Strategic Influence Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of Strategic Influence book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.
In this vital book, thirteen experts in public diplomacy, counterpropaganda and political warfare lay out the components of what the U.S. and its allies need to win the war of ideas around the world. Strategic influence is much more than strategic communication. Communicating with others has somehow become a goal in itself, when the real issue is influence - to modify the perceptions, attitudes, and most of all, the behavior of people, movements and governments around the world. This book is designed for the diplomat, intelligence officer, warfighter and policymaker.
The Power of Strategic Influence! by Gary C Laney Pdf
Do you want to make a difference in life? To have positive influence over other people? To create valuable personal, and strategic relationships through business networking? This powerful and easy-to-read book reveals the secret to building and using your personal influence to create success, to build a great reputation, to become a highly influential leader but also to give back, by helping others to succeed. Whether you're a new arrival in a strange city or you've been climbing the corporate ladder and haven't gotten where you want to go, The Power of Strategic Influence teaches you Game-Changing Success Factors that will transform your life. This book takes you step by step through the 6 Spheres of Strategic Influence Development, beginning with the most basic concept of accepting personal responsibility for yourself, all the way through the secrets of Influence Centered Business Networking and building profitable relationships. Tightly integrated within the strategic influence development spheres, you will learn the 10 Success Factors that can make you a highly influential leader. As a special bonus, the book includes valuable lessons on success and leadership from 12 nationally known CEOs/influencers. Imagine going from a follower to a leader! From living in the periphery to being a respected Center of Influence! With this book, it's powerful networking insights, and your hard work, it can happen for you. Packed with inspiring stories and down-to-earth advice, The Power of Strategic Influence is your indispensable guide to a better, happier, and more influential life.
Cultural Influences on the Process of Strategic Management by Andreas Michael Schühly Pdf
This unique book is positioned at the crossroads of strategic management and international business. Based on an in-depth literature review, the author empirically assesses the widely shared, implicit assumption that strategic management processes can be globally applied in a standardized, i.e., culture-free, manner. So far, a variety of tools have also been recommended but without incorporating cultural differences. As many organizations observe that this ethnocentric view is more an illusion than reality, strategic management research has started to focus on the cultural sensitivity of its theories, tools, and processes to provide practitioners in a multicultural setting with adequate know-how and tools. To foster long-term decision-making despite uncertainty, scenario planning is frequently applied by practitioners. Up until today, scenario planning has however gained little attention from the academic community. Through this book, the author presents a newly developed framework for strategic management that combines the cultural value scale to test the cultural sensitivity of the long-term planning tool called “scenario planning.” The different process steps of scenario planning have been individually examined for their sensitivity toward the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. The investigation is based on a unique, global set of management consultants working for a leading professional service firm. The results of this research show the cultural sensitivity of scenario planning, with different degrees of the process steps and the tested cultural dimensions.
Strategic Customer Management by Nigel F Piercy,Nikala Lane Pdf
A revolution is taking place in the way companies organize and manage the 'front-end' of their organization, where it meets its customers. This book aims to provide insights into how this revolution is unfolding and to provide a framework for executives and management students to address the issues involved.
The Strategic Quality Manager by Cathy Balding Pdf
Are you a quality professional working in health and aged care (or other service industry) who wants to: design and implement quality systems that make a real, positive difference to consumers? • develop your role to be more strategic and influential? • create sustained change and improvement? • build your credibility and expertise? • play a key role in your organisation’s strategic direction? • increase your job satisfaction? The Strategic Quality Manager synthesises theory, research and real world experience into a handbook developed specifically for those in quality management roles. As the pressure on our health and aged care services grows, so do the demands on the quality professional and continuing to increase the quality and transparency of healthcare will require new and savvier ways of working. If you have looked for assistance within this challenging environment, you’ll know that there is no shortage of material on quality management, but very little on being a quality manager. The Strategic Quality Manager contains theory, tips, step by step models and practical examples to assist every quality professional to more easily and proactively navigate the many of challenges of their roles – and to enjoy the journey!
Studies have shown that coming up with strategies and executing them with success requires specific strategic competencies. It is no longer just about the big idea. Moving beyond a broad, fuzzy picture, however, requires strategic thinking and understanding the management matrix. This guidebook can help you - identify critical functions of strategy, such as the alignment of operations, the continual improvement and innovation of systems design, and the allocation of effective recourses; - learn the six required competencies for strategic genius along with methods how to excel at each one; - reinvent thought processes so you can achieve organizational goals; - successfully navigate your way through office politics; - and answer many other questions tied to strategic management. Take a trip with author Reinier Geel as he shares a detailed study of the make-or-break factors of planning and execution. This guidebook sets a new paradigm for the strategic arena and is backed up with the essential knowledge so you can empower yourself and your organization.
