Kenneth Le Meunier-FitzHugh and Tony Douglas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198706632
- eISBN:
- 9780191826061
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198706632.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy, Marketing
This book considers how the sales function informs business strategy. There are many books that address how to manage the sales team tactically, however, this text addresses how sales can help ...
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This book considers how the sales function informs business strategy. There are many books that address how to manage the sales team tactically, however, this text addresses how sales can help organizations to become more customer-oriented. Many organizations are facing escalating costs and growing customer power, making it necessary to allocate resources more strategically. The sales function can provide critical customer and market knowledge to help inform both innovation and marketing. Sales build customer knowledge; network both internally and externally to create additional customer value; and manage customer relationships and selling. The text considers how sales organizations are responding to increasing competition, more demanding customers, and a more complex selling environment. Possible solutions to the many challenges facing organizations are discussed. The book considers the changing nature of sales and how activities can be aligned within the organization, as well as market-sensing, creating customer focus, and the role of sales leadership. Short case studies by a range of organizations operating in various industries are provided. Sales and senior management play an important role in ensuring sales teams’ activities are aligned to business strategy and in creating an environment that allows salespeople to successfully new business opportunities and build long-term profitable business relationships. The book also considers how academic sales literature has changed in the last five years and integrates it with examples from sales practice to provide a more complete picture of the role of sales within the modern organization.Less
This book considers how the sales function informs business strategy. There are many books that address how to manage the sales team tactically, however, this text addresses how sales can help organizations to become more customer-oriented. Many organizations are facing escalating costs and growing customer power, making it necessary to allocate resources more strategically. The sales function can provide critical customer and market knowledge to help inform both innovation and marketing. Sales build customer knowledge; network both internally and externally to create additional customer value; and manage customer relationships and selling. The text considers how sales organizations are responding to increasing competition, more demanding customers, and a more complex selling environment. Possible solutions to the many challenges facing organizations are discussed. The book considers the changing nature of sales and how activities can be aligned within the organization, as well as market-sensing, creating customer focus, and the role of sales leadership. Short case studies by a range of organizations operating in various industries are provided. Sales and senior management play an important role in ensuring sales teams’ activities are aligned to business strategy and in creating an environment that allows salespeople to successfully new business opportunities and build long-term profitable business relationships. The book also considers how academic sales literature has changed in the last five years and integrates it with examples from sales practice to provide a more complete picture of the role of sales within the modern organization.
Thomas C. Lawton, Jonathan P. Doh, and Tazeeb Rajwani
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199604746
- eISBN:
- 9780191773952
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604746.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
In Aligning for Advantage, it is argued that to deliver successfully on a company’s overarching purpose and intent, competitive strategy needs to be synchronized with strategies for political and ...
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In Aligning for Advantage, it is argued that to deliver successfully on a company’s overarching purpose and intent, competitive strategy needs to be synchronized with strategies for political and regulatory activism and social and environmental engagement. Moreover, these market and nonmarket strategies must be equally attuned with, and informed by, the corporate vision, values, and objectives. The ability to align with and across both the market and the nonmarket is a key determinant of competitive advantage in a multipolar world economy. A managerial process and a conceptual framework are advanced for aligning a company’s business objectives and market positions with its political requirements and social obligations. Strategic alignment is a pragmatic and proactive approach for modern enterprises to engage with the forces and events affecting their business choices and actions at home and abroad. Companies must strive for a balanced and mutually reinforcing approach to corporate strategy, political activity, and social responsibility. In some cases, alignment may mean deep, strategically embedded partnerships with governments, NGOs, or other stakeholders. In others, alignment may consist of looser, more ad hoc collaborations with outside organizations and institutions. Whatever the approach, the relationship between nonmarket and market strategies should be conscious and deliberate, not accidental or artificially constructed. Truly aligned strategies seek to reconcile and modulate the sometimes conflicting external demands that a company encounters in a way that is appropriate for the firm’s geographic and market positions, while at the same time leveraging the overall nonmarket strategy as a source of competitive advantage.Less
In Aligning for Advantage, it is argued that to deliver successfully on a company’s overarching purpose and intent, competitive strategy needs to be synchronized with strategies for political and regulatory activism and social and environmental engagement. Moreover, these market and nonmarket strategies must be equally attuned with, and informed by, the corporate vision, values, and objectives. The ability to align with and across both the market and the nonmarket is a key determinant of competitive advantage in a multipolar world economy. A managerial process and a conceptual framework are advanced for aligning a company’s business objectives and market positions with its political requirements and social obligations. Strategic alignment is a pragmatic and proactive approach for modern enterprises to engage with the forces and events affecting their business choices and actions at home and abroad. Companies must strive for a balanced and mutually reinforcing approach to corporate strategy, political activity, and social responsibility. In some cases, alignment may mean deep, strategically embedded partnerships with governments, NGOs, or other stakeholders. In others, alignment may consist of looser, more ad hoc collaborations with outside organizations and institutions. Whatever the approach, the relationship between nonmarket and market strategies should be conscious and deliberate, not accidental or artificially constructed. Truly aligned strategies seek to reconcile and modulate the sometimes conflicting external demands that a company encounters in a way that is appropriate for the firm’s geographic and market positions, while at the same time leveraging the overall nonmarket strategy as a source of competitive advantage.
