Amazon.com
To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, you might not always get what you want from this short 'n' sweet little guidebook on strategic thinking and planning, but you just might get what you need. That would include concise and handy visual and verbal tips on gathering and analyzing key information, setting short- and long-term objectives, developing your team leadership skills, predicting future trends, and maintaining a flexible approach throughout. It also covers the essential tools of strategic management, from SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) analysis and feasibility studies to budgeting forecasts and contingency plans. Granted, if you're looking for specific or in-depth guidance--say, how to do strategic thinking in a particular field, like biotechnology, or a particular division, like human resources--you may find this book too cursory and general in its approach. But if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basic steps of strategic planning, both individually and in a group setting, this may do you just fine.
It's worth mentioning that the book is also part of reference publisher Dorling Kindersley's Essential Managers series--20 itty-bitty li'l books on business and career topics ranging from communication, leadership, and decision making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the For Dummies book series's talent for breaking down a lot of information into bite-size bits and sidebars with Dorling Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, they don't represent the cutting edge of business thinking and they don't necessarily reflect any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's as though someone collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages, studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand on the last few pages of each volume. Again, they're not for anyone looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of the subjects they cover, but they're perfect as a quickie general-interest reference... and let's face it, they're so cute and look so smart in a neat little stack or row that you'll probably want to buy a whole bunch to give to your entire staff or department.
Book Description
Learn about brainstorming, systems, logic, precedents, action plans, and goals. Learn how to plan, develop, and implement dynamic business and team strategies with Strategic Thinking. This concise and informative guide shows you how to identify the route to success by gathering and analyzing key information, setting short- and long-term objectives, developing your team-leadership skills, predicting future trends, and maintaining a flexible approach. It covers the essential tools of strategic management, from SWOT analysis and feasibility studies to budgeting forecasts and contingency plans, to help give you a competitive edge in today's fast-moving business world. The Essential Manager have sold more than 1.9 million copies worldwide! Experienced and novice managers alike can benefit from these compact guides that slip easily into a briefcase or a portfolio. The topics are relevant to every work environment, from large corporations to small businesses. Concise treatments of dozens of business techniques, skills, methods, and problems are presented with hundreds of photos, charts, and diagrams. It is the most exciting and accessible approach to business and self-improvement available.
About the Author
Andy Bruce is the founder of SofTools Limited-a specialist business research and consulting company. Following completion of a largely academic MBA programme, he has spent the past eight years helping a variety of organizations manage major projects and cope with change in the real world-more information on tools and techniques can be found at SofTools.net. Ken Langdon has a background in sales and marketing in the computer industry. During his early years with a major computer supplier, he was involved in pioneering the use of project management techniques-including a comprehensive use of Pert-in the information technology departments of major computer users in industry and local government. As a consultant he has taught project planning techniques and assisted in the preparation of plans in the USA, Europe and Australia.
Home
