Strategic Management Dynamics: Kim Warren
Frequently asked questions
Why is this book different from other strategy textbooks - what does it offer that is really new? The main difference is that it focuses on explaining how organisations improve performance over time. Most standard approaches use static analysis to identify a promising strategy. The book introduces some fundamental frameworks for understanding why performance is changing , and how to improve it. These are rigorous, quantitative and practical.
How does this show up in the way the book explains things? The main difference readers will see is that the book's figures are full of time-charts, rather than 2-by-2 boxes, checklists or qualitative flow-diagrams. Time-charts show for example how profits are rising and falling over months or years, how customers are being won and lost, or how reputation is changing. The figures also show rigorous causal connections between these factors, e.g. how profit growth is slowing because the rate of customer losses is rising, or how falling reputation is preventing us winning customers.
So does it ignore all the existing ideas in strategy? Certainly not! It explains most of these theories and frameworks in their own terms, and then shows how they connect with the mechanisms that make performance change. Unlike other strategy books that start with analysing market and competitive conditions then look at the business itself, this book starts with how the organisation system itself actually functions before putting it into the context of competitive rivalry and other external factors.
Does the book include new case-studies? No, although it refers to many organisations with which readers will be familiar. Its frameworks can be applied to any of the cases that feature in other textbooks or elsewhere. It does, however, develop an extensive illustration of how the method works for one of the most popular cases in use today – a low-fare airline.
Does it cover all the aspects of strategy? No – the field is too extensive to achieve complete coverage in the first textbook of this type. It covers strategy issues for single-business firms, for business units and for non-profit organisations. It also deals with many functional issues, e.g. in marketing and sales, human resources, and R&D. Corporate and international strategy will feature in the next edition. It also does not focus significantly on issues of strategy process.
Is it at all useful for non-commercial situations? Definitely! Since most existing strategy frameworks originate from analysis of competitive commercial markets, their contribution to public-sector and voluntary organisations' strategy is limited. In contrast, the frameworks in this book are equally applicable to such cases, as examples included in the book demonstrate.
I already teach a strategy course with an existing textbook – can I still make use of this one? Yes. Because Strategic Management Dynamics adds rigorous causal links from the choices that management make, through the business system, to the outcomes for profits etc., it brings to life the principles that would come up in a regular strategy class – 'So we have decided it would be good for company X to reduce prices. Let's work out what will happen to growth in customers and sales if we change prices in different ways, and hence estimate what will actually happen to profits.'
How am I going to do this? My students won't want to buy another book. Strategic Management Dynamics can be used alone as a strategy course textbook, or chapters can be used to supplement existing books. To assist in this use of the book, Wiley will be offering an e-book solution enabling students to access chapters from the book.
Where in my course will I most likely want to use chapters from the book? The book builds on principles concerning how resources develop over time – customers, staff, product-range and functionality, reputation, etc. So the first place where the book will help is where you are discussing strategy principles that concern the organisation itself, rather than its market or competitive environment. It does, however, go on to examine these issues in great detail, so you will be able to extend your use of the book as your confidence increases. Another strong contribution is to the issue of strategy implementation – 'OK, we have decided to attack a certain market with a certain product, positioned in a certain way, but how do we decide on pricing, marketing, hiring, product development and so on as this initiative progresses and as we see how well it is working?'.
I have heard that the book is quite technical – how am I going to learn about it myself so I can teach it well? The basic principles are quite simple, so it is not essential to master the math of how the method works in order to teach with the book. The book itself, along with the extensive supporting materials, provides the resources needed to learn more about the approach and link it to existing strategy frameworks. In addition, there is a considerable library of simulation-based exercises for students, which provide great learning experience with little need for instructor guidance. It is also planned that existing DVD-based self-tuition resources will be updated to support the wider coverage of this new book (See www.strategydynamics.com/mastering).
What supporting materials are available? In common with other textbooks, Wiley provides instructors with access to slides of all the figures in each chapter. More significantly, an extensive collection of computer simulations is provided, either for in-class demonstration or for students to explore in groups. Some of these are packaged as stand-alone business games, which can be used either for instructional purposes or for student assessment. It is also planned to provide class-segments as on-line presentations, which will be available for instructors' own learning and for use in class.