The "Financial Times" Guide to Strategy
How to Create and Deliver a Winning Strategy

A text on strategy.

"Most CEOs claimed that they wanted to spend about a third of their time on strategy. That's about 80-days in a typical working year". McKinsey Research, 2003. A strategy is an essential tool in business. How do you know what you're doing without one? But what exactly is a good strategy? How do you get one? What are the options? Which are the key concepts and models you need to know about? In the third edition of this easy-to-read and logically structured guide, Richard Koch leads the reader through each critical step in creating, delivering and understanding successful strategy. Beginning at the level of the business unit, where most everyday business activities are carried out, he shows us which questions to ask, how to go about answering them and what action to take as a result. With an updated section on corporate strategy and an A-Z reference of strategy concepts, the FT Guide to Strategy is your guide to corporate success!

Foreword to the third edition
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
1. The use and abuse of strategy 2. A brief history of strategy 3. Swings in strategic thinking: six phases
4. Towards a synthesis
5. Progressive approximation in developing strategy
PART ONE: BUSINESS UNIT STRATEGY A do-it-yourself guide
1. Overview 2. What businesses are you in? 3. Where do you make the money? 4. How good are your competitive positions 5. What skills and capabilities underpin your success?
6. Is this a good industry to be in? 7. What do the customers think?
8. What about the competitors?
9. How do you raise profits quickly?
10. How do you build long term value?
11. Conclusion
12. Addition note on the theory of Business Unit Strategy
PART TWO: CORPORATE STRATEGY 1. The joy of Corporate Strategy
2. An ecological view of Corporate Strategy
3. Five dimensions of Corporate Strategy
4. Conclusion
PART THREE: STRATEGIC THINKERS PART FOUR: STRATEGIC CONCEPTS, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES PART FIVE: STRATEGIC SHIFTS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY The impact of increasing returns, networks, and the net
Notes
Index