Boston Consulting Group on Strategy: Classic Concepts and New Perspectives 2nd edition

This update of the 1998 anthology, Perspectives on Strategy by the Boston Consulting Group, compiles 75 "perspectives," Harvard Business Review and other essays written by the influential BCG between 1968 and 2005 for its clients. The incisive pieces aim to stimulate management thinking on basic strategic concepts and their contexts. New sections treat innovation and growth and the deconstruction of public companies, with timely articles on playing hardball, trading up, and networks. Stern is BCG co-chairman; Deimler is a vice president of its Atlanta office. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A collection of the best thinking from one of the most innovative management consulting firms in the world For more than forty years, The Boston Consulting Group has been shaping strategic thinking in business. The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy offers a broad and up-to-date selection of the firm's best ideas on strategy with fresh ideas, insights, and practical lessons for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs in every industry. Here's a sampling of the provocative thinking you'll find inside: "You have to be the scientist of your own life and be astonished four times:at what is, what always has been, what once was, and what could be." "The majority of products in most companies are cash traps . . . .(They] are not only worthless, but a perpetual drain on corporate resources." "Use more debt than your competition or get out of the business." "When information flows freely, reputation, more than reciprocity,becomes the basis for trust." "As a strategic weapon, time is the equivalent of money, productivity,quality, even innovation." "When brands become business systems, brand management becomes far too important to leave to the marketing department." "The winning organization of the future will look more like a collection ofjazz ensembles than a symphony orchestra." "Most of our organizations today derive from a model whose original purpose was to control creativity." "Rather than being an obstacle, uncertainty is the very engine of transformation in a business, a continuous source of new opportunities." "IP assets lack clear property lines. Every bit of intellectual property you can own comes with connections to other valuable innovations."