Strategy Safari : A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management

"Henry Mintzberg's views are a breath of fresh air which can only encourage the good guys." The Observer "My favourite management book of the last 25 years? No contest. The Rise & Fall of Strategic Planning by Henry Mintzberg." Tom Peters The word strategy has been around for a long time. It is considered to be the high point of managerial activity, and managers use the word both freely and fondly. But what does the word really mean? Strategy Safari sets out to provide an answer. In this colourful primer, Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel draw together diverse strands of strategic thought into ten distinct schools. In a final chapter they seek to blend the schools together; pointing out however that a truly unified theory may not be possible or desirable. The result is a thoughtful and readable guide to the wilds of strategic management. Stratefy Safari can be read by anyone with an interest in business strategy but it is especially useful to those managers, scholars and students who must reconcile academic theory with the everyday reality of modern corporate practice. "Like butchers, the academics and consultants chop up reality for their own convenience...managers can allow themselves no such luxuries.They can use it only if it remains intact as a living being."