《前瞻策略思考法》( Putting It AllTogether: A Guide to Strategic Thinking)

William E. Rothschild《前瞻策略思考法》( Putting It AllTogether: A Guide to Strategic Thinking) 鍾漢清編譯，台北：清華管理科學圖書中心，1985。
Putting It All Together (1976)

Author: Rothschild, William E

August 11, 2009 -- Norwalk, CT - August 10, 2009 - Bill and Steve Rothschild collaborated to update and enhance the acclaimed bestselling book “Putting It All Together.” The original book sold over 150,000 copies and was the first book on strategic thinking and decision making. This revised book builds on the proven strategy process first used by General Electric in the 1970s and now used in large, medium and small companies worldwide. The book is now structured as a guide for use in executive and MBA programs and available in five languages.

The new version of the book continues to emphasize what is required to be a strategic market leader. Here are some of the key ingredients:

1. Do Homework! Study your business and organization’s successes and failures and determine their causes. Evaluate your markets, customers, competition and be sure to understand and anticipate socio/political, governmental, technological and other external changes that can impact your ability to succeed and make a profit.

2. Set Priorities based on what you and your customers think are attractive. Build on your relative competitive strengths and allocate financial, human and physical resources consistently with these priorities. “Avoid trying to be all things to all people” and “Go big, go global” for its own sake. This involves doing a complete portfolio analysis and selecting the most attractive parts or segments of the business or organization. Select segments where you can gain and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage and then allocate the resources to make it happen. In simple terms, this means being selective and focused and not investing in all of the business segments equally.

3. Find out how to really be different so that you can create a sustainable competitive advantage. Winners are best at something! It is vital that you determine how you can create a sustainable differentiation and competitive advantage. This involves both building on strengths and assessing the current and potential competitors. Further, you must recognize that “no strategy, regardless of how successful it has been, lasts forever” and just because you have had an advantage in the past, it doesn’t mean you will have it in the future.

4. Have the right leader and team. There is no one leader for all times and situations. The strategic leadership team must fit the situation and the strategies. The type of leader must change to meet the new challenges. This means that new leadership must be developed and ready to move into organizations when they need a new type of leader.

5. Be sure that the execution and implementation strategies are consistent with the investment priorities, strategic direction and competitive advantage you have selected. This involves being sure that the investment and differentiation strategies are consistent for these key functional areas: engineering, sales, marketing, production, finance, and human resources.