Strategic information systems management for environmental sustainability : enhancing firm competitiveness with Green IS by Löser, Fabian Pdf
During the last three decades, information and communication technologies have fundamentally changed the way we work, live and communicate. The ubiquity of internet services, which become increasingly interactive and complex, together with enhanced connectivity, facilitated by innovative mobile devices, induces an ever-rising demand for computing, storage and data transmission capacities. Today, information systems (IS) constitute the backbone of the globalized economy and are indispensable for modern business and production processes. At the same time, environmental sustainability has evolved as the most pressing societal challenge of the 21st century, in particular due to the looming threats of climate change. By virtue of their global influence and reach, business companies significantly contribute to the creation of environmental problems, but owing to their organizational knowledge, capabilities and resources, they also have the capacity and ability to play a key role in shaping the path towards a more sustainable development. The companies leading the way have noticed that corporate sustainability is not necessarily a burden that negatively impacts their bottom line. If strategically managed, environmental product and process innovations can decrease operational costs, enhance corporate reputation, and differentiate from competitors. With regard to environmental sustainability, IS play a contradictory role: on the one hand, the manufacturing, operation and disposal of information technology (IT) infrastructure are responsible for serious environmental impacts: from the mining of conflict minerals to carbon dioxide emissions that equal those of the airline industry to enormous amounts of toxic e-waste. On the other hand, IS are perceived as key enablers of a "green" economy: environmental management systems and the reengineering of business processes can substantially reduce the environmental impacts of business organizations, while technological innovations provide opportunities to decrease the ecological footprint of end-user products and services. Many organizations have started to implement first environmental measures to decrease IT energy consumption and to reduce operational costs, mostly in an unstructured and uncoordinated manner though. Although Green IS practices feature a considerable potential to increase corporate environmentalism while creating promising business opportunities, the adoption of enterprise-wide cross-functional initiatives aimed at implementing Green IS has been rather slow. Economic uncertainties regarding the long-term effects of Green IS adoption and the lack of appropriate management frameworks have been identified as main inhibitors of an encompassing implementation of Green IS initiatives throughout the enterprise. In this context, this thesis addresses relevant research gaps, contributes to theory development in the evolving Green IS research discipline, develops practice-oriented management frameworks, and emphasizes the importance of following a strategic approach to leverage the competitive potential of Green IS. This cumulative thesis comprises an introduction that includes a literature review and a pre-study, four theory-based conceptual research articles, and two empirical studies, one of them building on qualitative, exploratory case study research whereas the other relies on quantitative data which has been analyzed with structural equation modeling. This thesis targets four specific research goals to advance theory-building in Green IS research and to promote the adoption of Green IS in practice. First, this thesis clarifies and defines the central terms and key concepts Green IT, Green IS, Green IS strategy, and Green IS practices drawing on a transdisciplinary research approach. Second, the most important challenges and inhibitors of Green IS adoption are identified and characterized. In particular, the lack of management frameworks, which encourage a holistic implementation that follows a strategic rationale, the complexity of strategic Green IS alignment, the multi-dimensional performance impacts of cross-functional initiatives and, above all, the uncertainty relating to the business case of Green IS practices, are identified as the most pressing challenges. Third, current actions of business firms to address these challenges are examined. Building on exploratory case study research, distinctive Green IS strategies are identified in managerial practice. Most notably, the empirical insights from quantitative survey research suggest a positive relationship between Green IS adoption and firm competitiveness, thus decreasing the economic uncertainty which inhibits the implementation of far-reaching environmental initiatives. Fourth, practice-oriented management frameworks are developed. The fine-grained Green IS strategy concept advises the formulation of strategies addressing the corporate, competitive, and functional management level. The proposed typology of four Green IS strategies illustrates distinct strategic options, from which executives can choose under consideration of their competitive targets and the firm-specific context. To allow for consistency of Green IS strategies, the presented alignment framework facilitates coherence with economic and environmental corporate goals. Furthermore, the actors, roles and responsibilities relevant to the alignment process are described. In addition, a management framework for the holistic adoption of Green IS, which specifies decisive management areas and distinguishes between three degrees of environmental