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Crafting and Executing Strategy (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble, 2008)
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Sixteenth Edition

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Product Description
Thompson, Strickland and Gambles’, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY, 16e presents the latest research findings from the literature and cutting-edge strategic practices of companies have been incorporated to keep step with both theory and practice. The chapter content continues to be solidly mainstream and balanced, mirroring both the best academic thinking and the pragmatism of real-world strategic management.

Known for its cases and teaching notes, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY, 16e provides an unparalleled case line up. (1) 28 of the 31 cases are new to this edition, (2) The selection of cases is diverse, timely, and thoughtfully-crafted and complements the text presentation pushing students to apply the concepts and analytical tools they have read about. (3) Many cases involve high-profile companies. (4) And there’s a comprehensive package of support materials that are a breeze to use, highly effective, and flexible enough to fit most any course design.

About the Author
A.J. (Lonnie) Strickland received a BS in Math and Physics from the University of Georgia, an MS in Industrial Management from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a PhD from Georgia State university. He currently holds the rank of Professor of Strategic Management in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama. He has done extensive consulting and research work. In recent years, he was honored with the Outstanding Professor Award for the Graduate School of Business, and was the recipient of the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award for the University of Alabama.

John E. Gamble is currently Associate Dean and Professor of Management in the Mitchell College of Business at the University of South Alabama. His teaching specialty at USA is strategic management and he also conducts a course in strategic management in Germany, which is sponsored by the University of Applied Sciences in Worms.

Dr. Gamble's research interests center on strategic issues in entrepreneurial, health care, and manufacturing settings. His work has been published in various scholarly journals and he is the author or co-author of more than 50 case studies published in an assortment of strategic management and strategic marketing texts. He has done consulting on industry and market analysis for clients in a diverse mix of industries.

Professor Gamble received his Ph.D. in management from the University of Alabama in 1995. Dr. Gamble also has a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Alabama.

p.3-4 The crafting of a strategy represents a... commitment to pursue a particular set of actions in... competing successfully, conducting operations, and improving... performance. Thus a... strategy is all about how - ... how each functional piece... will be operated, how performance will be boosted.
 
p.4 In choosing a strategy, management is in effect saying, "Among all the many different business approaches and ways of competing we could have chosen, we have decided to employ this particular combination of competitive and operating approaches in moving the company in the intended direction, strengthening its market position and competitiveness, and boosting performance."
 
p.6 A creative, distinctive strategy that sets a company apart from rivals and yields a competitive advantage is a company's most reliable ticket for earning above average profits.
 
p.7 Without a strategy that leads to competitive advantage, a company risks being outcompeted by stronger rivals
 
p.16-17 A company's business model is management's story line for how and why the company's product offerings and competitive approaches will generate a revenue stream
 
p.17 Whether a company wins or loses in the marketplace is directly attributable to the caliber of a company's strategy and the proficiency with which the strategy is executed.
 
p.29 Well-stated objectives are quantifiable, or measurable, and contain a deadline for achievement. As Bill Hewlett, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard, shrewdly observed, "You cannot manage what you cannot measure... And what gets measured gets done." Concrete, measurable objectives are managerially valuable because they serve as yardsticks for tracking a company's performance and progress
 
p.31 Two very distinct type of performance yardsticks are required: those relating to financial performance and those relating to strategic performance
 
p.32 As a rule, a company's set of financial and strategic objectives ought to include both near-term and longer-term performance targets.
 
p.41 Developing a strategic vision and mission, setting objectives, and crafting a strategy are basic direction-setting tasks. They map out where a company is headed, the targeted strategic and financial outcomes, and the competitive moves and internal action approaches to be used in achieving the desired business results. Together, they constitute a strategic plan for coping with industry and competitive conditions, the expected actions of the industry's key players, and the challenges and issues that stand as obstacles to the company's success.
 
p.42 Managing the implementation and execution of strategy is an operations-oriented, make-things-happen activity aimed at performing core business activities in a strategy-supportive manner.
 
p.46-47 The managerial process of crafting and executing a company's strategy consists of five interrelated and integrated phases:
1. Developing a strategic vision of where the company needs to head and what its future... product/market/customer/technology focus should be.
2. Setting objectives to spell out for the company how much of what kind of performance is expected, and by when. The objectives need to require a significant amount of organizational stretch...
3.Crafting a strategy to achieve the objectives and move the company along the strategic course that management has charted...
4.Implementing and executing the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively...
5.Evaluating performance and initiating corrective adjustments in vision, long-term direction, objectives, strategy, or execution in light of actual experience, changing conditions, new ideas, and new opportunities.
 
p.46 Crafting strategy is concerned principally with forming responses to changes under way in the external environment, devising competitive moves and market approaches aimed at producing sustainable competitive advantage, building competitively valuable competencies and capabilities, and uniting the strategic actions initiated in various parts of the company.
 
p.47 A company's strategic vision, objectives, and strategy constitute a strategic plan for coping with industry and competitive conditions, outcompeting rivals, and addressing the challenges and issues that stand as obstacles to the company's success.
 
p.49 Managers are not prepared to act wisely in steering a company in a different direction or altering its strategy until they have a deep understanding of the pertinent factors surrounding the company's situation... Insightful diagnosis of a company's external and internal environment is a prerequisite for mangers to succeed in crafting a strategy that is an excellent fit with the company's situation, is capable of building competitive advantage, and holds good prospects for boosting company performance - the three criteria of a winning strategy.
 
p.55 In effect, a market is a competitive battlefield where there's no end to the jockeying for buyer patronage.
 
p.132 Strategy... is about first analyzing and then experimenting, trying, learning, and experimenting some more -Ian C. McMillan and Rita Gunther McGrath

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