Reviews Of Business Strategy Books
Business strategy is much more about the quality of the thinking and how it affects decisions than the production of a detailed written business plan.
It covers:
- Competitive Strategy – how you win customers by berating competitors.
- Corporate Strategy – how the organisation as an entirety is managed to support the competitive strategy of the strategic business units.
I have three lists of business strategy books:
According to Professor Michael Porter, there are are two main sources of competitive advantage – having the lowest costs and being differentiated well enough to create a clear preference by some customers, despite a higher price.
The Differentiation Strategy books cover the different ways to understand customer value and to link it through to the underlying capabilities and resources of the business. It also covers how you communicate your competitive edge to the market.
If business performance is an issue, I have two different categories depending on how extreme the problem is.
Getting Unstuck Books – refer to the process of reversing any relatively minor performance problems. At this stage decline has been gradual and the business has time on its side.
Business Turnaround Books – are for situations where the future of the business is threatened if performance is not turned around in the next few months. Decisive action is needed fix the problems.
The are a lot of strategy books reviewed on this website. here are the links to page 2 – page 3 – page 4 – page 5 – page 6
by Paul Simister
on July 18, 2020
The full title of this book by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor is
The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a 5 Stars rating. This means it is Excellent.
Here is my book review.
An excellent book that makes powerful points about growth through innovation
This book is mainly written about giant companies who need to grow faster than the stock market expects in order to increase the share price.
As such, is this dilemma relevant to the small business market? The authors acknowledge they have written the book for big, established companies but state that the ideas will apply for start-up entrepreneurs. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 20, 2018
The full title of this book by Christina Wodtke is
Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book 4 Stars. This means Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
A business start-up novel about using OKR to drive the business forward.
This tells the story of two young entrepreneurs who are struggling to build a speciality tea business. Their investor introduced them to the idea of setting objectives and key results (OKR) and then to a new chief technical officer with more extensive knowledge of how to apply them. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 19, 2018
The full title of this short book is
The Mindset Warrior Summary Guide: The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling: Key Concepts, Main Lessons & Theories
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 4 Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my review.
Very helpful reminder of the main points of 4DX
The full book of the 4 Disciplines of Execution is quite repetitive. When it first outlined the 4DX approach, I thought it was going to be a brilliant expose of how to get very important things done effectively by a team. Unfortunately, I found it a frustrating read and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a book often started but not finished. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 19, 2018
The full title of this book by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling is
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book 4 Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Great concepts for achieving excellence in virtually any situation
This book is about creating change, getting people to implement a new strategy by changing what they do through commitment rather than compliance.
Many business books are based on looking at successful companies and finding common factors in what they do. Other times, academics will develop their theory and then go out looking for evidence it works. This book is different. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 13, 2018
The full title of this book by Can Akdeniz is
Why Strategic Plans Fail: Deadly Mistakes of Strategic Planning Explained
In my review to be posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Two Stars.
Here is my book review.
Muddled and superficial
I’m an active reader who highlights sections I feel are important.
I highlighted nothing in this book, partly because it doesn’t say much that’s interesting and partly because I knew I would never return to it.
The “about the author” section says he is regarded as one of the most inspiring business authors of our time. Not by me. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 19, 2018
In my review of
Summary: Marketing Warfare: Review and Analysis of Ries and Trout’s Book
posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 4 Stars.
Here is my review.
How military strategy can be used in business
It’s many years since I read the full book but it’s one I’ve been intending to go back to and review. When I saw this summary available through my kindle unlimited subscription, it instantly appealed.
Just as armies fight over territories and the people in them, businesses fight over customers. The methods of waging war have changed dramatically over the centuries while the strategies have remained constant. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 14, 2018
In my review of
Thinking about SWOT analysis
by Dr Stephen Fox posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars, meaning it is Worthwhile.
Here is my book review.
Quite a technical review of SWOT
This is a longer than I expected review of using SWOT in strategy analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
It’s quite a visual book so if you’re reading the Kindle version, you’ll probably have to zoom in on the diagrams to be able to see the details. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 3, 2018
The full title of this book by Constantinos Markides is
All The Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy
In my review posted at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.
Here is my book review.
Should be seen as a classic strategy text
I bought this book when it came out and thought it was excellent.
I’ve recently gone back to it and hadn’t realised just how influencing it had been in my thinking about business strategy and development. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on November 30, 2017
In my review of
Patterns of Strategy
by Patrick Hoverstadt and Lucy Loh posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars, meaning Worthwhile.
Here is my book review.
Too small on Kindle and you can’t resize
I’m fascinated by strategy so when I read that this presented a new approach, I had to read it.
However, I have just started reading my kindle version on my tablet and discovered that it’s not properly formatted. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on November 1, 2017
The full title of this book by W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne is
“Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing – Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the FIVE Stars level, which means that I consider it to be excellent.
Here is what I posted.
A detailed how to guide for developing blue ocean strategies
I’ve been very impressed with the authors’ blue ocean thinking, ever since I read the early articles in the Harvard Business Review. I gave the Blue Ocean Strategy book a five star review.
When the revised Blue Ocean Strategy book was published several years ago, I appreciated the extended text and give it five stars again but I was a little disappointed as well. [continue reading…]