impacts, is presented along with a comprehensive catalogue of Green IS implementation measures. As a consequence, this research offers both empirical insights and conceptual models to advance the adoption of Green IS initiatives, thus meeting the challenges of climate change and turning corporate sustainability into a business opportunity. Informationssysteme (IS) zeigen in Bezug auf ökologische Nachhaltigkeit gegensätzliche Eigenschaften. Einerseits verursachen die Herstellung, der Betrieb sowie die Entsorgung von Informationstechnologie (IT) – Infrastrukturen schwerwiegende negative Umweltauswirkungen: Vom Abbau von Konfliktmineralien über Kohlendioxidemissionen bis hin zu beträchtlichen Mengen giftigen Elektroschrotts. Andererseits werden IS als Schlüsseltechnologien für eine nachhaltige Wirtschaft gesehen. Umweltmanagementsysteme und die Umgestaltung von Geschäftsprozessen können den ökologischen Fußabdruck von Organisationen bedeutend verringern. Zudem eröffnen technologische Innovationen neuartige Möglichkeiten, die Umweltauswirkungen von Produkten und Dienstleistungen über den gesamten Lebenszyklus hinweg zu senken. Zahlreiche Organisationen haben damit begonnen, einzelne Green-IT-Maßnahmen zu implementieren um den Energieverbrauch und operative Kosten zu senken. Allerdings verfolgen die meisten Unternehmen hierbei keinen strukturierten oder strategischen Ansatz. Obwohl Green-IS-Initiativen beachtliche Potentiale zur Verbesserung der ökologischen Nachhaltigkeit von Organisationen bieten und gleichzeitig vielversprechende wirtschaftliche Chancen eröffnen, schreitet die Umsetzung von bereichsübergreifenden Green-IS-Maßnahmen in Unternehmen nur langsam voran. Ökonomische Unsicherheiten in Bezug auf die Rentabilität derartiger Maßnahmen sowie der Mangel an adäquaten Management-Frameworks werden in diesem Zusammenhang als zentrale Hinderungsgründe für eine strategische und ganzheitliche Umsetzung von Green-IS-Initiativen identifiziert. Diese Dissertation adressiert diese Hinderungsgründe, schafft Schlüsselkonzepte für den neuen Green-IS-Forschungszweig, entwickelt praxisorientierte Management-Frameworks und hebt die Bedeutung eines strategischen Ansatzes bei der Implementierung von Green IS hervor. Diese Forschungsarbeit offeriert empirische Einblicke wie auch konzeptionelle Modelle um die Umsetzung ganzheitlicher Green-IS-Initiativen in Organisationen voranzutreiben. Unternehmen haben somit die Chance, den Herausforderungen des Klimawandels verantwortungsvoll zu begegnen und gleichzeitig durch eine nachhaltige Unternehmensführung Wettbewerbsvorteile zu generieren.
The Enactment of Strategic Leadership by Darko Tipurić Pdf
This Open Access book explores the meaning and roles that strategy and leadership play in our lives. Based on decades of experience, the author contemplates whether we believe strategic leadership exists because it actually exists, or whether it exists because we believe it does? Both answers are true. The author argues that the duality of the essence of strategic leadership is clear. It may appear to be personalised, or it may seem to be an important characteristic of the organization enacted everywhere where there is guidance. In fact, the discussion about strategic leadership raises more questions. In this thought-provoking book, the author puts forward a robust critical assessment of one of the most widely used concepts in management research and practice. Beginning with an ontological and historical discussion around which the concept of strategic leadership has developed, the book continues to discuss the phenomenon of strategic leadership. Utilising a post-modern perspective and by heavily drawing on concepts such as hegemony and ideology, the author then discusses the role of organizational culture and networks, as well as the underlying tensions that come associated with strategic leadership.
Making Strategic Plans Work introduces an innovative and creative approach to understanding the theory and practice of strategic planning. Based on proverbs and folktales, the book provides detailed analyses of the stages of the strategic planning process - preparation, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It also discusses the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the process - boards, management, donors, consultants and communities and how to build their capacity for more effectiveness. It equally provides at each stage templates for assessing the effectiveness of the strategic planning process as well as the key players. The book is unique in that it uses the wisdom contained in African proverbs and folktales to discuss the stages of the strategic planning process, and roles and responsibilities of players in the process. Being metaphors, proverbs and folktales often bring out more lucidly the meanings embodied in the normally arcane language of strategic planning. Proverbs and folktales also create strong mental pictures, which are often very effective in impressing ideas upon people's minds, communicating them at a deeper level, and motivating them to action. The book is based on research, tested use of the proverbs and folktales in strategic planning practice in different contexts in combination with the author's experience as a professional organization development (OD) consultant. It will be especially useful to students, teachers, executives, board members and all players in international development, community development, organizational development, international businesses and African Studies. Volunteers and expatriates working Africa and other developing regions will equally find the book useful as it provides insight into the culture and mode of thinking of the people they work with.
