Strategy and the Business Landscape

Strategy and the Business Landscape offers a contemporary yet historically grounded perspective on the field of strategy. Pankaj Ghemawat in association with David. J. Collins, Jan W. Rivkin, and Gary P. Pisano, provides firm-centered and value-based logic to bridge some of the great debates about strategy today. Always practical, while still rigorous, key concepts are laid out succinctly and illustrated with rich examples, often drawn from the author team's rich professional experience.

This text represents the core concepts of Harvard's required Competition and Strategy course offered at the Harvard Business School to MBA students. It combines up-to-date academic thinking with examples and insights drawn from consulting and significantly advances the treatment of strategic dynamics. The text portion of the book is compact and is supplemented with 10 class-tested Harvard Business School cases.

• Chapter 1 The Origins of Strategy
• Background
• Academic Underpinnings
• The Rise of Strategy Consultants
• BCG and the Experience Curve
• From the Experience Curve to Portfolio Analysis
• Startegic Business Units and Portfolio Analysis
• Emerging Problems
• Chapter 2 Mapping the Business Landscape
• Supply-Demand Analysis
• The "Five Forces" Framework
• Force 1:  The Degree of Rivalry
• Force 2:  The Threat of Entry
• Force 3:  The Threat of Substitutes
• Force 4:  Buyer Power
• Force 5:  Supplier Power
• The Value Net and Other Generalisations
• The Process of Mapping Business Landscapes
• Step 1: Drawing the Boundaries
• Horizontal Scope
• Vertical Scope
• Geographic Scope
• Step 2: Mapping Key Relationships
• Information Requirements
• Cooperative and Competitive Relationships
• Step 3: Adapting to/Shaping the Business Landscape
• Chapter 3 Creating Competitive Advantage
• The Development of Concepts for Competitive Positioning
• Cost Analysis
• Differentiation Analysis
• Costs versus Differentiation
• Added Value
• A Process for Analysis
• Step 1: Using Activities to Analyze Relative Costs
• Step 2: Using Activities to Analyze Relative Willingness to Pay
• Step 3: Exploring Different Strategic Options and Making Choices
• The Whole versus the Parts
• Chapter 4 Anticipating Competitive and Cooperative Dynamics
• Competition and Cooperation Among the Few
• Game Theory
• Behavioral Theory
• Evolutionary Dynamics
• Threats to Added Value
• Imitation
• Economics of Scale and Scope
• Learning/Private Information
• Contracts and Relationships
• Network Externalities
• Threat of Retaliation
• Time Lags
• Strategic Complexity
• Upgrading
• Substitution
• Not Responding
• Fighting
• Switching
• Recombining
• Straddling
• Harvesting
• Threats to the Appropriability of Added Value
• Holdup
• Contracting
• Integrating
• Building Bargaining Power
• Bargaining Hard
• Reducing Asset-Specificity
• Building Relationships
• Developing Trust
• Slack
• Garhering Infomation
• Monitoring Behavior
• Offering Performance Incentives
• Shaping Norms
• Bonding Resources
• Changing Governance
• Mobilizing for Change
• Chapter 5 Building and Sustaining Success
• Activities versus Resources
• The Activity-System View
• The Resource-Based View
• Dynamic Theories
• Making Commitments
• Developing Capabilities
• The Challenge of Change
• Case 1 Intel Corporation: 1968-1997
• Intel: The Early Years
• Intel in the DRAM Business
• Intel and the Microprocessor
• The Battle to Set a Personal Computer Standard
• Exit from DRAMs
• Intel as a Microprocessor Company
• The 80386 Manufacturing Strategy
• The Computer Industry Transformed
• Sustaining Dominance in the Microprocessor Industry
• Competitors
• The RISC Threat
• The Threat from Clones
• Customers
• "Intel Inside"
• Intel's Systems Business
• New Product Introductions
• Supplier Relationships
• Intel and the Internet
• Case 2 Adolph Coors in the Brewing Industry
• Competition in the U.S. Brewing Industry
