Business

A brand is not merely a representation of a product: it is an emotional and symbolic perception we develop that influences our thoughts, (read more)

A brand is not merely a representation of a product: it is an emotional and symbolic perception we develop that influences our thoughts, feeling, and behaviour. Strategic Brand Management is the only textbook to go beyond the standard branding models to fully explore this perception and consider brands as truly sociocultural phenomena. The book's innovative framework separates a brand's concept into its functional and emotional parts to give students acomplete understanding of how brands operate and the strategies they employ to compete for consumer loyalty.

Written by international experts in the field, the book draws on contemporary sociology, anthropology, and social theory, but the authors' wide experience of consulting and teaching ensure that these complex and exciting ideas are firmly grounded in managerial implications and applications. Diverse and dynamic examples-from the pull of the latest Samsung phone to the British associations with tea, from Diesel's social brand positioning to Nintendo's use of brand nostalgia-are accompanied byadverts and images from the global campaigns to bring the concepts and theories to life. End-of-chapter case studies provide longer illustrations of the application of branding and challenge students to question company practices and apply the theoretical ideas they have learned through the chapter.
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Previously restricted to cascading information and managing day-to-day conversations, internal communication is now essential to (read more)

Previously restricted to cascading information and managing day-to-day conversations, internal communication is now essential to empowering employees to deliver business strategy. Strategic Internal Communication shows how to design and implement a strategy which will lead to engaged and motivated staff, increased productivity and consequently improved business performance. The book uses the author's own Dialogue Box tool designed to help companies explore more thoroughly what kinds of conversations they need to have with employees to address internal and cultural challenges.

It helps transform organizations into open and transparent communities to ensure that entire workforces are committed to the overall business vision. This fully updated 2nd edition of Strategic Internal Communication includes new information on how to use Dialogue Box during times of transition and organizational change. It also gives advice on how to manage difficult conversations and avoid damaging miscommunication and misinterpretation. (hide)

Strategy Journeys starts from the premise that strategic planning suffers from a bad press: it can be seen as complex, technical, (read more)

Strategy Journeys starts from the premise that strategic planning suffers from a bad press: it can be seen as complex, technical, remote from the day-to-day reality of an organisation, undertaken by an elite specialist executive group, producing threatening changes whose rationale is barely understood - or, perhaps worse still, having no worthwhile impact at all. For many senior executives, strategic planning is too daunting a task, which is why they often seek help from those with the expertise to guide the process: they have a severe lack of confidence in their own ability to design, plan and implement such an important and major project. Yet organisations have never had greater need for a flexible, resilient and engaging approach to strategic planning than now.

How do those leading an organisation know where to start, what approach to take and how to go about the process of strategic planning? David Booth aims to help them by demystifying the concept and propounding a 'first principles' approach to developing a strategic plan within the context of the individual organisation and with the flexibility to adapt the process to focus on what really matters. He suggests the key questions that should be asked when considering embarking on a strategic planning 'journey' to help design and guide the process. (hide)

Real-world strategic management practice in an interactive micro-case format The Strategy Pathfinder presents an innovative, dynamic (read more)

Real-world strategic management practice in an interactive micro-case format The Strategy Pathfinder presents an innovative, dynamic guide to strategic thinking and practice. Using real-world case examples from companies like Apple, the BBC, Hyundai, LEGO, McDonalds, Nike and SpaceX to illustrate critical concepts, this book enables readers to actively participate in real-world strategy dilemmas and create their own solutions. Strategy Pathfinder s live micro-cases provoke discussion about business models, value creation, new ventures and more, while its complimentary instructional content introduces you to the best classic and new tools of strategic management.

Rather than passively reproducing past and current ideas, Strategy Pathfinder encourages strategic thinkers to learn by doing. The book is designed to help the reader to develop a clear understanding of key concepts while shifting your thought processes towards real strategic action and innovation by enabling you to: Use strategy theories and frameworks to engage in analytical and creative discussions about key strategic issues facing real companies todayForm strategic views for yourself, and test them against the views of othersEffectively make and communicate recommendations based on solid strategic analysis that stand up to scrutiny from multiple stakeholders Become an active producer of new strategic ideas rather than a passive receiver of past wisdom This third edition has been updated with new chapters and cases to reflect the latest, cutting-edge issues in strategic thinking and practice. And the updated companion website offers students, instructors and managers more resources to facilitate understanding, interaction and innovation.
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Strategy Plain and Simple's uniquely powerful, successful and practical framework will show you how to quickly develop a strategy (read more)

