Awards

• Winner of Best Management Book of 2006 by 'Strategy + Business'.
• Winner of Best Management Book of 2006 by 'Strategy + Business'.

Overview

Is strategy a coherent plan conceived at the top by a visionary leader, or is it formed by a series of individual commitments, not always reflecting what top management has in mind? If it is a series of commitments, how can they be managed? To answer these questions, Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert present research that examines how strategy is actually made by company managers across several levels of an organization. The research penetrates the ""black box"" of strategy formulation and shows that a company's realized strategy emerges less from the formal statements of corporate strategy, but often out of the pattern of resource commitments that originate across every level of the firm. Drawing on over thirty yeas of research on resource allocation, including studies from Harvard Business School, Stanford, London Business School, and INSEAD, the book's five sections detail the structural characteristics of the resource allocation process, how the process can lead to breakdowns in strategic outcomes, and where top management can intervene to shape desired results. And while the organizing authors connect over three decades of research on resource allocation, they have also included assessments of this work by thought leaders in the fields of economics, competitive strategy, organizational behavior, and strategic management. The processes described represent the complex reality of strategy formulation in large organizations, but the ideas are presented in a way that enables the reader to access and understand the implications of these complexities. The findings should inform the research of economists, strategists, and behavioural scientists. Thoughtful executives and those who consult with them will also find the book provocative and instructive.

Full Product Details

Author:   Joseph L. Bower (, Professor of General Management, Harvard Business School) ,  Clark G. Gilbert (, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurial Management, Harvard Business School)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.711kg
ISBN:  

9780199277452

ISBN 10:   0199277451
Pages:   504
Publication Date:   06 September 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction to the Resource Allocation Process 1: Joseph L. Bower, Yves Doz, and Clark G. Gilbert: Linking Resource Allocation to Strategy 2: Joseph L. Bower: Modeling the Resource Allocation Process 3: Robert A. Burgelman: The Role of Strategy Making in Organizational Evolution 4: Clark G. Gilbert and Clayton M. Christensen: Anomaly-Seeking Research: Thirty Years of Theory Development Section II: When the Bottom-up Process Fails 5: Donald N. Sull: When the Bottom-up Resource Allocation Process Fails 6: Clayton M. Christensen and Joseph L. Bower: Customer Power, Strategic Investment, and the Failure of Leading Firms 7: Donald N. Sull: No Exit: The Failure of Bottom-up Strategic Processes and the Role of Top-down Disinvestment 8: Walter Kuemmerle: The Process of International Expansion: Comparing Established Firms and Entrepreneurial Start-ups Section III: Restoring the Bottom-up Process 9: Clark G. Gilbert: Restoring the Bottom-up Process of Resource Allocation 10: Tomo Noda and Joseph L. Bower: Strategy Making as an Iterated Process of Resource Allocation 11: Clark G. Gilbert: Resource vs. Routine Rigidity: Toward an Interpretive Model of Response to Discontinuous Change Section IV: The Need for Top-down Intervention 12: Thomas R. Eisenmann: Corporate Intervention in Resource Allocation 13: Thomas R. Eisenmann: The Entrepreneurial M-Form: A Case Study of Strategic Integration in a Global Media Company 14: Michael E. Raynor: Strategic Flexibility: The Value of Corporate-level Real Options as a Response to Uncertainty in the Pursuit of Strategic Integration 15: Yves Doz: Resource Allocation Process in Multidimensional Organizations: MNCs and Alliances Section V: Outside Commentaries on the RAP Perspective 16: John Roberts: Resource Allocation, Strategy, and Organization: An Economist's Thoughts 17: Daniel A Levinthal: Comments on the Resource Allocation Process 18: Margaret Peteraf: Research Complementarities: A Resource-Based View of the Resource Allocation Process Model (and Visa Versa) 19: Joel Podolny: CEO as Change Agent? Section VI: Conclusion 20: Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert: A Revised Model of the Resource Allocation Process

Reviews

Best Management Book, 2006 --Strategy + Business<br> The essays Bower and Gilbert have brought together in this edited book showcase the major contributions and synthesize them by updating the resource allocation process model, as well as by noting important exceptions to its validity. --Administrative Science Quarterly<br>

Best Management Book, 2006 --Strategy + Business The essays Bower and Gilbert have brought together in this edited book showcase the major contributions and synthesize them by updating the resource allocation process model, as well as by noting important exceptions to its validity. --Administrative Science Quarterly

<br> Best Management Book, 2006 --Strategy + Business<br> The essays Bower and Gilbert have brought together in this edited book showcase the major contributions and synthesize them by updating the resource allocation process model, as well as by noting important exceptions to its validity. --Administrative Science Quarterly<br>

`Best Management Book, 2006' Strategy + Business

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