For many companies, large and small, the question of formulating a competitive strategy is no longer one of choice. Their markets team with domestic and foreign competitors, their product and service life cycles are being dramatically compressed, and their customers' demands and expectations are escalating to new levels. Relying on intuition and seat-of-the-pants planning is the business equivalent of flying blind. A thoughtful, well-planned strategy is now a prerequisite to success. But what makes up an effective strategy? This collection of Harvard Business Review article offers insight and practical advice from the leaders in the field: Michael Porter, Kenichi Ohmae, Steven Wheelwright, Gary Hamel, and C. K. Prahalad, among others. They show how advantage can and should be extracted from many sources, from marketing and joint ventures to financial analysis. They demonstrate conclusively that strategic planning can be lean, efficient, and productive rather than bureaucratic, sluggish, and sterile. Strategic Choices provides managers with the best thinking available on how to make the critical decisions that determine business success.
