mind: From Dilemma to Strategy (Hardcover)

"Navigation" could be a one-word summary and one phrasal summary for this book could be "between the rock and the whirlpool". Both, the word and the phrase are used in the context of successful business management. Corporate dilemma, the chief concern of this book, earlier seemed like a crossroad in the operations of the company where the company could take advantage of either one of the two alternatives. Synergy between alternatives seemed like a contradiction. It was like trying to find a synergy between economies of scale and flexible manufacturing. The presence of one ruled out the presence of the other. So Henry ford chose the mass production against customized production. Companies chose either cooperation or competition among product groups. This book attempts to and succeeds in synergizing these two so-called horns of a corporate dilemma. According to the author, in the current competitive environment, the resolution of dilemmas is not a choice but a requirement failing which the company gets enveloped in the vicious cycle of extremes of a particular way of functioning (excessive reliance on economies of scale leading to complete ignorance of changes in customer's taste and requirements). Managers in most of the companies stop short of resolving these dilemmas even after realizing their presence on account of the painful nature of its resolution. Thus the inability to take a decision becomes a decision for the worse of the organization. The book represents a paradigm shift in the way of strategy building. It teaches the superiority of reconciliation (integration of differences) over the resolution (compromise) of disputes.
The book beautifully deals with the concepts as well as the practical applicability of the dilemma theory. Many times the level of abstraction involved in the theory dissuades further reading but the application part pulls the interest back Not a light read it would require effort on the part of reader to understand the concepts before he gets into the flow. Though the book has been written with companies in mind the theory seems as much applicable in an individual's life where one encounters hostility in the outer environment which leads to a deadlock. That unraveling is possible would be a beacon of light to many people caught in a blind alley's of life. With competition rooting away the superficial rules of success made by the mankind it's time again to look around at the nature and learn the basic and simple rules of living in harmony. That harmony is the basis of existence (of businesses & individuals) is just not a coincidence. It's providence. It's the future.