Strategic Management - New Rules for Old Europe

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3834992542
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (349 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Management - New Rules for Old Europe by : Christian Scholz

Download or read book Strategic Management - New Rules for Old Europe written by Christian Scholz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-11-05 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lecturers and researchers at Saarland University's Europa-Institut present the latest findings and trends of their most important research topics. They discuss the present state of the art in European management, focussing on the areas of marketing & commerce, finance, human resource management & entrepreneurship, as well as European policy.

Strategic Management

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Publisher : Springer-Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3322844579
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (228 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Management by : Christian Scholz

Download or read book Strategic Management written by Christian Scholz and published by Springer-Verlag. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Market presents numerous opportunities and at the same time challenges for business enterprises. In this anthology, lecturers and researchers at Saarland University's Europa-Institut expound on the latest findings and trends of their most important research topics.

European Retail Research

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3834982032
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (349 download)

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Book Synopsis European Retail Research by : Bernhard Swoboda

Download or read book European Retail Research written by Bernhard Swoboda and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of EUROPEAN RETAIL RESEARCH is to publish interesting manuscripts of high quality and innovativeness with a focus on retail researchers, retail lecturers, retail students and retail executives. As it has always been, retail executives are part of the target group and the knowledge transfer between retail research and retail management remains a part of the publication’s concept.

Strategic International Management

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3834983322
Total Pages : 470 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (349 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic International Management by : Dirk Morschett

Download or read book Strategic International Management written by Dirk Morschett and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-01-19 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Strategic International Management” takes a global perspective and covers the major aspects of international business strategies, the coordination of international companies and the particularities of international value chain activities and management functions. The book provides a thorough understanding of how Production & Sourcing, Research & Development, Marketing, Human Resource Management and Controlling have to be designed in an international company and what models are available to understand those activities in an international context. The book offers 20 lessons that provide a comprehensive overview of all key issues. Each lesson is accompanied by a case study from an international company to facilitate the understanding of all important factors involved in strategic international management.

Constructive Intercultural Management

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Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1839104546
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Constructive Intercultural Management by : Christoph Barmeyer

Download or read book Constructive Intercultural Management written by Christoph Barmeyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook comprises an innovative companion for cross-cultural management classes, demonstrating how organizations can deal with cultural differences successfully. Providing a constructive and positive lens into the multifaceted world of interculturality, the authors illustrate the multiple benefits associated with cultural diversity in the fast-changing global and digital environment.

Cross-Cultural Management in Practice

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Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 085793872X
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (579 download)

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Book Synopsis Cross-Cultural Management in Practice by : Henriett Primecz

Download or read book Cross-Cultural Management in Practice written by Henriett Primecz and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÔPrimecz, Romani, and Sackmann provide managers and educators with a powerful framework that goes beyond simple categorization of national and cultural differences in business. Their framework of negotiated meaning systems, and the rich cases that illustrate the Òin-the-momentÓ experiences of global managers as they conduct business in culturally unfamiliar milieus provide managers and educators with a powerful tool for developing global managerial skills. This is a book every global manager and cross-cultural educator should have on his or her bookshelf.Õ Ð Mark E. Mendenhall, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, US ÔThis is a unique, alternative view of culture that has both practical and theoretical significance. The creative analysis of cases from around the world moves the field beyond the sophisticated stereotyping that can result from relying solely on cultural value dimensions to decode interactions. The cases address significant cross-cultural issues, providing useful lessons and richer perspectives on culture.Õ Ð Joyce Osland, San JosŽ State University, US ÔThis book is an excellent collection of practical and useful cases in cross-cultural management, with some that are very different from what we would call ÒtraditionalÓ cases in cross-cultural management. They are excellent teaching material with an introduction and a conclusion that show students and practitioners how meanings are negotiated in diverse and complex cross-cultural situations.Õ Ð Marie-Therese Claes, Louvain School of Management, Belgium ÔA fascinating book for both the diversity of cultures that are touched upon (from Asia and Africa to Europe and America) and the cultural analyses that are made of various management situations resulting from the transfer of management techniques across countries or the encountering of those embedded in different cultures.Õ Ð Philippe dÕIribarne, CNRS, France ÔA group of multidisciplinary authors from various countries and cultures bring rich experience to this volume. The focus on real-life situations offers a fresh perspective on culture in organizations and management through in-depth case studies including both academic and pedagogical sides. It addresses multi-level cross-cultural issues of international strategic importance for globalizing workplaces. This insightful book is excellent reading for practitioners as well as scholars and students interested in applications in the field of cross-cultural management.Õ Ð Cordula Barzantny, Toulouse Business School, France ÔThis volume offers an insightful introduction to qualitative field research aiming to understand the dynamics in intercultural business interactions. Based on the findings provided in ten rich cases from Asia, Europe, North Africa, USA and Latin America, the editors also propose strategies for more effective collaboration in challenging multiple-cultures contexts. The authors and editors have succeeded in transforming the field studies into cases that are stimulating and thought provoking readings, both for practitioners and students of cross-cultural management.Õ Ð Anne-Marie S¿derberg, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Based on the view that culture is dynamic and negotiated between actors, this groundbreaking book contains a collection of ten cases on cross-cultural management in practice. The cases draw on field research revealing challenges and insights from working across nations and cultures. Each case provides recommendations for practitioners that are developed into a framework for effective intercultural interactions as well as offering illustrations and insights on how to handle actual cross-cultural issues. This enriching book covers various topics including international collaborations across and within multinational companies, organizational culture in international joint ventures and knowledge transfer. Based on empirical fieldwork and qualitative analyses, this path-breaking book will appeal to graduate and postgraduate students in international management as well as practitioners.