A handbook for the study of strategic communication in the fields of politics, diplomacy and civill society. Contains theory, practice and case studies.
Exploring Proactive Market Strategies by Harald Brege Pdf
In discussions of firm strategy, proactivity is often mentioned as an enabler of effective goal accomplishment and high performance. However, it is rarely explained what, more precisely, being more proactive actually entails, or even indeed defined what is meant by the term ‘proactivity’ in this particular context. This dissertation seeks to investigate proactivity and its role in shaping firms’ market strategies. From prior research on proactivity in the strategic marketing domain, we know that proactive firms, on average, develop more radical innovation, are better at managing complex and highly competitive environments, and seem to achieve higher business performance. However, few, if any, of these prior studies properly define proactivity and take a more holistic perspective on its impact on firms’ market strategies. In this dissertation I propose a definition of proactivity through three main proactive characteristics: being future-oriented, taking the initiative, and driving change. Thus, a proactive firm does not wait for things to happen and then react to those events. Instead, it keeps a long-term horizon on its scanning for market intelligence and takes action before things happen, in order to create the change needed to improve its situation. While certainly not all proactive actions are successes, particularly not if the firm lacks proper awareness of the situation or exceeds its capabilities in its striving to shape events, proactive firms do have access to a broader set of opportunities than their less proactive competitors. To understand how proactivity influences market strategies, it is first necessary to understand market strategy itself a bit closer. I define market strategies as firms’ strategies for creating customer value. According to the market orientation literature, the basis of achieving long-term high firm performance is to consistently provide customers with superior value to that of the competition. Thus, firms’ market strategies are squarely at the center of their efforts to become more successful. To study these strategies and the effects they have, it is necessary to go beyond strategy documents and study the actual activities that firms perform to implement them. A market strategy, in my conceptualization, can thus be perceived as a coherent set of activities aimed at fulfilling certain goals, leading to the creation of customer value. These activities can then be further categorized according to the strategic orientations that drive the firm’s strategy-making, with customer orientation, competition orientation and innovation orientation being the orientations that have the most impact on market strategies. From this conceptual foundation, the dissertation takes four different approaches to investigating proactive market strategies, each presented in one of the four appended papers. In the first paper, a conceptual typology of different types of market strategies based on different value-creation logics – which are the combinations of responsiveness and proactivity that influence a firm’s value-creation efforts – is presented. In the second paper, the market strategies of five proactive firms are investigated to find three generic proactive market strategies, each representing a typical way for firms to employ proactivity in their market strategies. The third paper uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the configurations of proactivity, market environment and different market strategies that consistently lead to high market-strategic effectiveness. Finally, the fourth paper goes more in-depth in exploring the activities that firms employ to create value for customers, with particular focus on the different activities that are performed during different stages of contact with a customer. Through this thorough investigation of proactive market strategies, this dissertation presents a holistic view of proactivity and its impact on firms’ market strategies and their associated activities. As this is the first proper holistic view of proactivity in market strategy and also the first attempt to properly define proactivity in the market-strategic context, the dissertation also provides directions for future research. ”Vi måste vara mer proaktiva” är en fras som säkerligen har dragits på många strategimöten. I såväl internationaliserade jättar som lokala småföretag, tjänsteföretag likväl som tillverkande industrier, har det i styrelserum, ledningsmöten, pratats om behovet att vara mer proaktiv. Det uppenbara är att proaktivitet ses som något positivt, något som kan hjälpa företaget bli bättre, mer konkurrenskraftigt, och så vidare. Men vad menar man egentligen med att vara proaktiv i det här sammanhanget? Och hur påverkar det egentligen företags prestationsförmåga? Harald Brege vid Linköpings Universitet har studerat proaktivitet och hur företag kan använda det för att öka effektiviteten på sina marknadsstrategier, d.v.s. deras strategier för att skapa kundvärde. Proaktivitet är en nyckel som kan låsa upp möjligheter för företag att bli bättre på att hantera en föränderlig och komplex omvärld och stärka sin konkurrenskraft. Slår man upp ordet ”proaktiv” i SAOL får man veta att det betyder