Key words
Strategy, brief history of strategy, corporate, international trade, IBM, technology, resource-based of the firm, knowledge-based view of the firm, Apple, Walkman, Intel, Andy Grove, leadership, Japan, France, USA, UK
Summary
Richard Whittington, who has published extensively on strategy, offers a fascinating discussion on some of the key issues in strategic management. The book requires some background knowledge of the subject (perhaps not the first book to read then if you are new to this discipline) and then invites you to develop a personal view.
This is quite a useful book then once you have mastered some of the key elements of strategy. The book states clearly that it is designed more for a graduate or advanced undergraduate level.
Some keys facts:
The word ‘seduction’ comes from the Latin word “ducere”, to lead.

Only a quarter of the Japanese companies described ‘good short-term profits’ as their objective
Pascale ( 1982) reports that the Japanese do not even have a phrase for ‘corporate strategy’
When, in 1982, it launched its first personal computers, IBM predicted a market of 300,000 worldwide; a decade later, the installed base was 110 million. (Tate, 1991) Continue reading →