• Procurement
• Production
• Distribution
• Marketing
• Structural Impact
• The Brewing Divisions of Adolph Coors
• Background
• Procurement
• Production
• Distribution
• Marketing
• Coors' Plans for Multisite Expansion
• Case 3 Cola Wars Continued: Coke versus Pepsi in the 1990s
• Economics of the U.S. Industry
• Concentrate Producers
• Bottlers
• Distributors
• Suppliers
• History of the Cola Wars
• Emergence of the Duopoly
• The Pepsi Challenge
• The Cola Wars Heat Up
• Reorganizing the Industry
• Buying Up Bottlers
• Changing Distribution Channels and Private Labels
• *New Age* Beverages
• Appendix 3A Corporate History of Coke's and Pepsi's Major Acquisitions and Divestitures
• Coca-Cola
• Pepsico
• Appendix 3B Other Concentrate Producers
• Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up Companies
• Royal Crown Cola (RC Cola)
• Other Brands
• Case 4 Crown Cork & Seal in 1989
• The Metal Container Industry
• Industry Structure
• Pricing
• Customers
• Distribution
• Manufacturing
• Suppliers
• Industry Trends
• In-House Manufacture
• Plastics
• Glass
• Soft Drinks and Aluminum Cans
• Diversification and Consolidation
• Major Competitors in 1989
• American National Can
• Continental Can
• Reynolds Metals
• Ball Corporation
• Van Dorn Company
• Heekin Can
• Crown Cork & Seal Company
• Company History
• Connelly's Strategy
• Products and Markets
• Manufacturing
• Recycling
• Research and Development R&D
• Marketing and Customer Service
• Financing
• International
• Performance
• John Connelly's Contribution to Success
• Avery's Challenge in 1989
• Case 5 Wal*Mart Stores, Inc.
• Discount Retailing
• Wal*Mart's Discount Stores
• History of Growth
• Sam's Legacy
• Merchandising
• Store Operations
• Distribution
• Vendor Relationships
• Human Resource Management
• Management
• Diversification
• Sam's Clubs
• Supercenters
• International Expansion
• Outlook for the Future
• Case 6 De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. (A)
• Supply
• Demand
• The Recent Boom and Bust
• Case 7 Microsoft, 1995
• The Early Microsoft
• The Windows Era: 1990-1994
• Operating Systems Business
• Applications
• Microsoft in 1995
• New Growth Opportunities
• Windows 95
• Business Computing
• Advanced Technology Group
• Home Computing
• Gates on the Future
• Appendix 7A Chronology of Antitrust Actions Against Microsoft
• Case 8 British Satellite Broadcasting versus Sky Television
• The British Television Industry
• Satellite Television
• British Satellite Broadcasting's Entry
• Sky Television's Entry
• British Satellite Broadcasting's Response
• Sky Television's Launch
• British Satellite Broadcasting's Launch
• Appendix 8A News Corporation Limited in 1988
• Newspapers
• Television and Films
• Case 9 Leadership Online: Barnes & Noble versus Amazon.com (A)
• Traditional Bookselling
• Publishers
• Wholesalers
• Retailers
• Barnes & Noble's Traditional Business Model(s)
• Procurement and Logistics
• Store Operations
• Marketing
• Amazon.com's Online Business Model
• Procurement and Logistics
• Store Operations
• Marketing
• Barnes & Noble's Online Offensive
• Procurement and Logistics
• Store Operations
• Marketing
• Amazon.com's Response
• The Future of Online Book Retailing
• Case 10 Nucor at a Crossroads
• The U.S. Market for Steel
• U.S. Steel Makers
• Integrated Steel Makers
• Minimills
• Nucor Corporation
• History
• Administration
• Operations
• Investment
• Thin-Slab Casting
• The Decision

This is one of the best introductory books on strategy that you will find. The rating is a lowered from outstanding, because it is very bad printing, which makes a lot of the illustrations unreadable. The cases are a bit dated, but you can live with that.

Please observe the subtitle if you intend to buy this book, as the Core Concepts is the short version of this book, without the cases.

All in all, recommended reading, even if it was expensive.