Judy B. Rosener
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195119145
- eISBN:
- 9780199854882
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195119145.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
The United States has a large number of well-educated, experienced professional women ready, willing, and able to move into the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate America. They represent a ...
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The United States has a large number of well-educated, experienced professional women ready, willing, and able to move into the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate America. They represent a great, untapped economic resource and this book argues that this is America’s competitive secret. Drawing on in-depth interviews with top executives and middle managers, and the latest research on working women and organizational change, the author describes the unique contribution of female professionals. Her profiles of top women managers reveal that they cope well with ambiguity, are comfortable sharing power, and tend to empower others' leadership traits that lead to increased employee productivity, innovation, and profits. The book offers evidence that the changes that help organizations more fully utilize the talents of women are the same changes that will give them an important edge in today’s global workplace. The author explains why the glass ceiling still prevents many competent women from reaching the upper echelons of management. She analyses why women and men are perceived and evaluated differently at work, and provides new insight into the feelings of men who are asked to interact with women in new roles when there are few new rules. The book shows that removing the glass ceiling can no longer be viewed solely in terms of social equity—it is now an economic imperative.Less
The United States has a large number of well-educated, experienced professional women ready, willing, and able to move into the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate America. They represent a great, untapped economic resource and this book argues that this is America’s competitive secret. Drawing on in-depth interviews with top executives and middle managers, and the latest research on working women and organizational change, the author describes the unique contribution of female professionals. Her profiles of top women managers reveal that they cope well with ambiguity, are comfortable sharing power, and tend to empower others' leadership traits that lead to increased employee productivity, innovation, and profits. The book offers evidence that the changes that help organizations more fully utilize the talents of women are the same changes that will give them an important edge in today’s global workplace. The author explains why the glass ceiling still prevents many competent women from reaching the upper echelons of management. She analyses why women and men are perceived and evaluated differently at work, and provides new insight into the feelings of men who are asked to interact with women in new roles when there are few new rules. The book shows that removing the glass ceiling can no longer be viewed solely in terms of social equity—it is now an economic imperative.
John Hendry
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199268634
- eISBN:
- 9780191708381
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268634.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
This book explores the evolution and origins of contemporary moral culture, with a particular focus on the challenges it poses for managers and business leaders. It is argued that in today’s bimoral ...
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This book explores the evolution and origins of contemporary moral culture, with a particular focus on the challenges it poses for managers and business leaders. It is argued that in today’s bimoral society, people govern their lives by two contrasting sets of principles: those associated with traditional morality and its duties and obligations, which remain powerful even though the authorities supporting them have been considerably weakened; and those associated with the pursuit of self-interest, which have escaped their traditional constraints and acquired a degree of social legitimacy unparalleled in history. The tensions arising from this situation are apparent in all areas of social life, but are especially so in business. The same developments that have led to the bimoral society have also led to new, more flexible forms of organizing that have released people’s entrepreneurial energies and significantly enhanced the creative capacities of business organizations. Working within such organizational cultures, however, is fraught with moral tensions as obligations and self-interest conflict and managers are pulled in all sorts of different directions. As the technical problem-solving that previously characterized managerial work is increasingly accomplished by technology and market mechanisms, the key tasks of management become those of political and moral leadership: determining purposes and priorities, reconciling divergent interests, and nurturing trust in interpersonal relationships. The book also explores the challenge for societies developing forms of corporate governance appropriate to the new environment.Less
This book explores the evolution and origins of contemporary moral culture, with a particular focus on the challenges it poses for managers and business leaders. It is argued that in today’s bimoral society, people govern their lives by two contrasting sets of principles: those associated with traditional morality and its duties and obligations, which remain powerful even though the authorities supporting them have been considerably weakened; and those associated with the pursuit of self-interest, which have escaped their traditional constraints and acquired a degree of social legitimacy unparalleled in history. The tensions arising from this situation are apparent in all areas of social life, but are especially so in business. The same developments that have led to the bimoral society have also led to new, more flexible forms of organizing that have released people’s entrepreneurial energies and significantly enhanced the creative capacities of business organizations. Working within such organizational cultures, however, is fraught with moral tensions as obligations and self-interest conflict and managers are pulled in all sorts of different directions. As the technical problem-solving that previously characterized managerial work is increasingly accomplished by technology and market mechanisms, the key tasks of management become those of political and moral leadership: determining purposes and priorities, reconciling divergent interests, and nurturing trust in interpersonal relationships. The book also explores the challenge for societies developing forms of corporate governance appropriate to the new environment.
