Strategy Genius cuts through the noise to bring you proven research from around the world, that you can use to reach your goals at work. Richard Jones has pulled together the 40 most rigorous and compelling pieces to each form a chapter of Strategy Genius. And each chapter not only describes the research, it also shows you how to take advantage of it in your work.If you only ever read one book on strategy, read this one.
This looks at how companies are failing to develop and share effective strategies – instead basing their direction on straplines and/or rolling targets of the types discussed earlier. A chapter also looks at the problem of strategies not being communicated down through the organisation.
What should a strategy contain? Nail the balance between ‘me too’ and real stretch objectives and also how you focus the whole organisation around a strategy.
The book covers some of the classic ways that businesses are destroyed. It looks at the dangers of success, where a company like Kodak is doing so well it becomes a serious challenge to recognise and accept the need for significant change – especially if this change will sacrifice revenues. It also talks about disruptive technologies and the way they frequently allow established players to become de-positioned by new entrants.
With the accelerating impact of new technologies, this section looks deeper at what disruption is and what it means for companies. It then goes on to consider how to not just survive the impact of technology or business model disruption, but actually exploit it.
Developing a sustainable competitive advantage has been a cornerstone of business strategy for some time and it is clearly a highly desirable position to achieve. This section will look at the classic but still important thinking in this area and then move on with discussing how the concept of a sustainable advantage stands up in today’s turbulent times.
The first step in developing strategy is to understand the current and likely future environment and situation for the company. This will cover a classic model for understanding the competitive environment before considering a modern twist on this approach and then a chapter on identifying when a business model is running into trouble.
Includes chapters that introduce some unusual concepts into the development of strategy – covering areas such as learning from failure as well as tools to help understand the changing environment. It will consider business models and business model innovation in detail.
This section includes a number of chapters that range from simple thoughts on how to develop and then evaluate potential strategic alternatives.
Considers not just alternative ways to innovate but has chapters considering how much innovation is optimum as well as how to best configure an organisation to be innovative.
How to help embed strategy through clear communications through to setting up the right metrics that align with the desired strategy. The final chapter is an example of an end-to- end approach for developing strategy.
‘Strategy is one of those topics that many people talk about without having much idea what they mean. Richard Jones is one of the exceptions. A very good book; I recommend it strongly’
Peter Hiscocks – CEO Judge Business School Executive Education, University of Cambridge
Richard Jones is, for a broadcaster like me, on the fast dial for comment, about almost everything. I am, like most of my breed, lazy and a skimmer.
Richard always places the context and arrows the opinion. So this is so appropriate – genius conflated into something you can understand. A bit like Richard, really.”
Michael Wilson – the UK’s longest serving business and economics editor on TV
Best practical and concise book on strategy I have ever read!
Average review is 5.0 stars on Amazon UK.
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