Developing Business Strategies (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Strategy development or review logically starts with external analysis, an analysis of the factors external to a business that can affect strategy..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Provides the framework & tools necessary to make strategy development & strategy review efforts effective, by moving beyond reactive problem solving toward the development & realization of sound strategic objectives for your company. DLC: Strategic planning.

From the Inside Flap

This powerful, revised edition of David Aaker’s enduring classic helps managers institute long-term business. Presenting a new chapter on strategic positioning, which places a face to the business strategy for customers and for employees, Aaker shows how it can play a powerful role in crystallizing and clarifying strategy, driving strategic initiatives, guiding communication strategy, and supporting the organizational structure.

This book provides a framework for looking outside the business to sense changes, trends, threats, and opportunities, and to analyze these conditions to develop strategic options. A set of agendas helps start the process, which is supported by a summary flow diagram and planning forms. Plus, new and updated sections on topics such as knowledge management, downstream business models, brand extensions, illusionary synergy, global leadership, creative thinking, and more round out the book.

Crucial to the success of any long-term strategy is the development of sustainable competitive advantages built from organizational assets and competencies. Aaker presents methods and concepts for identifying these advantages and making them the centerpiece of successful methods of branding, advertising, distribution, manufacturing, and finance.

This book also helps organizations select investment levels and chart growth directions for existing business areas as well as alternative growth directions, including market penetration, product expansion, market expansion, diversification, and more. Using methods such as strategic uncertainties, portfolio models, and scenario analysis, managers will learn to evaluate numerous investment alternatives.

Aaker explains how an organization’s structure, systems, people, and culture contribute to the successful implementation of a strategy. He also describes how to implement a dynamic strategy that responds to changing conditions, how to use alliances to gain strategic advantage, and how to implement strategies when markets are hostile or declining or when competition is global in scope.

Completely revised with new examples from business-to-business to the Internet-related arena, Developing Business Strategies, Sixth Edition is a virtually inexhaustible resource for managers at all levels, as well as small business owners and managers. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 330 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 5th edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471183644
• ISBN-13: 978-0471183648
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #945,880 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic and comprehensive guide to strategic planning, January 12, 2000

By	Azlan Adnan (Kota Kinabalu) - See all my reviews

Unless you know where your company is going, chances are it won't get very far in today's global marketplace. That's why every business needs the strong vision and keen sense of direction that come from the development, evaluation, and implementation of business strategies-and why every business owner or manager should have Developing Business Strategies, David A. Aaker's classic and comprehensive guide to strategic planning, now in its fifth edition.

Using vivid case studies, Developing Business Strategies helps you to move beyond reactive problem solving toward the development and realization of sound strategic objectives for your company. Providing both the framework and the tools necessary to make strategy development and strategy review efforts effective, this book shows you how to:

* Conduct a structured external and internal analysis of a business with confidence * Develop sustainable competitive advantages by creating assets, competencies, and strategies * Make strategic investment decisions to generate growth * Organize to support strategies * Compete strategically in hostile, growth, and global contexts.

As compact and easy to use as ever, this new Fifth Edition offers new or revised sections on current topics such as strategic uncertainty, buyer hot buttons, shifting customer priorities, strategy as options, paradigm shifts, organizational stubbornness, and brand equity. You'll also find up-to-date research and fresh examples on economic value analysis, competitor image, total quality management, reengineering, the virtual corporation, and more-plus a set of useful sample planning forms to help guide you through the strategy development process.

Whether you're a business owner, manager, or planning executive, the key to your company's success is in Developing Business Strategies.

David A. Aaker is the E. T. Grether Professor of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of numerous articles and ten books on strategy, including Marketing Research, Fifth Edition (Wiley) and Managing Brand Equity. His books have been translated into eight languages. Professor Aaker is an active consultant and speaker in the United States, Europe and South America.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Formerly Business Development Manager with KPMG, Azlan is currently Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo. He holds a Master's degree in International Business and Management from the Westminster Business School in London.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book, October 15, 2007

By	Elijah Chingosho "Dr Elijah Chingosho" (Nairobi, Kenya) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Developing Business Strategies, 6th Edition (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading this book which I found to be fascinating and enlightening. The book describes strategy and its role in ensuring that organisations achieve their mission. It is a comprehensive book on various aspects of strategy including the need to focus on customer needs, environmental analysis, knowledge management, strategy formulation, strategic positioning, strategy implementation, forecasting technologies, alliances, creative thinking, design as strategy, downstream business models, global leadership, among other informative topics.

The book is well written, well presented and easy to follow and understand. It is very practical and with many good examples and case studies. I would strongly recommend managers at all levels to read this interesting, practical and insightful book on strategy. The book is also useful and handy for strategy consultants and students doing an MBA or other postgraduate studies in business.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reading, February 7, 2000

By	Simantini Chakraborty (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This book is one of the best for strategy framework and methodology formulation. It is also very useful for case interviews. I believe that every management consultant and related professionals should own a copy, and hope that it would be incorporated into the MBA curriculum of the top B-Schools for strategic management.