This book is about competition between businesses; it is a guide to principles of competitive business strategy which offers helpful ideas for devising ways to prevail in confrontation with business competitors. Based on the author's course in strategy which has been enthusiastically received over more than ten years by executives and students, comprising a diverse international audience, the book is a thought-provoking complement to standard textbooks on corporate strategy.Taking a fresh approach, it concentrates on the idea that maintaining a business over a period of time depends to an important degree on executives being able to compete successfully with others operating their businesses in the same commercial arena. Since strategy is a mind game, its principles are revealed wherever humans compete. This book draws, chapter by chapter, on illustrative instances and examples involving vigorous competition between determined rivals in business and beyond.The author argues that the majority of literature on business strategy is not helpful in dealing with questions about competition. Although popularly employing 'strategy' in titles, most such published works are not about strategy at all. Most contemporary accounts of strategic thinking concentrate on preserving a business in steady state through thinking about economics, markets and business development, rather than dealing directly with psychological confrontation between business rivals.This book is designed for readers who are students of business strategy, both ambitious professionals and university scholars. It is a source of productive ideas which will help business professionals to develop ways to think about one of the most challenging, yet neglected aspects of business: confronting rivals.
Author(s): Andrew Crouch
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 240
The Competitive Mind: Strategy for Winning
in Business......Page 1
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 11
1: Introduction......Page 13
Contemporary perspectives......Page 14
Classic perspectives......Page 17
Delineation of strategy......Page 23
Primary concepts......Page 24
Levels of direction......Page 26
Principles......Page 28
2: Competition......Page 35
Dynamics of harmony......Page 38
Dynamics of confrontation......Page 44
Threshold of confrontation......Page 53
Competition......Page 58
Competition and games......Page 63
Purpose......Page 66
Competitive context......Page 68
Competitive intelligence......Page 71
Appendix 2: The practice of competitive intelligence......Page 74
3: Assessment......Page 81
Strategic assessment......Page 83
Strategic appraisal......Page 84
Strategic issues......Page 91
Alternative courses of action......Page 92
Contemporary criteria......Page 97
Classic criteria......Page 104
Appendix 3: The look of a Strategic Assessment......Page 111
4: Integrity......Page 113
Initiative......Page 116
Creating momentum......Page 118
Flexibility......Page 122
Adapting to circumstances......Page 124
Balance......Page 130
Maintaining stability......Page 133
5: Security......Page 141
Time......Page 145
Impressions of time......Page 148
Deception......Page 153
Impressions of reality......Page 155
Power......Page 159
Impressions of dependence......Page 164
6: Feasibility......Page 169
Capability proposition......Page 172
Resource-based view......Page 173
Maintenance of wherewithal......Page 177
Ability......Page 180
Core competencies......Page 181
Capacity to transform......Page 182
Alliances......Page 185
Strategic satellites......Page 187
7: Morality......Page 193
8: Conclusion......Page 201
Policy objectives......Page 202
Strategic thresholds......Page 203
Principles of strategy......Page 208
Finally . . .......Page 218
Endnotes......Page 223
Index......Page 237
