This book provides practitioners with a basic understanding of strategy and the process of strategic management. Using academic foundations and best practices from business life, the authors present the most important strategy tools and how they interact. The book gives a concise overview over the focal areas and considerations of strategy in practice. It enables managers to analyze and interpret business information with regard to the underlying strategic notions.

A hands-on introduction to strategic management by leading marketing authority Philip Kotler, top management consultancy founder Roland Berger, and strategy expert Nils Bickhoff.

Prof. Dr. Philip Kotler (M.A., University of Chicago, Ph.D., M.I.T.) is the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He published his 13th edition of Marketing Management, the world's leading textbook in teaching marketing to MBAs. He has also published Marketing Models, Principles of Marketing, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, Social Marketing, Marketing Places, Kotler on Marketing, Marketing Insights A to Z, Lateral Marketing, Museum Strategies and Marketing, Standing Room Only, Corporate Social Responsibility, Chaotics, Up and Out of Poverty, Marketing 3.0 and several other books. His research covers strategic marketing, innovation, consumer marketing, business marketing, services marketing, distribution, e-marketing, and social marketing. He has been a consultant to IBM, Bank of America, Merck, General Electric, Honeywell, and many other companies. He has received 12 honorary doctorate degrees from major universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Prof. Dr. h.c. Roland Berger is Honorary Chairman of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants has grown to become the number 5 among the world's leading strategy consultancies

Prof. Dr. Nils Bickhoff holds an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in business ad-ministration and began his career as a consultant with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in 1995. He advised international clients on matters of strategy, organization, branding, and corporate finance, and was also responsible for Roland Berger's global research & development activities. In 2005 he founded his own company and has since been advising top managers on all issues of strategic management. Nils Bickhoff has authored and published management books in several languages, is editor of the 'Quintessence' series, gives lectures and seminars, and is Professor of Strategy and Marketing at the Euro-FH in Hamburg (University of Applied Sciences).

1;Contents;6 2;1: Introduction: Essential Strategy Know-How and Nothing More;9 2.1;Reference;11 3;2: Strategy and Strategic Management: A First Basic Understanding;12 3.1;2.1 What Is Strategy and How Is It Developed?;12 3.1.1;2.1.1 Modern Opinions;12 3.1.2;2.1.2 Basic Historical Concepts;13 3.1.3;2.1.3 A First Example: The Second Punic War;14 3.2;2.2 The Theoretical Response: Strategy as an Integrated Concept;17 3.2.1;2.2.1 Strategy;17 3.2.2;2.2.2 Strategic Management;18 3.3;2.3 The Process-Based Response: Strategic Planning-An Organized Understanding of Strategy Processes;19 3.3.1;2.3.1 General Planning;19 3.3.2;2.3.2 Strategic Planning;21 3.3.3;2.3.3 Operational Planning;21 3.3.4;2.3.4 Steering and Controlling the Operational Planning;21 3.3.5;2.3.5 Implications of Strategic Planning as a Concept;22 3.4;2.4 The Innovative Response: Creative Rule-Breaking as an Alternative Way of Executing Strategy Processes;23 3.4.1;2.4.1 Why Rules Need to Be Broken;23 3.4.2;2.4.2 The Rule-Breaking Strategy Creator: Four Steps to Breaking the Rules;24 3.5;References;29 4;3: Strategic Frames of Reference: The Key Tools of Strategy Determination, Their Principles, and How They Interact;30 4.1;3.1 Why It Is Important to Structure the Market, the Competition, and Your Own Company Properly;31 4.1.1;3.1.1 Interdependencies Between the Key Approaches;31 4.1.2;3.1.2 The Harvard Business School SWOT Analysis: The Data Basis for All Interpretive Tools of Strategy Determination;33 4.2;3.2 Analyzing Corporate Strategies;36 4.2.1;3.2.1 Horizontal Growth Options: Ansoff´s Product/Market Matrix;36 4.2.2;3.2.2 Portfolio Management: Portfolio Analysis (Matrix);39 4.3;3.3 Analyzing Business Strategies;44 4.3.1;3.3.1 The Market-Based View: The Structure-Conduct-Performance Paradigm and Porter´s Five Forces;45 4.3.2;3.3.2 The Resource-Based View: The Core Competency Approach;49 4.3.3;3.3.3 Dynamic Markets: The Simple Rules Approach;50 4.4;3.4 Network Approaches: The Business Model-An Integrative Frame of Reference for Describing a Strategy;52 4.4.1;3.4.1 From Old to New Business Models;53 4.4.2;3.4.2 The Three Components of a Business Model;54 4.5;References;59 5;4: Current Focal Areas in Strategy Practice: Four Significant Management Concepts of the Past 20 Years;61 5.1;4.1 Growth Strategies;63 5.1.1;4.1.1 Value-Based Management, Protecting Your Market Share, Limits and Approaches;63 5.1.2;4.1.2 Seven Growth Strategies in Strategy Practice;69 5.2;4.2 Business Process Reengineering;72 5.2.1;4.2.1 Belief and Reality;73 5.2.2;4.2.2 An Implementation Example;81 5.3;4.3 Strategic Brand Management;87 5.3.1;4.3.1 The Brand: Complex and Meanwhile Indispensable;88 5.3.2;4.3.2 Examples of Brand Evaluation Using Positioning Analysis;97 5.4;4.4 Strategic Gaming;101 5.4.1;4.4.1 Game Theory: A Way of Dynamically Modeling the Competition;101 5.4.2;4.4.2 Dynamic Competitive Simulation in Reality;107 5.5;References;110 6;5: Summary: It´s Your Turn!;112 7;About the Authors;114 8;Bibliography;116