Introduction to Business


Book Description

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.




Strategy for You


Book Description

Most people have spent their lives randomly bouncing around like bumper cars, never arriving at the life they want. If fact, new research shows that only 15 percent of adults have a plan for their life. But what if there was a way, a proven way, to experience more of what life has to offer?In "Strategy for You," world-renowned strategist Rich Horwath provides a proven plan for building the bridge to an exceptional life. Based on Horwath's ground-breaking work in the field of strategic thinking, the book helps readers apply the time-tested principles of business strategy to their lives. The author incorporates GOST (goals, objectives, strategies, tactics_, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), and other business tools into a five-step plan that enables readers toDISCOVER the purpose in their lives




The Predictable Profits Playbook: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Dominating Any Market ? And Staying On Top


Book Description

Why does an entrepreneur struggling through 80 hours a week only make half as much as another working no more than 40? What actions determine whether you end up with a small business pulling in five figures a year or a billion-dollar behemoth blazing a path to market dominance? As an entrepreneur, you're told the secret to success is working hard and fighting your way to the top. But what if this advice came from all the wrong people and places? What if there was more to the success stories you read in magazines, watch on TV or hear on the radio? Uncovering the true secret to success is marketing expert Charles E. Gaudet II's obsession. Gaudet discovered nearly every great organization - whether Apple, Nordstrom, Zappos, FedEx or Disney - follows a stunningly similar formula. And surprisingly, this approach defies the principles followed by most entrepreneurs running businesses today. Gaudet finally reveals why some businesses find growth opportunities in any economic situation and others balance on the edge of failure. His research shows many small business owners seek out success strategies from other small business owners and, for this reason, most remain small. Fortunately, today's advances in technology and media level the playing field, allowing small businesses to compete using a "big-business playbook," even when they don't have a big-business marketing budget. Inside The Predictable Profits Playbook, you'll learn time-tested lessons from leading small business owners and discover how to: Succeed in a down economy Become the preferred provider sought by only the best customers Swipe market share from your competitors Increase margins while growing demand Multiply your prospect-to-sales ratio Boost customer loyalty and build a raving fan base Create predictable and rising profits from one month to the next Become known as a business of excellence The Predictable Profits methodology avoids gimmicks, schemes or stunts - and you won't need to outspend your competitors. Instead, you'll focus on optimizing your existing marketing dollars and delivering the greatest advantages to your customers. Some entrepreneurs want to experience growth and others just wish for it. This book is for the motivated entrepreneur committed to making growth happen."




Integrated Tactical Planning


Book Description

The experts at Oliver Wight provide business leaders with invaluable information for integrating the tactical planning process Integrated Tactical Planning (ITP) is an essential process for regularly re-aligning product, demand, and supply plans in the short term, thereby giving the Executive team the confidence that operational activities are being well managed, unless they formally hear otherwise. This cross-functional re-planning process is vital to responding to change, increasing competitiveness, and reducing costs. Integrated Tactical Planning: Respond to Change, Increase Competitiveness and Reduce Costs helps senior executives devote more time to strategy and other value-added activities by deploying ITP practices throughout their organization. Written by the leadership team at Oliver Wight, one of the world’s most respected firms for effectively integrating business processes and improving business outcomes, this authoritative resource offers a contemporary view of the processes, behavior change methods, and new technology for implementing ITP processes. Throughout the text, the authors share business-proven concepts, define fundamental terms, and provide real-life examples of how Integrated Tactical Planning has been applied in various industries and businesses. Clear and accurate chapters cover essential topics including strategy alignment, product and demand plan execution, supply scheduling, performance improvement, and more. Presenting the information necessary to get an organization started on its Integrated Tactical Planning journey, this book: Describes how to manage and align product portfolio changes and new products within a single management process Explains the mechanisms and behavioral requirements for an organization to successfully execute Integrated Tactical Planning Offers methods for improving reaction time and cost-effectively responding to changes in Demand and Supply Reviews different design and deployment strategies, structures and roles, and the key ITP elements such as process definition and sustainability Features a comprehensive case study that details the challenges and results experienced by an Oliver Wight client company that implemented Integrated Tactical Planning Integrated Tactical Planning: Respond to Change, Increase Competitiveness and Reduce Costs is a must-have book for senior executives, leaders, managers, and planners at organizations of any size across all industries.




