Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy, Ninth Edition - Softcover

Highlights of the ninth edition:

New section of Internet Research Cases and end of chapter experiential exercises for researching and analyzing companies.

Five of the mini-cases are included in the book.

• eBay
• Hershey Foods
• AirTran
• Tyson Foods
• Eli Lilly

Five additional mini-cases are on the companion website at www.prenhall.com/wheelen

• Southwest Airlines
• Stryker
• Heinz
• Williams-Sonoma
• Pfizer

We wrote Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy to introduce you to strategic management—a field of inquiry that focuses on the organization as a whole and its interactions with its environment. The corporate world is in the process of transformation driven by information technology (in particular the Internet) and globalization. Strategic management takes a panoramic view of this changing corporate terrain and attempts to show how large and small firms can be more effective and efficient not only in today's world, but in tomorrow's as well.

The text has been class-tested in strategy courses and revised based on feedback from students and instructors. For the most part, the text is unchanged from the eighth edition. The only changes are the additions of Enron, Tyco, and Worldcom examples in Chapter 2 and the inclusion of a glossary of key terms at the back of the book. The first 10 chapters are organized around a strategic management model that prefaces each chapter and provides a structure for both content and case analysis. We emphasize those concepts that have proven to be most useful in understanding strategic decision-making and in conducting case analysis. Our goal was to make the text as comprehensive as possible without getting bogged down in any one area. Endnote references are provided for those who wish to learn more about any particular topic. The primary changes from the eighth edition are the selection of cases. We included new versions of eight popular full-length cases and five entirely new cases. We also added a special category of ten experiential cases called Internet Research Mini-Cases. All of the cases are about actual organizations. The firms range in size from large, established multinationals to small, entrepreneurial ventures, and cover a broad variety of issues. As an aid to case analysis, we propose the strategic audit as an analytical technique.

Objectives

This book focuses on the following objectives, typically found in most strategic management and business policy courses:

• To develop an understanding of strategic management concepts, research, and theories.
• To develop a framework of analysis to enable a student to identify central issues and problems in complex, comprehensive cases; to suggest alternative courses of action; and to present well-supported recommendations for future action.
• To develop conceptual skills so that a student is able to integrate previously learned aspects of corporations.
• To develop an understanding of the global economy and the Internet and their current and potential impact on business activities in any location.
• To develop an understanding of the role of corporate governance in strategic management.
• To develop the ability to analyze and evaluate, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the performance of the people responsible for strategic decisions.
• To bridge the gap between theory and practice by developing an understanding of when and how to apply concepts and techniques learned in earlier courses on marketing, accounting, finance, management, operations, and information systems.
• To improve research capabilities necessary to gather and interpret key environmental data.
• To develop a better understanding of the present and future environments in which corporations must function.
• To develop analytical and decision-making skills for dealing with complex conceptual problems in an ethical manner.

This book achieves these objectives by presenting and explaining concepts and theories useful in understanding the strategic management process. It critically analyzes studies in the field of strategy to acquaint the student with the literature of this area and to help develop the student's research capabilities. It also suggests a model of strategic management. It recommends the strategic audit as one approach to the systematic analysis of complex organization-wide issues. Through a series of special issue and comprehensive cases (available in the combined text and the cases text), it provides the student with an opportunity to apply concepts, skills, and techniques to real-world corporate problems. The book focuses on the business corporation because of its crucial position in the economic system of the world and in the material development of any society.