Home Decision Explorer® Book

Closely cross-referenced throughout, the three parts of the text:

• elaborate the theory and concepts of strategic management
• illustrate through case vignettes involving organizations such as Scottish Natural Heritage, the National Health Service, the Northern Ireland Prison Service, and Reed Business Publishing, the process of strategy making
• provide practical guidelines on the methods, tools and techniques employed in the vignettes

A primary tool is the use of cognitive maps to capture, manipulate and understand complex data. The book explains how to use these either as paper based processes - as maps of interviews or in "oval mapping" sessions with groups - or through the software packages Decision Explorer® and Group Explorer.

"Journey Making" really made a difference - developing strategy with such a high level of ownership and commitment was a key contribution to our winning the Quality Scotland Award for Business Excellence. - Ron Culley, Chief Executive, Govan Initiative, Glasgow

Contents

PART ONE: THEORY AND CONCEPTS

• The Journey of Strategy Making
• Strategy Making as a JOURNEY
• The Political Feasibility of Strategy
• The Art of Good Journey Making: Working with Strategy Making Teams
• Detecting Emergent Strategizing
• Developing Strategic Intent: Exploring Competencies and Developing the Business Model
• Stakeholder Analysis and Management
• Managing Alternative Futures: Strategic Adaptability and Opportunism
• Strategy Making Closure
• The Journey Making Model: A Summary

PART TWO: VIGNETTES

• Case studies showing real-world examples of the application of these techniques:
• Scottish Natural Heritage - a conservation organisation
• Antek Ltd - international consultancy
• MacFarlane International - small engineering company
• National Health Service - a unit of five hospitals
• Northern Ireland Prison Service
• AMCOF - a traditional engineering company
• Strathclyde Poverty Alliance - charitable company
• Govan Initiative Ltd - local development agency
• Reed Business Publishing - scenarios for magazines, stakeholder analysis & launching a strategy

(Some company names have been changed)

PART THREE: PRACTICE: METHODS,TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS

• Introduction
• Detecting Emergent Strategizing: Individual Interviews and Cognitive Mapping
• Detecting Emergent Strategizing: Working with Strategy Making Teams - The Oval Mapping Technique
• Strategy Making: Working with Teams - Computer Supported Group Workshops
• Strategy Making: Working with Teams - Managing Stakeholding and Alternative Futures
• Managing Process: Designing Interventions and Facilitating Groups
• Analysis: Maps and Models for Workshops
• Delivering Strategy: Closure - Strategic Programmes and Strategy Delivery Support
• Delivering Strategy - Communication, Management and Review
• The Intervention: The Facilitator and the Client

Reviews

Eden and Ackermann's book remindes me of Frank Lloyd Wright's great residential masterpiece, Fallingwater, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: grand in conception, at the cutting edge of technology, and immensely practical. The book represents a stunning theoretical and practical achievement. - John M Bryson, University of Minnesota

This book is the first on the strategy making process which takes seriously (both theoretically and practically) how people with power in an organization make sense of their world - how cognitive maps and the business of changing them contributes to changing strategic futures. - Karl Weick, University of Michigan

Strategy no longer remains a mystery after reading this book. The reader is shown HOW to do it, with many interesting examples. The authors show how to apply leading edge information systems in the pursuit of strategy development. - Gerry DeSanctis, Duke University

I highly recommend Making Strategy because it provides both practical and theoretical insights into complex reality. - Anne Sigismund Huff, University of Colorado

... in two days fourteen of my senior managers did something remarkable - we developed a good overall strategy for the whole organizatin, and in the process got a grip on managing stakeholders with some crucial strategies falling out of our brief look at scenarios. - Paul Virik, CEO, OAG, Chicago