Kirjahaku

This work on business strategy centres around the task given to the reader to revitalize MedTech, a troubled $150 million company, within five years. The reader is challenged, chapter by chapter, to hammer out the tough sequence of choices that a chief executive must make. The fictional result is the life or death of MedTech; the real-world result is an interactive business adventure that turns managers and employees at all levels into better strategists and decision-makers. The fun of the game lies in its "what if" approach, with each option branching into a myriad of instructive paths. For example, at the end of Chapter One, readers must make their first critical decision: should MedTech focus on developing new products or should it spend more to market and sell existing products? The company's key managers are bitterly divided in their opinions, but like real CEOs, the reader must decide - and face new consequences that demand further analysis and action. In the end, there are 33 different endings ranging from triumph to disaster. Readers can "play" the book again and again to explore the outcomes of different strategic choices. On one level, "The Strategy Game" is a suspenseful thriller with the reader as the main character. On another level, it teaches fundamental and sophisticated truths about business - from competitors' moves and industry changes to leading-edge practices and management styles, to customer demands and product breakthroughs.

Praise for an innovator s tale "An Innovator s Tale weaves a suspenseful story while communicating the nine I s of Innovation that all organizations need to achieve creative breakthroughs in today s world. You won t be able to put this down until you ve finished it!" —Ken Blanchard, Coauthor of The One Minute Manager. "What a great combination an absorbing and thoroughly entertaining story, combined with a thought-provoking approach to stimulate and drive innovation in an organization. I read it in one sitting, and began applying the innovative principles immediately within our company." —Mark Hoffman, President & CEO, North America, Corporate Express, A Buhrmann Company "A fun and engaging way to explore concepts of strategy and innovation...an easy yet thorough summary of different approaches to breaking out of old patterns of thinking in organizations. Hickman has found a way to make these concepts easily accessible to a broad audience." —Paul McKinnon, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Dell Computer Corporation "At last, a business book you can take to the beach...and a suspense thriller you can feel good about your employees reading at work. The leadership lessons on how to create a context for people to achieve accelerated solutions and extraordinary results are provocative and powerful." —Joseph A. Cannon, Chairman of the Board, Geneva Steel "The perfect primer for your next strategy retreat or innovation forum...a great read!" —Fiona C. Laird, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Unilever Bestfoods North America

The best business managers and leaders often have an adversarial relationship with each other, yet they have one thing in common: the search for that elusive advantage that will propel them and their organizations to greater success. It explores the practical aspects of the schism between managers and leaders, suggesting ways to exploit this natural tension to gain positive results. Offering a wealth of insights drawn from over 15 years as a top management consultant, Craig Hickman shows the ways in which the strengths of these two distinct personality types complement each other. From the strategic analyzer and the strategy planner to the concrete thinker and the visionary to the nit-picker and the risk-taker--he shows how each individual perspective contributes to overall success. While specific chapters are grouped around five major organizational success factors, it is designed for rapid, random access depending on the reader's interests.