G. Anandalingam and Henry C. Lucas
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177404
- eISBN:
- 9780199789559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177404.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
In the case of an acquisition or a merger, it is very often the case that when an individual or company perceives itself to be the winner, subsequent events will show that the victory was overvalued. ...
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In the case of an acquisition or a merger, it is very often the case that when an individual or company perceives itself to be the winner, subsequent events will show that the victory was overvalued. Both psychological and market based forces often lead managers to greatly overestimate what they are buying, resulting in the “winner’s curse”. In an effort to grow their companies, competitive and overly confident managers with high compensation packages make rash decisions. The pressure put on values by the stock market, stock analysts, and investment bankers is coupled with the presence of a bidding psychology. When senior management experiences “buyer’s remorse”, having made overly optimistic forecasts about the future of the company, a true financial “curse” often ensues. In the event that a company does “win” by making it to the top of its industry, complacency or hubris caused by a sense of invulnerability often conspire to move the company out of the winner’s column. This book examines the phenomenon of the “winner’s curse”. It presents a number of cases illustrating the curse, and examines the reasons for it in each instance. It also looks at situations where CEOs decided to walk away from “winning” because of their sober ability to trade-off the risks of winning versus the real returns. In particular, the last chapter presents a series of “take-aways” for any manager to follow to avoid the winner’s curse.Less
In the case of an acquisition or a merger, it is very often the case that when an individual or company perceives itself to be the winner, subsequent events will show that the victory was overvalued. Both psychological and market based forces often lead managers to greatly overestimate what they are buying, resulting in the “winner’s curse”. In an effort to grow their companies, competitive and overly confident managers with high compensation packages make rash decisions. The pressure put on values by the stock market, stock analysts, and investment bankers is coupled with the presence of a bidding psychology. When senior management experiences “buyer’s remorse”, having made overly optimistic forecasts about the future of the company, a true financial “curse” often ensues. In the event that a company does “win” by making it to the top of its industry, complacency or hubris caused by a sense of invulnerability often conspire to move the company out of the winner’s column. This book examines the phenomenon of the “winner’s curse”. It presents a number of cases illustrating the curse, and examines the reasons for it in each instance. It also looks at situations where CEOs decided to walk away from “winning” because of their sober ability to trade-off the risks of winning versus the real returns. In particular, the last chapter presents a series of “take-aways” for any manager to follow to avoid the winner’s curse.
Markus Venzin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199535200
- eISBN:
- 9780191701153
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199535200.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Strategy
A new era of global banking and insurance is emerging, with leading banks eager to serve international markets. This book explores the issues that arise for banks in their strategic choices as they ...
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A new era of global banking and insurance is emerging, with leading banks eager to serve international markets. This book explores the issues that arise for banks in their strategic choices as they move into these new international markets. This book challenges conventional assumptions from the international management literature on topics such as the limits of globalization, the importance of cultural and institutional distance, the nature of economies of scale and scope, the existence of first mover advantages, the logic behind the global value chain configuration, the speed and timing of market entry, as well as organizational architecture. It focuses on fundamental strategic decisions such as when, where, and how to enter foreign markets and how to design the organizational architecture of the multinational financial services firm. Using simple theoretical frameworks illustrated by case examples, this book provides a guide to the challenges of the international market for financial services firms.Less
A new era of global banking and insurance is emerging, with leading banks eager to serve international markets. This book explores the issues that arise for banks in their strategic choices as they move into these new international markets. This book challenges conventional assumptions from the international management literature on topics such as the limits of globalization, the importance of cultural and institutional distance, the nature of economies of scale and scope, the existence of first mover advantages, the logic behind the global value chain configuration, the speed and timing of market entry, as well as organizational architecture. It focuses on fundamental strategic decisions such as when, where, and how to enter foreign markets and how to design the organizational architecture of the multinational financial services firm. Using simple theoretical frameworks illustrated by case examples, this book provides a guide to the challenges of the international market for financial services firms.
