Complex Strategic Choices


Book Description

Effective decision making requires a clear methodology, particularly in complex, globally relevant situations. Institutions and companies in all disciplines and sectors are faced with increasingly multi-faceted areas of uncertainty which cannot always be effectively handled by traditional strategies. Complex Strategic Choices provides clear principles and methods which can guide and support strategic decision to face modern challenges. By considering ways in which planning practices can be renewed and exploring the possibilities for acquiring awareness and tools to add value to strategic decision making, Complex Strategic Choices presents a methodology which is further illustrated by a number of case studies and example applications. Dr. Techn. Steen Leleur has adapted previously established research based on feedback and input from various conferences, journals and students resulting in new material stemming from and focusing on practical application of systemic planning. The outcome is a coherent and flexible approach named systemic planning. The inclusion of both the theoretical and practical aspects of systemic planning makes this book a key resource for researchers and students in the field of planning and decision analysis as well as practitioners dealing with strategic analysis and decision making. More broadly, Complex Strategic Choices acts as guide for professionals and students involved in complex planning tasks across several fields such as business and engineering.




Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving


Book Description

Whether you are a student or a working professional, you can benefit from being better at solving the complex problems that come up in your life. Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving provides a general framework and the necessary tools to help you do so. Based on his groundbreaking course at Rice University, engineer and former strategy consultant Arnaud Chevallier provides practical ways to develop problem solving skills, such as investigating complex questions with issue maps, using logic to promote creativity, leveraging analogical thinking to approach unfamiliar problems, and managing diverse groups to foster innovation. This book breaks down the resolution process into four steps: 1) frame the problem (identifying what needs to be done), 2) diagnose it (identifying why there is a problem, or why it hasn't been solved yet), 3) identify and select potential solutions (identifying how to solve the problem), and 4) implement and monitor the solution (resolving the problem, the 'do'). For each of these four steps - the what, why, how, and do - this book explains techniques that promotes success and demonstrates how to apply them on a case study and in additional examples. The featured case study guides you through the resolution process, illustrates how these concepts apply, and creates a concrete image to facilitate recollection. Strategic Thinking in Complex Problem Solving is a tool kit that integrates knowledge based on both theoretical and empirical evidence from many disciplines, and explains it in accessible terms. As the book guides you through the various stages of solving complex problems, it also provides useful templates so that you can easily apply these approaches to your own personal projects. With this book, you don't just learn about problem solving, but how to actually do it.




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.




Strategic Approach in Multi-criteria Decision Making


Book Description

This book examines multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) and presents the Sequential Interactive Modelling for Urban Systems (SIMUS) as a method to be used for strategic decision making. It emphasizes the necessity to take into account aspects related to real world scenarios and incorporating possible real life aspects for modelling. The book also highlights the use of sensitivity analysis and presents a method for using criteria marginal values instead of weights, which permits the drawing of curves that depicts the variations of the objective function due to variations of these marginal values. In this way it also gives quantitative values of the objective function allowing stakeholders to perform a comprehensive risk analysis for a solution when it is affected by exogenous variables. Strategic Approach in Multi-Criteria Decision Making: A Practical Guide for Complex Scenarios is divided into three parts. Part 1 is devoted to exploring the history and development of the discipline and the way it is currently used. It highlights drawbacks and problems that scholars have identified in different MCDM methods and techniques. Part 2 addresses best practices to assure quality MCDM process. Part 3 introduces the concept of Linear Programming and the proposed SIMUS method as techniques to deal with MCDM. It also includes case studies in order to help document and illustrate difficult concepts, especially related to demands from a scenario and also in their modelling. The decision making process can be a complex task, especially with multi-criteria problems. With large amounts of information, it can be an extremely difficult to make a rational decision, due to the number of intervening variables, their interrelationships, potential solutions that might exist, diverse objectives envisioned for a project, etc. The SIMUS method has been designed to offer a strategy to help organize, classify, and evaluate this information effectively.




Playing to Win


Book Description

Explains how companies must pinpoint business strategies to a few critically important choices, identifying common blunders while outlining simple exercises and questions that can guide day-to-day and long-term decisions.




Strategic Decision Making in Complex Organizations


Book Description

A set of twenty one papers reviews the empirical and theoretical literature on strategic decision making in complex organizations. They present an inventory from diverse disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics and political science so that one can map this area and identify possible avenues of future research. The entire set provides a rich array of treatments of five critical issues, i.e. the process versus outcome of strategic choices, the unit of analysis (e.g. individual, group or organization), the interdisciplinary nature of pertinent research, description versus p.t.o. prescription (including normative pronouncements on decision designs) and alternative modes of research orientation. The first paper and the four concluding ones serve as integrative devices for the diversity of treatments as they surface from the eight pairs of papers. (Author).




Strategic Decision Making


Book Description

Making strategic decisions is a fundamental skill for leaders and managers. However, in a business environment that is in a constant state of change, making strategic decisions has never been more difficult. Strategic Decision Making addresses this challenge by providing a framework that can be used to make sound decisions in an uncertain world. Structured around the core concepts of framing, experimenting and scaling, this book will ensure that efforts are focused where the need is greatest, that interventions are tested, evaluated and revised if necessary and that successful initiatives are effectively rolled out across the business. Packed with real world examples and backed up by academic research, Strategic Decision Making will allow today's leaders and the leaders of tomorrow to make successful and defensible business choices. It shows how to: avoid decision-making bias, overcome organizational inertia, manage the difficulties of rigid organizational structures and avoid being side tracked by outdated or irrelevant experience. Essential reading for business practitioners and management students alike, this comprehensive guide provides a robust approach to achieving strategic success.




Simple Rules


Book Description

Outlines an approach to high-performance problem solving and decision making that draws on insights from survival guides, pop culture, and other sources.







Smart Decisions


Book Description