The Strategy Concept and Process ^{2nd Ed.}

Hax and Mailuf offer a pragmatic approach to strategic management, offering practicing managers and business readers a disciplined process that facilitates the formulation and implementation of strategy. Most comprehensive, integrated, explicit approach to strategy formulation; Proctor & Gamble used as a running case throughout the text. Other real world examples include NKK and Merck; global perspective, companies are drawn from all over the world.

• Part I Strategy and Process
1. The Concept of Strategy and the Strategy Formulation Process
• The Various Dimensions of the Concept of Strategy
• Towards a Unified Cocept of Strategy
• The Strategy Formation Process
• A Typology of Strategy Formation
• Profiling and Diagramming the Concept of Strategy and the Strategy Formation Process
2. A Formal Strategic Planning Process
• The Three Perspectives of Strategy: Corporate, Business, and Functional
• The Strategic Planning Process: Integrating the Three Perspectives
• The Merits of Formal Strategic Planning
• Avoiding the Limitations of Formal Strategic Planning
• Managing by Strategy
• Part II Business Strategy
3. Business Strategy: The Core Concepts
• The Concept of Strategic Business Unit
• Interrelationship across Strategic Business Units
• The Fundamental Elements of the Definition of Business Strategy
4. The Mission of the Business
• A Process for Defining the Mission of the Business: An Illustration
5. Environmental Scan at the Business Level
• Definition of Industry
• Definition of Industry and Competitive Analysis
• Structural Analysis of Industries: The Five Forces Model
• Two Illustrations of the Structural Analysis of Industries: Pharmaceuticals and Engineering Polymers
• Further Comments on the Fire-Forces Model
• Environmental Scan at the Business Level Based on External Factors Analysis
• A Process for Profiling the Industry Attractiveness with the Five-Forces Model: An Illustration
• Strategic Group Analysis
• The Financial Statement Analysis Framework
6. Internal Scrutiny at the Business Level
• The Value Chain
• Illustration of the Value Chain: Merck in the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Generic Competitive Strategies
• The Engineering Polymers Example Revisited
• A Process for Profiling the Competitive Positioning of a Business: An Illustration
7. The Foundation of the Business Strategy
• A Process for Formulating Business Strategy: An Illustration
8. Strategic and Economic Evaluation of the Merits of a Strategy
• The Positioning-Sustainability-Valuation-Flexibility Framework
• Strategic Evaluation of the Merck-Medco Acquisition
• Part III Corporate Strategy
9. Corporate Strategy: The Core Concepts
• Strategic Tasks at the Corporate Level
• The Fundamental Elements in the Definition of Corporate Strategy
10. Environmental Scan at the Corporate Level
• A Process for Performing the Environmental Scan at the Corporate Level
11. The Mission of the Firm
• Alternatives for Growth and Diversification: A Guide to Assessing the Future Scope of the Firm
• Defining the Mission of the Firm: The Cases of NKK and P&G
12. Business Segmentation
• The Core Competence and the Challenge to the SBU Concept
• Matching Organizational Structure and Business Segmentation
• Making Explicit the Business Segmentation
13. Horizontal Strategy
• Interrelationship among Business Units
• Identification of Sources of Interrelationships: Some Illustrations
• Configuration of Activities of the Value Chain: The Case of the Telecommunications Equipment Industry Worldwide
• Organization and Managerial Infrastructure for Horizontal Strategy
14. Vertical Integration
• Characterization of Vertical Integration
• Benefits and Costs of Vertical Integration
• Conceptual Frameworks for Vertical Integration
• A Methodology for Linking Horizontal Strategy and Vertical Integration
15. Corporate Philosophy
• Methodology for a Diagnosis of Corporate Philosophy
• Summary of the Corporate Internal Scrutiny: The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Firm
16. Strategic Posture of the Firm
• Corporate Strategic Thrusts: The Agenda, the Assignment of Responsibilities, and the Measures of Control
• Corporate Strategic Thrusts: Some Illustrations
• Corporate Performance Objectives
17. Resource Allocation and Portfolio Management
• Sources of Value Creation
• Measuring the Contribution to Value Creation
• The Relationship Between Profitability and Growth
• Factors Affecting the Market Value of the Firm
• The Market-to-Book Value versus Spread
• The Market-to-Book Value Ratio versus Economic-to-Book Value Ratio (M/B vs. E/B)
• The Profitability Matrix
• Portfolio Matrices
• Contribution of Portfolio Approaches to Strategic Planning
• The Process of Resource Allocation
• Part IV Functional Strategy
18. Functional Strategy: The Core Concepts
• Functional Benchmarking
• Functional Capabilities and Business Process Reegineering
• Functional Segmentation: Selecting the Relevant Focuses of Analysis
• The Fundamental Elements of the Definition of a Functional Strategy
• Functional Interactions and the Need for Better Coordination across Functions
• Functional Strategic Decisions and Performance Measurements
• A Methodology for the Development of Functional Strategies
19. Human Resource Strategy
• Strategic Decision Categories Linked to Human Resources Management
• Congruency of the Human Resources Management Strategy
• A Framework for Strategic Decision Making in Human Resources Management: An Illustration
20. Technology Strategy
• A Framework for the Development of Technology Strategy
• Appendix: Masscalc — A High Performance Computer Company
21. Manufacturing Strategy
• Manufacturing Strategic Performance Measures
• Strategic Decision Categories in Manufacturing

An excellent and practical book. I wish I had read it when I was taking my MBA, it would have helped me tremendously. Strongly recommended.