Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods - Hardcover

Fleisher, Craig S.; Bensoussan, Babette E.

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9780133086409: Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0133086402 ISBN 13: 9780133086409

Publisher: Pearson FT Press, 2015

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Meet any business or competitive analysis challenge: deliver actionable business insights and on-point recommendations that enterprise decision makers can’t and won’t ignore! All you need is one book: Business and Competitive Analysis, Second Edition. This generation’s definitive guide to business and competitive analysis has now been thoroughly updated with additional methods, applications and examples. Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan begin with a practical primer on the process and context of business and competitive analysis: how it works, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to communicate results. Next, they introduce their unique FAROUT method for choosing the right tools for each assignment. The authors then present dozens of today’s most valuable analysis methods. They cover “classic” techniques, such as McKinsey 7S and industry analysis, as well as emerging techniques from multiple disciplines: economics, corporate finance, sociology, anthropology, and the intelligence and futurist communities. You’ll find full chapters outlining effective analysis processes; avoiding pitfalls; communicating results; as well as drill-downs on analyzing industries, competitive positioning, business models, supply chains, strategic relationships, corporate reputation, critical success factors, driving forces, technology change, cash flow, and much more. For every method, Fleisher and Bensoussan present clear descriptions, background context, strategic rationales, strengths, weaknesses, step-by-step instructions, and references. The result is a book every analyst, strategist, and manager can rely on – in any industry, for any challenge.

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From the Back Cover:

The #1 Guide to Modern Business and Competitive Analysis—Fully Updated with New Methods, Applications, and Examples!

To deliver powerful strategic support and competitive insights, analysts must draw upon a robust repertoire of conceptual methods, models, tools, and techniques—both old and new. This book will guide you every step of the way.

Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan draw on decades of cutting-edge business and academic experience in strategic and competitive analysis. Their definitive, up-to-date “analyst’s manual” can help analysts at all levels deliver more actionable insights and higher-value decision support. They explain how each approach works, when and how to use them, what the tradeoffs are, and how to avoid common errors that compromise analytical quality. You’ll find sample worksheets, updated applications, and recommendations for complementary techniques.

Fully updated to meet the decision support and intelligence needs for today’s executives, this edition offers new and extended guidance on adding value through shaping context, supporting decisions, prioritizing scarce resources, forging stronger partnerships, and anticipating emerging challenges.

Choose and use the right analytical tools:
� A Better SWOT    � Linchpin
� Benchmarking      � McKinsey 7S
� Business Model      � Product Line
� Competing Hypotheses   � Scenario
� Competitive Positioning      � SERVO
� Competitor Cash Flow � Shadowing
� Critical Success Factors    � Statistical Interpretation
� Driving Forces � Strategic Relationships
� Event & Timeline � Supply Chain Management
� Historiography   � Technology Forecasting
� Indications & Warning   � War Gaming
� Industry Fusion � Win/Loss

This complete, up-to-date manual will help you deliver actionable insights and on-point decision support in any business environment. Pioneering authors Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan have updated their classic analysis guide with new methods, new applications, and a deeper focus on today’s challenges—from providing real-time decision support to adding value through context.

� All the tools you need to transform data into high-value insights and recommendations
� Utilizes the proven FAROUT method for consistently choosing the right tools
� Classic tools to emerging techniques that help you develop intelligence about your business, competition, customers, environment, markets, and products/services
� Clear descriptions, context, rationales, strengths/weaknesses, step-by-step instructions, sample applications, and easy-to-use worksheets

You’ll start with a practical primer on the discipline of business and competitive analysis: how it works, how to avoid pitfalls, how to choose the right tools, and how to communicate your results. Next, the authors review 24 of today’s most powerful analysis methods. They provide improved versions of “classic” techniques, such as SWOT and industry analysis, as well as popular modern techniques like Business Model analysis, War Gaming, and Win/Loss analysis.

You’ll find detailed chapters covering cash flows, competitive positioning, supply chains, strategic relationships, critical success factors, technology change, and more. The authors clearly explain each method’s context, rationale, and tradeoffs; walk step-by-step through the analytical process; and help you avoid key mistakes.

Analysts can no longer rely on just a few familiar methods: you need a broad and robust repertoire. That’s what you’ll find here: the right technique for every challenge, the insight to choose among them, and the skills to apply them

About the Author:

Authors Fleisher and Bensoussan are uniquely placed as experts in the field of business and competitive analysis. They have extensive corporate consulting, research, and teaching experience in both strategy and intelligence fields, and have both published and spoken internationally. Their collaboration also brings the book a healthy balance of both theory and application.

Craig S. Fleisher is the Chief Learning Officer and Director of Professional Development, Aurora WDC, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Craig was President of the Board of Directors of the international Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Competitive Intelligence Foundation (Washington, DC), founding Editor of the Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management, and is a SCIP Meritorious Award winner and Fellow. Author or editor of a dozen books and scores of scholarly articles and chapters, Craig is among the top-cited Google Scholars in several fields, and contributes on several scholarly journals’ editorial boards. He was recognized as one of Canada’s top MBA professors by Canadian Business magazine, is named in the Canadian Who’s Who, and has taught university and executive courses in the strategy, analysis, and competitive intelligence areas for nearly three decades.
   He was formerly a Professor, endowed research Chair, dean, MBA director and/or Institute Chair at the Universities of Calgary, New Brunswick, Windsor, and Wilfrid Laurier in Canada, as well as the College of Coastal Georgia. Craig holds a PhD in Business from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, MBA in Human Resources Management and Marketing from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, and his BSBA (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) from the University of Florida.
   A well-traveled speaker, he regularly advises leading corporations, associations, and public sector agencies on analysis processes and insight development. Craig holds a Docent appointment in the Dept. of Business Information Mgmt. at Tampere University of Technology (FI), graduate faculty status at the Universita della Svizzera italiana (CH), and visiting positions at universities in eight countries.

Babette E. Bensoussan is an internationally esteemed leader in the field of Competitive Intelligence (CI) and Strategy. Her credentials are built upon a long-standing series of outstanding achievements, both business and academic. She is Australia’s only awarded CI professional and is one of the most published business authors. Throughout her career Babette has excelled as an entrepreneur, a consultant, a company director, a board member, an author, an academic and a business coach.
   In 1992 Babette founded the MindShifts Group, a leading consulting company specializing in Competitive Intelligence and Strategy. As company director Babette has led the MindShifts Group through more than 350 projects with Australian and Fortune 500 companies. Her skills and expertise have been successfully applied to a huge range of industries, and her clients have included (but are not limited to) aerospace, information technology, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and financial services companies. In 2006 Babette was the recipient of the SCIP Meritorious Award, the world’s most prestigious award in the field of Competitive Intelligence.
   In addition to providing her talent and experience to her clients, Babette has a strong passion for sharing her uniquely honed expertise with others through mentoring and coaching. Author of six books and scores of articles and chapters, she has taught executive courses and held teaching positions at many of Australia’s leading universities and business schools. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Their books include Strategic and Competitive Analysis and Analysis Without Paralysis.

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