Strategy in Crisis: Why Business Urgently Needs a Completely New Approach

Management has lost the art of strategic thinking. Most strategy models were established 10/20 years ago and are now redundant. Without the appropriate strategy tools, management attention has turned inward on issues such as reengineering and tended to shorter term market perspectives. But the industrial world is evolving at break-neck pace and a new approach is urgently required to help Business develop the long term competitive strategies. This book provides that framework in the form of The Market Commitment Model. This places commitment to future success as central, supported by exceptional service, emotion and total immersion in the market place; knowing your customers so well you can anticipate their future needs. This new strategy model will help companies lift themselves to a new level of advantage, growth and profitability in the late 1990s and beyond.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the New Strategy Framework: the 'Market Commitment' Model What the Competitive Environment of the Late 1990s Demands Why Current Strategy Tools are Inadequate How Management Generally have 'Given Up' on Effective Strategy Development How the Market Commitment Model Works 'Commitment' is the Foundation Stone Immersion in the Market Place Competitive Advantage in Performance Competitive Advantage in Service Competitive Advantage in Emotion Competition Advantage in Price Some Questions on the Model and How It Can Be Applied Exciting the Organisation with the New Approach Generally Building a More Effective Strategy Development Process

About the Author :
MICHAEL DE KARE-SILVER is Head of e-Business, PA Consulting. He has worked with a number of major European and US multinationals over the past 15 years. He is a senior partner with the Kalchas Consultancy Group and author of several papers. He was previously a consultant with McKinsey and worked for four years as a Marketing Manager with Proctor and Gamble.

Review :
'This penetrating, lucid and compelling book breaks new ground in describing how current preaching and practice get business strategy badly wrong, while crucially presenting a powerful and dynamic model of getting it triumphantly right.' - Robert Heller 'The new paradigm of market commitment and immersion developed here seems likely to mark a strategic boundary between companies that react incrementally and those that are determined to control their destinies and the value they deliver to their shareholders.' - Sir David Walker, Chairman, Morgan Stanley Europe 'A revolution in strategic thinking is taking place. Those who ignore the message in this book do so at their peril. Michael de Kare-Silver spotlights the essential factors that will determine the winners and losers in the next decade in the fight for market supremacy.' - Sir Peter Walters, Chairman, SmithKline Beecham 'Michael De Kare-Silver pinpoints a number of key facts underplayed or overlooked by conventional strategic management thinking. This ability to redefine conventional business boundaries and ways of adding value will play a major role in strategic success.' - Dr Tony Grundy, Senior Lecturer, Cranfield School of Management 'There is nothing more important in building businesses than sound and innovative strategic thinking. I found Strategy in Crisis a fresh and important contribution to this crucial subject.' - Bruce Crawford, President and Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Inc. 'This is a useful contribution to the theory and practice of strategy development. The Market Commitment Model certainly provides a valuable checklist of areas to consider in developing business strategy. Its rigorous application could well lead to the development of winning strategies...I have no hesitation in identifying this as a recommended read for strategic planners.' - Barry Hopewell, Vice President Systems Engineering, ICL, in Long Range Planning