Retail Internationalization

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3658010967
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (58 download)

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Book Synopsis Retail Internationalization by : Stefan Elsner

Download or read book Retail Internationalization written by Stefan Elsner and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-09-07 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The doctoral thesis investigates various strategies in the area of going and being international of retail firms which is of undisputable relevance due to the fairly narrow research status and the increasing internationalization of retail activities. Issues are investigated concerning the choice of retail market entry modes, i.e., the form of institutional arrangements that retailers use when entering foreign markets, the retail format transfer, i.e., the management of internal processes and the external marketing program elements and the coordination of retail activities, i.e., the implementation of the marketing program by the organizational structure. Regarding this, three important research questions are addressed:1) How do choose retailers their market entry mode in the area of conflict between full and shared-controlled modes and how is this decision influenced by the internal and external environment? 2) How can international retailers transfer their retail format successfully to foreign countries by standardizing or adapting the internal and external elements of their retail format? 3) How can retailers successfully coordinate the implementation of their retail marketing program to culturally diversified markets? These questions are investigated on the basis of established theories applied from the international management literature such as institutional theory, the resource-based view and the profit maximization theory. On the basis of comprehensive primary and secondary datasets, important implications are drawn for research and practice. ​

Third-Party Certifiers

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Publisher : Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN 13 : 9403510927
Total Pages : 691 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Third-Party Certifiers by : Jan De Bruyne

Download or read book Third-Party Certifiers written by Jan De Bruyne and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2019-07-12 with total page 691 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Third-Party Certifiers Jan De Bruyne Third-party certifiers are organisations that are independent a requesting entity. They attest that a product, service, information or person possesses certain qualifications or meets safety, quality or technical standards. This important book presents an in-depth analysis of the liability and obligations of certifiers, evaluates existing certification processes in selected fields and proposes new mechanisms which could increase the accuracy and reliability of certifiers’ ratings, marks or reports. Highlighting the risks of errors in this activity – inaccurate certification was a major factor in the global financial crisis of 2008 – the author takes a comparative approach, looking at the certification process in several European countries, Australia and the United States. Such aspects of the process as the following are thoroughly described: obligations and liability of certifiers during the certification process; risk of ‘information asymmetry’ between the requesting entity and the end user; and relationship between the civil liability of certifiers and public law aspects. The analysis includes detailed research on key industries and jurisdictions and a specific proposed framework for more accurate and reliable certification. Because the efficient and effective functioning of third-party certifiers is extremely important in today’s world – especially in such areas as health, the environment, safety or economic values – this deeply researched contribution to an important area of commercial law, combining analysis of current issues with proposed reforms, will be welcomed by practitioners when confronted with legal issues with regard to the certification process. The book’s conceptual framework will also prove highly useful for policymakers charged with developing reliable certification mechanisms.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence

