A short, up-to-date, practical and readable guide to strategy formulation, this book is designed for practicing executives who are getting ready to assume broader responsibilities. By focusing on strategic thinking and using real-life examples and historical references, this book is a must-read for the serious executive strategist. The first chapter defines strategy and its effect on a corporation's effectiveness; and then in subsequent chapters covers the external strategic environment, the analysis of a firm's physical assets, the development of a competitive strategy, different industry environments, corporate strategy and competition, different strategy choices, global strategy, and implementing and controlling a chosen strategic direction. For CEOs, senior executives, general managers, vice-presidents, divisional managers, and consultants.

Cornelis A. (Kees) de Kluyver is the Henry Y. Hwang Dean and Professor of Management at the Peter R Drucker Graduate School of Management at the Claremont Graduate University. He is also Executive Director of the Peter F Drucker Research Library and Archives and a Governor of the Peter F Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management.

He has held prior academic appointments at George Mason University, at the University of Virginia, and at Purdue University, and for several years was a principal with Cresap Management Consultants, a Towers Perrin Company, in the firm's strategy and organizational effectiveness practice. In this position, he served a wide range of clients in the high technology and service industries on various international strategy issues including the impact of European unification on North American business and the globalization of multinational operations.

Dr. de Kluyver serves on a number of corporate, foundation, and advisory boards, is a frequent speaker to professional audiences, and holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Case Western Reserve, an MBA for the University of Oregon and undergraduate degrees from the University of Oregon and the Netherlands School of Business.

John A. (Jack) Pearce II holds the College of Commerce & Finance Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at Villanova University. Twice the recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Professional Award, he received his Ph.D. degree from The Pennsylvania .State University. Professor Pearce is coauthor of 32 books, and has authored more than 85 articles and 150 professional papers. The first Chairman of the Academy of Management's Entrepreneurship Division, he has received outstanding research awards from the Business Policy and Strategy, Organizational Communications, and Managerial Consultation Divisions of the Academy of Management, and from the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies, and the Association of Management Consulting Firms.

Professor Pearce has been a principal on research funded for more than $2 million by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the U.S. Department of Justice, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the West Virginia Office of Economic and Community Development, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. A frequent leader of executive development programs and an active consultant, Professor Pearce's focus is on mission development, and strategy formulation, implementation, and control.