Henk W. Volberda
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198295952
- eISBN:
- 9780191685163
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy, Organization Studies
How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? How can we measure a firm's flexibility? Can a more flexible firm be created? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award-winning ...
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How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? How can we measure a firm's flexibility? Can a more flexible firm be created? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award-winning study this book shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Although traditional organizational forms have worked well in the relatively stable environments of the past, the globalization of markets, rapid technological change, shortening product life cycles, and increasing aggressiveness of competitors have radically altered the ground rules for competing in the 1990s and beyond. Increased competition forces firms to move more quickly and boldly than before, and to experiment in ways that do not conform to traditional administrative theory. This book offers a wealth of insights into the way firms can increase their flexibility. It is based on extensive interviews with practitioners and supported by many longitudinal case studies on flexibility improvement within large corporations. The book provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. It also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.Less
How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? How can we measure a firm's flexibility? Can a more flexible firm be created? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award-winning study this book shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Although traditional organizational forms have worked well in the relatively stable environments of the past, the globalization of markets, rapid technological change, shortening product life cycles, and increasing aggressiveness of competitors have radically altered the ground rules for competing in the 1990s and beyond. Increased competition forces firms to move more quickly and boldly than before, and to experiment in ways that do not conform to traditional administrative theory. This book offers a wealth of insights into the way firms can increase their flexibility. It is based on extensive interviews with practitioners and supported by many longitudinal case studies on flexibility improvement within large corporations. The book provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. It also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.
Nicolai J Foss and Tina Saebi (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198701873
- eISBN:
- 9780191771606
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198701873.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Strategy
Business model innovation is an important source of competitive advantage and corporate renewal. An increasing number of companies have to innovate their business models, not just because of ...
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Business model innovation is an important source of competitive advantage and corporate renewal. An increasing number of companies have to innovate their business models, not just because of competitive forces but also because of the ongoing change from product-based to service-based business models. Yet, business model innovation is also a massive organizational change process that challenges existing processes, structures and modes of control. The specific angle, and the novel feature of this book, is to thoroughly examine the organizational dimension of business model innovation. Drawing on organizational theory and empirical observation, the contributors specifically highlight organizational design aspects of business model innovation, focusing on how reward systems, power distributions, routines and standard operating procedures, the allocation of authority, and other aspects of organizational structure and control should be designed to support the business model the firm chooses. Also discussed are how existing organizational structures, capabilities, beliefs, cultures and so on influence the firm’s ability to flexibly change to new business models.Less
Business model innovation is an important source of competitive advantage and corporate renewal. An increasing number of companies have to innovate their business models, not just because of competitive forces but also because of the ongoing change from product-based to service-based business models. Yet, business model innovation is also a massive organizational change process that challenges existing processes, structures and modes of control. The specific angle, and the novel feature of this book, is to thoroughly examine the organizational dimension of business model innovation. Drawing on organizational theory and empirical observation, the contributors specifically highlight organizational design aspects of business model innovation, focusing on how reward systems, power distributions, routines and standard operating procedures, the allocation of authority, and other aspects of organizational structure and control should be designed to support the business model the firm chooses. Also discussed are how existing organizational structures, capabilities, beliefs, cultures and so on influence the firm’s ability to flexibly change to new business models.
Andrea Prencipe, Andrew Davies, and Michael Hobday (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199263233
- eISBN:
- 9780191718847
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263233.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
In the past decade or so, systems integration has become a key factor in the operations, strategy, and competitive advantage of major corporations in a wide variety of sectors (e.g., computing, ...