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Publisher : SAGE Publications
ISBN 13 : 1483346250
Total Pages : 1024 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (833 download)

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Book Synopsis The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence by : Janet M. Bennett

Download or read book The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence written by Janet M. Bennett and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2015-03-23 with total page 1024 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1980, SAGE published Geert Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences. It opens with a quote from Blaise Pascal: “There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees that are falsehoods on the other.” The book became a classic—one of the most cited sources in theSocial Science Citation Index—and subsequently appeared in a second edition in 2001. This new SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence picks up on themes explored in that book. Cultural competence refers to the set of attitudes, practices, and policies that enables a person or agency to work well with people from differing cultural groups. Other related terms include cultural sensitivity, transcultural skills, diversity competence, and multicultural expertise. What defines a culture? What barriers might block successful communication between individuals or agencies of differing cultures? How can those barriers be understood and navigated to enhance intercultural communication and understanding? These questions and more are explained within the pages of this new reference work. Key Features: 300 to 350 entries organized in A-to-Z fashion in two volumes Signed entries that conclude with Cross-References and Suggestions for Further Readings Thematic “Reader’s Guide” in the front matter grouping related entries by broad topic areas Chronology that provides a historical perspective of the development of cultural competence as a discrete field of study Resources appendix and a comprehensive Index The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence is an authoritative and rigorous source on intercultural competence and related issues, making it a must-have reference for all academic libraries.

Countries, Corporations and Cultures

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Publisher : Eburon Uitgeverij B.V.
ISBN 13 : 9463011382
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (63 download)

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Book Synopsis Countries, Corporations and Cultures by : Paul Melessen

Download or read book Countries, Corporations and Cultures written by Paul Melessen and published by Eburon Uitgeverij B.V.. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With expanding globalisation, international enterprises exercise a growing influence on organizational culture in countries where they operate. Several dimensional frameworks exist to compare country cultures in a quantitative manner. The same is true for organizational cultures. Yet, until now, the paradigm has been that the two types of culture need to be measured by different frameworks. For years, this paradigm has been an obstacle for comparing work cultures internationally. In this book, author Paul Melessen presents a dimensional framework that bridges the gap between the two types of culture. It builds on existing frameworks – in particular, the VSM and OCM frameworks presented by Geert Hofstede – to compare fifteen multinational corporations and subsequently draw several interesting conclusions. Appropriately titled Countries, Corporations and Cultures, the book develops the “Multilevel Culture” (MLC) framework with a procedure called MCMC multilevel modelling. Hence the subtitle A multilevel approach.

Strategic Innovative Marketing

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3030160998
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Innovative Marketing by : Damianos P. Sakas

Download or read book Strategic Innovative Marketing written by Damianos P. Sakas and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-25 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This proceedings volume highlights cutting-edge approaches for contemporary issues evolved in strategic marketing and the integration of theory and practice. It focuses on strategic research and innovative activities in marketing that can be used in everyday operations. The contributions have been divided into eight sections, grouping emerging marketing technologies together in a close examination of practices, problems and trends. The first section examines management challenges which influence societies, cultures, networks, organizations, teams, and individuals. It emphasizes ways business processes foster innovation and facilitate management transitions from dominant structures to more evolutionary, developmental paradigms. The second section discusses the benefits and guidelines to implementation of green marketing strategies. The following section pursues new perspectives of the role of location in marketing and its impact on consumer well-being. The next section explores the impacts of user generated content (UGC) on marketing theories and practice, which is followed by a section identifying how market-based assets can contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. The sixth section covers understanding consumer perception to make marketing decisions. The final sections promote the use of business informatics and modeling in marketing and also the development of integrating information management in ways that change how people use information to engage in knowledge focused activities. The papers from the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing (IC-SIM 2017) have been written by scientists, researchers, practitioners and students that demonstrate a special orientation in strategic marketing, all of whom aspire to be ahead of the curve based on the pillars of innovation. This proceedings volume shares their recent contributions to the field and showcases their exchange of insights on strategic issues in the science of innovation marketing.

