Strategic Management Text & Cases

Strategic Management: Text and Cases, 3rd Edition, by Dess/Lumpkin/Eisner is both readable and rigorous' written for today's student. A rocket-ship in its first editions, this revision continues to provide solid treatment of traditional topics in strategic management, as well as contemporary topics like entrepreneurship, innovation, knowledge management, and internet strategies. The prestigious author team understands the importance of thorough, modern concepts illustrated by rich, relevant, and teachable cases. The new case selections emphasize variety, currency, and familiar company names. The cases are up-to-date in terms of both financial data and strategic issues. This group of cases gives both instructors and students unparalleled quality and variety. Based on consistent reviewer feedback, these selections combine comprehensive and shorter length cases about well known companies.New and retained features of this hardback text match the features of the paperback of the same edition number, EXCEPT where features pertain strictly to case material (the paperback version DOES NOT contain cases). Case Lineup has been revised to include short, medium, and long cases from a variety of sources including NACRA, IVEY, and Harvard Business School. The case studies span a wide variety of industries including aviation, automotive, restaurant, retail, casinos, entertainment, and nonprofit. Most cases (the hypothetical cases are the exception) include financials. Companies represented in the 3rd edition include: JetBlue Airways, Panera Bread, Ford Motor Company, Enron, Kmart and Sears, Zara, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, and the American Red Cross, among others. Case Editor Alan Eisner brings new energy to our case line-up, which features these expanded benefits in the 3e: -11 brand-new case studies from a variety of sources, including Harvard and IVEY. -19 of the 41 cases are enhanced with PowerPoint slides to aid in case discussion. -Videos relating to both the text and the case studies include titles such as "Troubled Gamblers", "US Auto Makers Struggle", "Fallen Star", "Top Target: Enron CEO Kenneth Lay Indicted", "JetBlue Airways", "Panera Bread", and several others. -Over half of the cases have weblinks for additional student research. Each set of weblinks comes with discussion questions. Content for cases on the OLC includes web links to financial data and stories from the news relating to the case studies. Chapter-ending exercises challenge students to apply the central strategy concepts emphasized in each chapter. These include experiential exercises, summary review questions, application questions and exercises, and ethics questions. Chapter 4 (Analysis of Intellectual Assets) includes further discussion of how knowledge is shared within firms. The authors also address some of the dysfunctional outcomes that firms may experience by participating in the "war for talent" and how firms can effectively control human resource costs without eroding their base of human capital. Chapter 6 (Corporate-level Strategy) provide balanced perspective on real options analysisżaddress the "potential downsides" such as escalation and managerial conceit (hubris) Chapter 7 includes a discussion of the potential benefits and pitfalls of offshoring (competitiveness, loss of jobs, economic effects) In Chapter 9 (Effective Strategic Controls) the authors incorporate a detailed discussion of the role of corporate governance in todayżs organizationż a topic which has generated heated discussions and extensive legislation in the US in recent years. In Chapter 11 (Strategic Leadership, Learning Organizations, and Ethics), the authors address emotional intelligence (EI)ż a very current leadership topic in both academic and practitioner circles. In addition to addressing the components of EI and its role in a leaderżs effectiveness, the authors discuss the bases of a leaderżs power and how its effective use can overcome barriers to change. A discussion of a leaderżs role in shaping an ethical organization has also been expanded by articulating the need for organizations to become more proactive and move from compliance-based models to integrity-based models. The 3e features two entrepreneurship chapters (Chapter 12) as well as an expanded discussion of the use of strategic management techniques by small firms and pioneering, imitative, and adaptive new entry strategies used by start-ups (Chapter 13). The traditional organizing framework includes crisply-written chapters that address contemporary topics. Strategic Management is divided into chapters in the traditional sequence: analysis, formulation, and implementation. In addition, the authors provide chapters on such timely topics as the Internet and digital strategies, intellectual capital and knowledge management, and entrepreneurship. Key strategic concepts are introduced in a clear and concise manner and followed by timely and interesting examples from business practice. These concepts include Porterżs Five-Forces, the Value Chain, the resource based view of the firm, competitive advantage, boundary-less organizations, digital strategies, corporate governance, and entrepreneurship. Chapter-opening vignettes provide insightful, real-world examples of what can go wrong in strategic management. These are designed to spur student curiosity and interest in learning and applying the course concepts. Most texts err on the side of admiring good business practices in their chapter openers when students need to be able to diagnose problems and look for solutions in the real business world. Students who take a strategic management course need a thorough grounding in ethics, globalization and technology. In response to this, Dess and Lumpkin thoroughly weave these themes into every chapter of the text, as part of the text flow and within the "Strategy Spotlight" boxes that appear in every chapter. All of these are new or revised for this edition. Many key text concepts are applied to start-up firms and smaller businesses, which is particularly important and relevant given the fact that many students will begin their professional careers in just these kinds of smaller firms. Strategic Management by Dess/Lumpkin features the best chapter teaching notes available today! While many books outline or summarize the text materials, Dess/Lumpkin focus on "value added" materials. Each chapter includes many suggested questions to spur in-class discussion as well as three teaching tips for each chapter to further stimulate debate and practical applications of course concepts. In addition, there are many examples and "war stories" to provide illustrations of key conceptsżwell beyond the material in the text. (In fact, the chapter notes average about 16 pages). This keeps the material fresh for students while reducing preparation time for the instructor.