förebyggande eller förutseende, men för att kunna användas som ett verktyg för strategiutveckling behövs en mer användbar definition än så. Ur ett strategiskt perspektiv så har proaktivitet tre huvudsakliga komponenter: att vara långsiktig, att ta initiativet och att driva förändring. Det viktigaste för ett proaktivt företag är att inte vara passiva och vänta på att något händer som tvingar dem till förändring eller att bara reaktivt agera på det som finns i omvärlden. Istället så blickar man framåt, identifierar de potentiella sätt som en situation kan utvecklas på och tar sedan initiativet och agerar för att förändra situationen så att den passar företaget bättre. Dock så räcker det inte bara att bli proaktiv och så får man stora vinster på direkten. För att proaktiviteten ska bli framgångsrik så måste ett företag dels arbeta för att skaffa en grundlig förståelse av sin omgivning, dels se till de olika delarna i deras marknadsstrategi hänger ihop och arbetar mot samma mål. Är strategin otydlig eller om företaget håller på med saker de inte har insikt i så är proaktivitet istället sannolikt att ge dåliga resultat. Genom att arbeta för att förstå sina kunder på djupet så kan proaktiva företag snabbt komma med lösningar till behov, inklusive behov som kanske inte ens kunderna själva hade identifierat. Genom att aktivt arbeta med att förändra kunders uppfattning av vad en leverantör ska göra för dem och att påverka politiker och andra intressenter så kan proaktiva företag forma sina marknader för att bättre passa dem. Genom att driva produktutveckling som fokuserar på morgondagens produkter och att testa nya möjligheter, inte bara småförbättringar av samma gamla produkter, så kan proaktiva företag skapa innovativa nya erbjudanden som vänder upp och ner på marknaden. Dessa tre exempel belyser de tre generiska proaktiva marknadsstrategier som har identifierats: kundengagemang, marknadsformande, och innovationsledarskap.
The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation by Michael A. Hitt,Susan E. Jackson,Salvador Carmona,Leonard Bierman,Christina E. Shalley,Mike Wright Pdf
Many strategies fail not because they are improperly formulated but because they are poorly implemented. The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation examines the crucial role of implementation in how business and managerial strategies produce returns. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, leading scholars address governance, resources, human capital, and accounting-based control systems, advancing our understanding of strategy implementation and identifying opportunities for future research on this important process.
Executive Teams in Research-Based Spin-Off Companies by Rigo Tietz Pdf
Research-based spin-off companies are a special subgroup of new technology-based ventures and play an important role for innovation and economic development. Executive teams of academic spin-offs face several challenges in building up sustainable and profitable ventures, because they often lack managerial and entrepreneurial skills. Based on a quantitative analysis of 193 German spin-offs RigoTietz examines the relationships between executive team characteristics, strategic decision making, and firm performance. The study contributes to the entrepreneurship and strategic management literature and has practical implications for entrepreneurs and managers, policymakers and practitioners of start-up initiatives and technology transfer organisations.
Strategic Intelligence for the Future 2 by Henri Dou,Alain Juillet,Philippe Clerc Pdf
Information in all its forms is at the heart of the economic intelligence process. It is also a powerful vector of innovation and, more than ever, a balance between economic and societal forces. That is why a large part of Strategic Intelligence for the Future 2 analyzes the various aspects of information, from traditional processing and research to the psychological and epigenetic aspects of its development. This leads to a new vision of its integration into organizations. In addition, new technologies offer extensive access to information, including social networks which are critically analyzed here. In a complex world where geopolitics and the new concept of information warfare are becoming increasingly important, it becomes imperative to better apprehend and understand our environment, in order to develop critical thinking that will reinforce the different global aspects of security in economic intelligence.
The Strategic Communication Imperative by James Mahoney Pdf
This book proposes a model for directly aligning strategic communication with organisational business planning to enable effective management of mid- to long-term organisational issues. It argues that current conceptualisations of strategic communication need to be extended to locate it more precisely within definitions of strategy and as an essential element of mid- and long-term business planning. This approach re-positions strategic issues communication in a professional practice dimension that has a specific focus on issues that do not immediately impact on an organisation’s ability to achieve its day-to-day business goals. Full of contemporary examples from business, and including a thorough explanation of how the model can be applied in professional practice, the book will prove illuminating reading for scholars, students, and professionals alike.