Relational Supply Contracts

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642027911
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Relational Supply Contracts by : Michaela Isabel Höhn

Download or read book Relational Supply Contracts written by Michaela Isabel Höhn and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-10-03 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supply relations are often governed by so-called relational contracts. These are informal agreements sustained by the value of future cooperation. Although relational contracts persist in practice, research on these types of contract is only emerging in Operations and Supply Chain Management. This book studies a two-firm supply chain, where repeated transactions via well-established supply contracts and continued quality-improvement efforts are governed by a relational contract. We are able to characterize an optimal relational contract, i.e., to develop policies for supplier and buyer that structure investments in quality and flexibility in a way that no other self-enforcing contract generates higher expected joint surplus. A second goal is to compare the performance of different returns mechanisms in the context of relational contracting (quantity flexibility and buy-back contracts). Industry studies motivate the presented model.

European Cases in Strategic Management

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (124 download)

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Book Synopsis European Cases in Strategic Management by : John Hendry

Download or read book European Cases in Strategic Management written by John Hendry and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The European Corporation

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780199242085
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis The European Corporation by : Richard Whittington

Download or read book The European Corporation written by Richard Whittington and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the evolving strategies and structure of large European firms in a comparative and historical context. In particular, it looks at these in the context of a range of hypotheses on professional management, multidivisional structure and diversification associated with Alfred Chandler. Companies examined include Daimler Benz, Volkswagen, BAT, Rhone Poulenc, Unilever and Elf Aquitane.

New Business for Old Europe

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351280597
Total Pages : 479 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (512 download)

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Book Synopsis New Business for Old Europe by : Arnold Tukker

Download or read book New Business for Old Europe written by Arnold Tukker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selling products used to be the standard way of doing business. Traditionally, it is left to the user to transform the purchase of a product into something that fulfils effectively a final-user need. Today, two streams of research – business management and sustainability – normally with very distinct perspectives on the world, have surprisingly converged to form a common conclusion: selling products is old-fashioned business. Companies should switch their focus to selling need fulfilment, satisfaction, or experiences. Or, in other words, selling integrated solutions or product-services. The business management literature argues that, by focusing on the integrated, final-client needs, and delivering integrated solutions fulfilling these needs, companies will be able to improve their position in the value chain, enhance added value of their offering, and improve their innovation potential. In a business world where many products are becoming equally well-performing commodities, this strategy is one of the ways to avoid a sheer competition on price – a type of competition that Europe never can win with emerging and low-cost economies such as China. In that sense, product-services can mean new business for old Europe. The sustainability knowledge stream argues that need-focused solutions could be inherently more sustainable than products. Product-services could offer the value of use instead of the product itself and decrease the environmental load in two ways. First, companies offering the service would have all the incentives to make the (product-)system efficient, as they get paid by the result. Second, consumers would be encouraged to alter their behaviour as they gain insight into all the costs involved with the use. Until today, the connections and interchange between the two research streams have been quite limited. The question of whether product-services truly are the avenue to a sustainable world is still under discussion. This book aims to develop a systematic view on this issue. The potential of product-services to enhance competitiveness and contribute to sustainable development prompted the EU to invest heavily in the theme under the EU's 5th Framework Programme (FP5; 1997-2002). A variety of research and development projects in the field were supported under the umbrella of the Sustainable Product Development Network (SusProNet). These included MEPSS (Methodology Product Service Systems); Home Services; HiCS (Highly Customerised Solutions); Prosecco (Product-Service Co-design); and Innopse (Innovation Studio and exemplary developments for Product-Service). The projects were undertaken by a mix of European research institutions and companies including Orange, Philips and Nokia. Some of these projects focused on developing methods that could help industries change their output from a product to a service. Others focused on the development of new product-services or solutions (HiCS, Prosecco, Innopse), and yet others tried to analyze under which circumstances product-services are likely to be implemented and accepted by consumers (Home Services). One project focused on dissemination of the concept to SMEs (Lean Services). Other projects focused purely on new product-service development, such as Brainfridge (an intelligent fridge managing its supply chain), ASP-NET (application service providers), Protex (intelligent enzymes) and IPSCON (receivers for wireless telephones). New Business for Old Europe brings together the key outputs from all of these groups to present a state-of-the-art collection on product-service development, prospects and implications for competitiveness and sustainability. The book has a number of aims. First, it attempts to bridge the gap between business and sustainability literature to lead to a better-founded understanding of the business drivers for embarking on product-service development, and its relation with sustainability and competitiveness. Second, the book reviews the large amount of studies that have developed toolkits, methods and approaches that can support marketers, product developers and strategists in business to develop product-services, selects the best-practice approaches and analyses any gaps. Third, the book examines what opportunities there are for product-service development in a variety of key areas including base materials, information and communication technologies, offices, food and households. Each chapter in this section discusses the area, developments that will stimulate or hinder the market opportunities for product-services, product-service examples, and typical implementation challenges for product-services in that area. These chapters serve as a quick introduction for companies interested in developing product-services in a specific area. Fourth, the book translates all the lessons into suggested approaches for product-service development by companies. Annexes include a lightweight "product-service development manual" and an alphabetical list of useful underlying tools.

