The Geometry of Strategy: Concepts for Strategic Management

ISBN-13: 9780415999243 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 174 str.

Robert Keidel

Opis

To excel in today’s exacting climate, organizations – both for profit and non-profit – must combine strategic planning and strategic thinking in an integrated manner. Strategic planning tends to be a formal activity carried out in a periodic manner, but it is vulnerable in the face of fast—paced change. Meanwhile, strategic thinking is an informal activity that occurs continuously throughout any organization, but it tends to be non-cumulative. Keidel’s work offers a framework for integrating strategic planning and strategic thinking that takes advantage of the strengths of both. The key to Keidel’s work is his application of various geometries – 2X2 matrices and triangles – that help leaders and strategists in organizations create a structure for their thinking and planning.

Keidel’s structure uses four key organizational functions – persona (what an organization’s identity is), performance (what an organization measures), puzzle (what complex challenges face an organization), and pattern (how an organization grows and develops.) Each of these four functions generate a different kind of thinking that can be represented by a specific geometric type – point, linear, angular, and triangular. The payoff is a powerful, novel way for organizations to conceive, create, and communicate strategy, as well as a set of conceptual lenses for "reading" and assessing any organization, including competitors and partners. Keidel’s work is illustrated with case studies from the author’s own practice and grounded in the theoretical literature behind the various geometries of thinking.

This book will be a valuable resource for managerial and executive education in strategy, as well as a provocative reading for the thoughtful practitioner.