Strategic Decisions


Book Description

Over the past ten years, there has been growing interest in the process of strategic decision-making among both managers and researchers. Strategic decisions are important for five main reasons: They are large-scale, risky and hard to reverse; they are a bridge between deliberate and emerging strategies; they can be a major source of organizational learning; they play an important part in the development of individual managers and they cut accross functions and academic disciplines. Strategic Decisions summarizes the current state of the art in research on strategic decision-making, with chapters prepared by leading strategy researchers. The editors also present implications for current application and proposed directions for future research.







The Fundamental Elements of Strategy


Book Description

This open access book clarifies confusions of strategy that have existed for nearly 40 years through the core thoughts of three fundamental elements. Unlike the traditional definition of strategy as "a plan to achieve a long-term goal from overall considerations”in a linear view, this book defines strategy from non-linear viewpoint as it is in the real world. The art of a strategy lies not only in the determination of development goals, but also in the identification of development problems and putting forward overall guiding ideology of solving problems. Rich illustrations as well as numerous business and military cases are presented in helping readers to understand the fundamental elements of strategy.The general scope of the book includes introductions to the three fundamental elements of strategy, three-sub decisions of a complete strategic decision, incomplete strategies, relationship between tactic and strategy, three elements of competitive and corporative strategies. There may be biases in company-level, real strategic decision-making which makes a complete strategy not necessarily a perfect one. The book introduces biases and reasons for the biases, helping industrial strategic decision-makers understand the importance of knowing the nature of the company, the industry and its environment. In addition, this book also presents principles and evaluation approaches of strategic decisions, explores the reasons for the excessive definitions of the strategy concept, and discusses directions of future’s research tasks.The book will benefit business managers who are interested in knowing what a complete strategic decision is and how to avoid errors or biases in strategic decision-making. It also benefits students in business schools (especially in MBA/EMBA programs) who are (or will be) on executive positions. Academic researchers may find it is interesting to understand strategy from the view of the three elements. The new view provides a novel insight into strategy and promotes several research directions in the future. The three elements of strategy are also applicable to military strategies and readers who are interested in military and may find its value as well.




Strategic Planning and Management


Book Description

This book is the second in a series of three books published by University Press of America, and is specifically designed for online distance-learning students. It discusses strategic planning and management theory as well as detailed steps to prepare and implement an organizational strategic plan.




Deep Dive


Book Description

Get competitive by learning to think strategically.The inability to set good strategy can sink a company¿and a leader¿s career. A recent Wall Street Journal study revealed that the most sought-after executive skill is strategic thinking, but only three out of ten managers have this skill set.Horwath explains the three keys to strategic thinking, breaks them down into simple, attainable skills, and gives you practical tools to apply them every day, providing managers with a clear path to mastery of the three disciplines: 1. Acumen¿generate critical insights through a step-by-step evaluation of your business and its environment2. Allocation¿focus your limited resources through strategic trade-offs 3. Action¿implement a system to guarantee effective execution of strategy at all levels of your organization Based on new research with senior executives from 150 companies and the author¿s experience as a thought-leading strategist, Deep Dive is the first book to focus on the most important level of strategy¿you. Armed with this knowledge and dozens of effective tools, you can become a truly strategic leader for your organization.--Rich Horwath is the president of the Strategic Thinking Institute, a former chief strategy officer, and professor of strategy at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. As a thought-leading strategist, he has worked with such giants as Adidas, Amgen, and Pfizer. He is the author of four books and more than fifty articles on strategic thinking and has been profiled in business publications around the world, including Investor¿s Business Daily.




Friend Of A Friend . . .


Book Description

What if all the advice we’ve heard about networking is wrong? What if the best way to grow your network isn’t by introducing yourself to strangers at cocktail parties, handing out business cards, or signing up for the latest online tool, but by developing a better understanding of the existing network that’s already around you? We know that it’s essential to reach out and build a network. But did you know that it’s actually your distant or former contacts who will be the most helpful to you? Or that many of our best efforts at meeting new people simply serve up the same old opportunities we already have? In this startling new look at the art and science of networking, business school professor David Burkus digs deep to find the unexpected secrets that reveal the best ways to grow your career. Based on entertaining case studies and scientific research, this practical and revelatory guide shares what the best networkers really do. Forget the outdated advice you’ve already heard. Learn how to make use of the hidden networks you already have.