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Book review for Strategy - Process, Content, Context on Amazon

For my work, I do change, leadership and strategy research for a number of consulting firms so it would be an understatement to say that I've read a lot. Regardless of the domain, I find most work to be highly derivative, unoriginal and based on limited mindsets and thinking. Rarely do I find anything that challenges conventional ways of thinking and is also highly useful and not just another voice shouting out sensationalist ideas so that they can be noticed in a very crowded marketplace.

Recently I signed on to do some volunteer teaching in Cambodia and as is my usual process, I hit the internet, libraries, online databases and do a broad sweep of what's happening in the domains that I'm interested in. I expect that most of what I read will be based on outdated worldviews and limited perspectives so I'm usually happy to dig out the few nuggets of gold in a chapter of a book, an article or left of centre cuff thinking and patch it together into something that opens possibility, provokes thought and powerful mindsets and perspectives.

This book though was an unexpected find and a total gem. Why? If you're a student or a teacher you'll have looked at many books on strategy, and basically they all follow a very similar approach. They treat strategy as something that's fixed, logical, linear, formulaic and relatively simplistic (follow the steps or recipe and you're assured of success). As one of my mentors so often says... it's a nice idea... pity it doesn't work in the real world. If it did and people weren't so unsatisfied with how poorly most current approaches to strategic planning perform, we wouldn't have so many `new' books on strategy coming out each year.

Books that are groundbreaking and challenge conventional paradigms are difficult to write... and the authors have done a first class job of this one and are to be commended for the result. It's organized into a series of paradoxes, which cover the major issues of strategy formulation and execution.

If you can check out the introduction and first chapter you'll have a good sense of whether the book was for you. The table of contents alone sold me, and after reading their conceptual frame and introduction I was excited to read more.

To use some of the comments from the preface of the book to illustrate its structure and value, they discuss how most books on strategic management follow a recipe type approach. They present a limited number of perspectives and theories as accepted knowledge from which prescriptions can easily be described. If you've looked at more than 3 books on strategic management you'll know this to be true. The next use a simple step by step strategic planning approach as the books basic structure. They rework original material into the author's own words to create a consistent and easily digestible piece of text. The choice of perspectives, theories and examples is weighted towards the author's own domestic context (and then, slight adjustments are made for overseas editions.)

This book takes the opposite approach. It covers ten major strategic themes, those that the strategist must deal with in practice. The strategy process, (strategic thinking, strategy formulation, strategic change); the strategic content (business, corporate and network levels of strategy); the strategic context (industry, organizational and international) and organizational purpose.

It then uses several original readings (sometimes condensed in size but not in terms of their original meaning) that are significant or classics in that field and presents them as a series of paradoxes - one that covers each side of the issue and explores each of the key themes and areas of contention. For example the paradox of globalization and localization in terms of the international context; in the area of strategic thinking the paradox of logic and creativity and in the area of strategy formulation the paradox of deliberateness and emergentness. Thus exposing the reader to a wide range of theories and perspectives to enable the student to hone their own strategic thinking skills rather than to learn a recipe. The book has an international perspective so as to highlight cultural differences and assumptions and to address the true nature and context of many multinational companies today. Case studies are drawn from companies worldwide to give a spread of companies, industries and countries. There's more than 30 cases in the book from over 20 countries.

Challenging... yes. Intelligent... absolutely! Relevant to the needs of people working with strategy... undoubtedly!

If you're a student and this is not your text book, pick it up, read it, use the frames and develop your thinking and you'll be light years ahead of your colleagues. You will have learned how to think, and think in terms of possibilities, examining and challenging assumptions and dynamically and creatively adjusting your approach... rather than just learning a formula or a bunch of ideas that mostly don't work quite nearly so precisely in the real world as they're described in most textbooks by most authors.

The book is also supported by a website for both students and teachers full of additional resources. This book isn't just for students though. Managers, consultants, and others with an interest in practical strategy and the challenges it poses will also find the book very useful. That this book's first edition was written so long ago is a testament to how forward thinking the authors are.

This is an exceptional piece of work. Highly recommended.