Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases 16th Edition

Book Preface

Why Adopt This Text?

this textbook is trusted across five continents to provide managers the latest skills and concepts needed to effectively formulate and efficiently implement a strategic plan—a game plan,  if you will—that can lead to sustainable competitive advantage for any type of business. the  association to advance collegiate Schools of Business (aacSB) international increasingly  advocates a more skills-oriented, practical approach in business books, which this text provides,  rather than a theory-based approach. Strategic Management Concepts and Cases: A Competitive  Advantage Approach meets all aacSB international guidelines for the strategic-management  course at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and previous editions have been used at  more than 500 colleges and universities globally. We believe you will find this sixteenth edition  to be the best textbook available for communicating both the excitement and value of strategic  management. concise and exceptionally well organized, this text is now available in english,  chinese, Spanish, thai, german, Japanese, Farsi, indonesian, indian, Vietnamese, and arabic. a version in russian is being negotiated. in addition to universities, hundreds of companies, organizations, and governmental bodies use this text as a management guide. an MBa student using this text recently wrote the following: Dear Dr. David: i am in the midst of my MBa at adams State University here in  colorado. i’m 7 of 12 classes in with a 4.0 average. as a result, i’ve been through about  14 textbooks (not to mention the 60 or so i went through for my BBa at the University  of california (Uc)-Berkeley. this is the first time i’ve written to the author of a textbook.

Why? Because the David book is by far the best textbook i have ever used. it’s clear. it’s  accurate. it’s not full of opinion masquerading as fact! You, sir, are to be commended.

Usually when i spend an insane amount of money on a text, i’m broke. But your text is  worth every cent, and i’ll keep it forever. Well done sir! respectively, eric Seiden, MBa Student in Littleton, colorado (august 10, 2015) eric n. Sims, a professor who has used this text for his classes at Sonoma State University in  california, says:i have read many strategy books. i am going to use the David book. What i like—to steal  a line from alabama coach nick Saban—is your book teaches “a process.” i believe at  the end of your book, you can actually help a company do strategic planning. in contrast,  other books teach a number of near and far concepts related to strategy. a recent reviewer of this textbook shares his opinion:

One thing i admire most about the David text is that it follows the fundamental sequence  of strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. there is a basic flow from  vision/mission to internal/external environmental scanning, to strategy development,  selection, implementation, and evaluation. this has been, and continues to be, a hallmark  of the David text. Many other strategy texts are more disjointed in their presentation, and  thus confusing to the student, especially at the undergraduate level.

New to This Edition

1. this 16th edition is 40 percent new and improved from the prior edition.
2. a brand new COHESION CASE on the Hershey company (2015) is provided. Hershey  is one of the most successful, well-known, and best-managed global companies in the  world. Students apply strategy concepts to Hershey at the end of each chapter through new,  innovative assurance of Learning exercises

3. Brand-new one-page MINI-CASES appear at the end of each chapter, complete with questions designed to apply chapter concepts. Provided for the first time ever in this text, the  mini-cases focus on the following companies:
chapter 1: Kroger company
chapter 2: Walt Disney company
chapter 3: coach
chapter 4: Buffalo Wild Wings
chapter 5: Linkedin
chapter 6: Starbucks
chapter 7: Hilton Worldwide
chapter 8: alibaba
chapter 9: tJX companies
chapter 10: avon Products
chapter 11: Domino’s Pizza
4. Original, half-page ACADEMIC RESEARCH CAPSULES are presented in each chapter  to showcase how new strategic-management research is impacting business practice. two  capsules per chapter are provided—for the first time ever in this text.
5. at the end of each chapter are new sections titled IMPLICATIONS FOR STRATEGISTS and IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENTS that highlight how companies can best gain and  sustain competitive advantages.
6. Brand new EXEMPLARY COMPANY CAPSULES appear at the beginning of each  chapter and showcase a company that is employing strategic management exceptionally  well. the capsules focus on the following companies:
chapter 1: apple
chapter 2: H&r Block
chapter 3: chipotle Mexican grill
chapter 4: netflix
chapter 5: Signet Jewelers Limited
chapter 6: Smith & Wesson Holding corp.
chapter 7: Papa John’s international
chapter 8: Foot Locker
chapter 9: nike
chapter 10: chick-fil-a
chapter 11: alcoa
7. chapter 2, the Business Vision and Mission, is 60 percent new, due to current research and  practice that reveals the need for “these statements to be more customer-oriented.”
8. chapter 11, global and international issues, is shortened by 30 percent but provides new  coverage of cultural and conceptual strategic-management differences across countries.  Doing business globally has become a necessity in most industries.

9. chapter 10, Business ethics, Social responsibility, and environmental Sustainability,  provides extensive new coverage of ethics, workplace romance, flirting, hiring away rival  firms’ employees, wildlife welfare, and sustainability. “good ethics is good business.”  Unique to strategic-management texts, the sustainability discussion is strengthened in  this edition to promote and encourage firms to conduct operations with respect for the  environment—an important concern for consumers, companies, society, and aacSB  international.
10. Sixty-four unique ASSURANCE OF LEARNING EXERCISES appear at the end  of chapters to apply chapter concepts. the exercises prepare students for strategicmanagement case analysis. an additional excellent exercise for each chapter is provided in  the Chapter Instructor’s Resource Manual.
11. More than 200 new EXAMPLES bring the chapters to life.
12. at the end of chapters are 78 new (459 total) REVIEW QUESTIONS related to chapter  content.
13. all the current readings at the end of the chapters are new, and up-to-date research and  theories of seminal thinkers are included. However, practical aspects of strategic management are center stage and the trademark of this text.
14. every sentence and paragraph has been scrutinized, modified, clarified, streamlined,  updated, and improved to enhance the content and caliber of presentation.
15. an enhanced, continually updated AUTHOR WEBSITE (www.strategyclub.com) provides new author videos, case and chapter updates, sample case analyses, and the popular,