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The Boston Consulting Group On Strategy

The full title of this book by The Boston Consulting Group is

The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy: Classic Concepts and New Perspectives

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.

Here is my review.

A piece of history

This book is a collection of short articles from a variety of Boston Consulting Group consultants including its founder Bruce Henderson from 1970 forward to 2005.

It’s split five parts:

– The nature of business strategy
– The development of business strategy
– The practice of business strategy
– Business thinking
– Social commentary

The main meat is in part 3 with sections for:

– The customer, segmentation and value creation
– Innovation and growth
– Deconstruction of value chains
– Performance measurement
– Resource allocation
– Organisational design
– Leadership and change

As you read through, you’ll find a mixture of ideas that have passed into conventional strategic wisdom and perspectives that didn’t catch on

The consultancy firm have had a huge impact on the theory and practice of strategy but the book is harder to assess. I found it very interesting to go back and read the original germination of ideas but I also found it frustrating. A book made up of a large collection of short articles is inevitably a patchwork. Ideas don’t flow together as you would wish and there isn’t the development of core ideas to a deeper level.

I think The Boston Consulting Group On Strategy would have been a more compelling read if it had featured fewer original articles and added an updated perspective and thoughts on how the ideas are still relevant to today’s world or reasons why they are not.

It’s not a book for someone who is new to strategy and wants to put together a strategic plan. Nor is it a book for someone who wants to be at the cutting edge of strategy. There is little here for typical readers of my blog who own and/or manage small to medium sized businesses. It is a book for practitioners who want to have more understanding of where strategy has come from.

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