Strategy Plain and Simple's uniquely powerful, successful and practical framework will show you how to quickly develop a strategy to get your business from where it is today to where you want it to be tomorrow. With vivid examples, practical solutions and a jargon-free approach, Vaughan Evans cuts to the very essence of what you need to know about strategy, simplifying it for anyone wanting to guide their business to success. He sets out a plain, simple, 3-step process:* Understand your market - how to forecast demand and supply.* Gain competitive advantage - how to target the strategic gap and bridge it.* Managing business risk - how to balance risk and opportunity.
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Managing changes to the supply chain comes with its unique challenges. Supply chain planning presents an especially complex challenge (read more)

Managing changes to the supply chain comes with its unique challenges. Supply chain planning presents an especially complex challenge for the change practitioner as multiple stakeholders and functions are involved. Successful Integrated Planning for the Supply Chain evaluates different approaches to change interventions and explores how Integrated Business Planning could be implemented in any organization to create sustainable improvements. (hide)

Taking Minutes of Meetings guides you through the entire process behind minute taking: arranging the meeting; writing the agenda; (read more)

Taking Minutes of Meetings guides you through the entire process behind minute taking: arranging the meeting; writing the agenda; creating the optimum environment; structuring the meeting and writing notes up accurately. The minute-taker is one of the most important and powerful people in a meeting and you can use this opportunity to develop your knowledge, broaden your horizons and build credibility within the organization. Taking Minutes of Meetings is an easy to read 'dip-in, dip-out' guide which shows you how to confidently arrange meetings and produce minutes.

It provides hands-on advice about the sections of a meeting as well as tips on how to create an agenda, personal preparation, best practice advice on taking notes and how to improve your accuracy. Brand new chapters of this 4th edition include guidance on using technology to maximize effectiveness and practical help with taking minutes for a variety of different types of meetings. The creating success series of books...With over one million copies sold, the hugely popular Creating Success series covers a wide variety of topics and is written by an expert team of internationally best-selling authors and business experts. (hide)

TED talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking around the world. (read more)

TED talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking around the world. And yet the techniques that top TED speakers use are the same ones that will make any presentation more dynamic, fire up any team, and give anyone the confidence to overcome their fear of public speaking. Communications coach and bestselling author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo has broken down the top TED talks and interviewed the most popular TED presenters to uncover the nine secrets of all successful TED presentations.

From 'Unleashing the Master Within' and 'Delivering Jaw Dropping Moments' to 'Sticking to the 18-minute Rule' Gallo provides a step-by-step method that makes it possible for anyone to create, design, and deliver a TED-style presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable. Ideas are the true currency of the 21st century, and Talk Like TED gives readers a way to create presentations around the ideas that matter most to them, presentations that will energize their audiences to spread those ideas, launch new initiatives, and reach their highest goals.
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A groundbreaking book that sheds new light on the vital importance of teams as the fundamental unit of organization and competition (read more)

A groundbreaking book that sheds new light on the vital importance of teams as the fundamental unit of organization and competition in the global economy. Teams-we depend on them for both our professional success and our personal happiness. But isn't it odd how little scrutiny we give them? The teams that make up our lives are created mostly by luck, happenstance, or circumstance-but rarely by design.

In trivial matters-say, a bowling team, the leadership of a neighborhood group, or a holiday party committee-success by serendipity is already risky enough. But when it comes to actions by fast-moving start-ups, major corporations, nonprofit institutions, and governments, leaving things to chance can be downright dangerous. Offering vivid reports of the latest scientific research, compelling case studies, and great storytelling, Team Genius shows managers and executives that the planning, design, and management of great teams no longer have to be a black art.
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Written by an eminent author team whose expertise spans the full breadth of the subject, The Business Environment provides comprehensive (read more)

Written by an eminent author team whose expertise spans the full breadth of the subject, The Business Environment provides comprehensive coverage and sound academic insight. The unique 'themes and issues' approach provides students with a consistent and holistic framework for analysing businesses and the business environment, as well as a reliable method to organize their thinking. The core business environments and their interrelationships are explored using the established STEEPLE framework in Part One.

Part Two then looks beyond these topics and invites students to analyse a range of contemporary issues such as globalization, corporate power, equal opportunity, and entrepreneurship. A host of examples, "Mini-Cases," and end-of-chapter case studies illustrate key topics in real-life, international, and wide-ranging business settings. Unilever's corporate responsibility policy, Samsung and South Korean economic development, and Starbucks on sustainability are just some of the topical cases. (hide)