EU Rule of Law Promotion

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317140168
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (171 download)

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Book Synopsis EU Rule of Law Promotion by : Marko Kmezic

Download or read book EU Rule of Law Promotion written by Marko Kmezic and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do EU institutions have an influence on the implementation of the rule of law in potential candidate countries and, if so, of what kind? During the compliance monitoring process related to the effective rule of law and democracy the EU Commission tests and criticizes the effectiveness of the judiciary and strengthens the rule of law in preparation for accession. In the Western Balkans this was a process fraught with difficulties. Despite the fact that academic scholarship and democratic politics agree on rule of law as a legitimizing principle for the exercise of state authority, there is no uniform European standard for institution-building or monitoring activities by the EU in this area. With focus on the reform of the judiciary in five case study countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, this empirical research investigates the EU's transformative power with regard to the effectiveness of rule of law and judicial sector reform in its infancy. It analyses the depth and limitations of EU rule of law promotion in the Western Balkans and presents policy recommendations intended to address the shortcomings in judiciary reform. This book aims to fill the gap in the existing academic scholarship of EU politics, law and Western Balkans literature.

Discount Business Strategy

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470033533
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Discount Business Strategy by : Michael Moesgaard Andersen

Download or read book Discount Business Strategy written by Michael Moesgaard Andersen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-10-27 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What people are saying about Discount Business Strategy: "Michael Andersen and Flemming Poulfelt provide a provocative discussion of the rapidly growing role of discounters across numerous industries: how they operate; how they create uniqueness; and how they can destroy value for incumbents. Understanding the specific moves and tools that the authors analyze will be valuable for attackers and incumbents alike." —Adrian J. Slywotzky, Director, Mercer Management Consulting USA "This book is very timely, dealing with today's most critical strategic issue: how to provide more value to the consumer through aggressive discounting. Those players in manufacturing and distribution who master this will be the winners; many established firms will fall by the wayside. A similar set of issues are facing many nations today - Europe vs. Asia!" —Peter Lorange, President, IMD, Switzerland "Andersen and Poulfelt have researched one of the most important themes in today's business world - how fundamentally new business models have wiped out establishments not with new products or technologies, but by creating new rules for conventional industries. Read this book and learn how to recognize the disruption of your industry before it is too late!" —Sigurd Liljenfeldt, Senior Partner, Monitor Group, France "This book asks if a firm can have its cake and eat it too - that is, maintain high quality at low prices. My favourite example and shopping place is big box Costco. Ikea is another. A must read for a broad audience concerned about corporate survival!" —Professor Larry E. Greiner, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, USA The aspiration to adopt the right strategy still prevails over the business world. But is there a single 'best' strategy for a company? Can an organization create sustainable competitive advantage from an 'off-the-peg' strategy? And are most companies likely to craft a strategy that genuinely creates uncontested market space and makes the competition irrelevant? The answer to all these questions is probably 'No'. And the rising tide of companies like Dell, CostCo, Skype and Linux means that asking them at all may soon be futile. While strategists have foundered in old paradigms, a new breed of competitors has emerged. Value destroyers. Old-style thinking understood value destruction when it was confined to an industry and driven by a new product or technology. But what are the implications when the destruction stems from a new way of thinking - from a strategy that simultaneously creates value? The implications are enormous. Every company in every industry is potentially at risk. This risk - or opportunity - is precisely the reason for this book and its focus on exploring why and how some companies have bridged the gap between differentiator and cost leader strategies to emerge as winners in hypercompetitive markets, and what this entails in terms of value destruction and creation. Discounting organizations are here to stay - are you?