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In the past decade or so, systems integration has become a key factor in the operations, strategy, and competitive advantage of major corporations in a wide variety of sectors (e.g., computing, automotive, telecommunications, military systems, and aerospace). In the past, systems integration was confined to a technical, operations task. Today, systems integration is a strategic task that pervades business management not only at the technical level, but also at the management and strategic levels. This book shows how and why this new kind of systems integration has evolved into an emerging model of industrial organization whereby firms and groups of firms join together different types of knowledge, skill, and activity as well as hardware, software, and human resources to produce new products. The business of systems integration has fundamental implications for the capabilities of firms. Firms have made a transition from being vertically integrated to being the integrator of somebody else's activities. The book delves deeply into the nature, dimensions, and dynamics of the new systems integration, deploying research and analytical techniques from a wide variety of disciplines including, the theory of the firm, the history of technology, industrial organization, regional studies, strategic management, and innovation studies.Less
In the past decade or so, systems integration has become a key factor in the operations, strategy, and competitive advantage of major corporations in a wide variety of sectors (e.g., computing, automotive, telecommunications, military systems, and aerospace). In the past, systems integration was confined to a technical, operations task. Today, systems integration is a strategic task that pervades business management not only at the technical level, but also at the management and strategic levels. This book shows how and why this new kind of systems integration has evolved into an emerging model of industrial organization whereby firms and groups of firms join together different types of knowledge, skill, and activity as well as hardware, software, and human resources to produce new products. The business of systems integration has fundamental implications for the capabilities of firms. Firms have made a transition from being vertically integrated to being the integrator of somebody else's activities. The book delves deeply into the nature, dimensions, and dynamics of the new systems integration, deploying research and analytical techniques from a wide variety of disciplines including, the theory of the firm, the history of technology, industrial organization, regional studies, strategic management, and innovation studies.
J.-C. Spender
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199686544
- eISBN:
- 9780191766442
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199686544.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
Managers, strategy consultants, and strategy and entrepreneurship teachers will find this book’s new paradigm illuminating. In non-academic style the author takes off from the Knightian uncertainties ...
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Managers, strategy consultants, and strategy and entrepreneurship teachers will find this book’s new paradigm illuminating. In non-academic style the author takes off from the Knightian uncertainties or knowledge absences that pervade business and make strategizing both necessary and valuable. He sketches a structured practice that managers and consultants might choose to follow, not a theory. Firms create value only by acting out newly imagined solutions to the opportunities that uncertainties open up. Strategic judgment is the necessary complement to rigorous analysis as these are engaged. Spender follows philosophy’s turn to language, suggesting firms form first as an idiosyncratic constructed language (jargon) that helps their participants select what to pay attention to and interpret what they learn. The entrepreneur’s/CEO’s most fundamental task is thus to create and control the firm’s language (its business model) and thereby its knowledge. The arc of practice–uncertainty–judgment–rhetoric–collaborative practice—turns strategy discourse on its head, presenting it as a constructive value-creating activity rather than the application of theory. This also shows how strategic work is morally and ethically burdened. Chapter 1 introduces these ideas. Chapters 2 and 3 review the languages implicit in consultants’ strategic tools and academics’ theories of the firm. Chapter 4 analyses the constraints to innovative strategic language that, in Chapter 5, is used to draw in the judgments of those others the entrepreneur needs to build a viable firm. Chapter 6 considers the context of private sector strategic work today. There are appendices on case-work, teaching strategy, current strategy texts, and further reading.Less
Managers, strategy consultants, and strategy and entrepreneurship teachers will find this book’s new paradigm illuminating. In non-academic style the author takes off from the Knightian uncertainties or knowledge absences that pervade business and make strategizing both necessary and valuable. He sketches a structured practice that managers and consultants might choose to follow, not a theory. Firms create value only by acting out newly imagined solutions to the opportunities that uncertainties open up. Strategic judgment is the necessary complement to rigorous analysis as these are engaged. Spender follows philosophy’s turn to language, suggesting firms form first as an idiosyncratic constructed language (jargon) that helps their participants select what to pay attention to and interpret what they learn. The entrepreneur’s/CEO’s most fundamental task is thus to create and control the firm’s language (its business model) and thereby its knowledge. The arc of practice–uncertainty–judgment–rhetoric–collaborative practice—turns strategy discourse on its head, presenting it as a constructive value-creating activity rather than the application of theory. This also shows how strategic work is morally and ethically burdened. Chapter 1 introduces these ideas. Chapters 2 and 3 review the languages implicit in consultants’ strategic tools and academics’ theories of the firm. Chapter 4 analyses the constraints to innovative strategic language that, in Chapter 5, is used to draw in the judgments of those others the entrepreneur needs to build a viable firm. Chapter 6 considers the context of private sector strategic work today. There are appendices on case-work, teaching strategy, current strategy texts, and further reading.
