Book Description
At last-a proven system for developing the strategic innovations every company needs to compete and win
As everyone knows, today's unprecedented rate of business change demands new levels of strategic insight and adaptability. Reinventing Strategy is the first practical, systematic guide to creating an adaptive enterprise, showing how companies around the world are using the Strategic Learning approach to consistently out think, out maneuver, and out perform their competition. As Willie Pietersen explains, companies that aspire to long-term success must develop and implement strategy as part of a continuous four-step cycle-Learn, Focus, Align, Execute-and he offers dozens of provocative anecdotes and case studies, illustrating how to implement it at every level of an organization. Written with unusual clarity, frankness, and wit, Reinventing Strategy will change the way managers everywhere approach their greatest and most important challenge: the need to make strategy into a tool for ongoing corporate renewal.
Customer Reviews:
Great book.......2005-02-13
I am an executive coach and a former management consultant, so that business strategy is one of my interests. I have found this book by chance browsing on Amazon.
This is a book I have loved. It is an outstanding synthesis of what is business strategy nowdays. The author wonderfully combines a solid theoretical framework (he is a professor at Columbia University now) with a very practical approach (he has been running a company as CEO beforehand and it definitely shows!). It is very well structured, down to earth, straightforward and still accurate and full of in-depth reflections. It is a rare demonstration (especially in business literature) that a book can be essential and to the point, without boring repetitions (typical in business books). It shows there is a real understanding and mastery of the subject matter.
A serious business book written with both the head and the heart. Thank you Mr Pietersen!
Willie Pietersen gives us great strategy AND great practice.......2002-05-05
Willie Pietersen's Reinventing Strategy contains the basics of strategy, i.e., how to win, how to align the organization behind the chosen strategies, how to be sure that superior insights drive the strategic process. If that alone were his contribution, this book would be a significant contribution to the strategy literature.
But Pietersen goes much further than that. He shows us how, exactly, to develop these strategies, how he himself developed such strategies and what he learned about leadership in the process.
This book is about strategy, implementation and one man's journey as a leader and life-long learner. The result is an immensely human business book. The singular voice of the author comes through with clarity and humility. I know of no other business book that combines theory and practice with such a strongly personal view. Pietersen talks about the value of developing a leadership credo in his book. This book is, in essence, his own credo from a lifetime of leading and learning.
Every Manager Should Read This Book.......2002-04-20
I am VP at a large consumer products company in Ohio and I found this book very insightful in the areas of creating strategy and leadership. I read a lot of business books and most are very slight in what they have to offer -- a few thoughts, old stories or worn out sayings. However, "Reinventing Strategy" is a real how-to-book and goes through running a successful business step-by-step. This book will definitely help my division be more profitable! In fact, I would love to go and take one of Prof. Pietersen's courses at Columbia University.
A survival guide for business.......2002-04-18
Willie Pietersen has managed to pull together what's really important to achieve breakthrough performance. He's done this by telling clearly and convincingly the lessons learned from his years as a chief executive, but explained them from his new role as a Professor of the Practice of Management at the Columbia Business School. I've had the personal pleasure of watching Pietersen in action with business leaders from around the world who have participated in Columbia's Executive Education programs. The overriding comment from these executives is "this guy makes sense and has shown we how to face up to the challenges to my business' survival." Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance is the next best thing to the live program.
If you want to move from Strategy theory to action and have your business survive in the process, read this book.
William M. Klepper, Ph.D.
Academic Director, Executive Education
Columbia Business School
Business strategy as it should be written.......2002-04-17
Here is book that takes a practical look at business strategy and helps the business person to streamline his/her thinking.
Written in Willie Pietersens highly readable style,it has heft as well as humor, theory as well as practical examples. Oh that our Business School text books had been written thus!
I would recommend this book to anyone who sells anything.
Read the introductory chapters,grasp Pietersen's premise then go to any of the rich chapters. Concepts are clearly tagged, each making for a delicious informational meal that forces reflection.
Book Description
Praise for Fourth Generation R&D "A sweeping and insightful analysis of an architecture for innovation in the knowledge economy. Technologists, strategists, and organizational architects will all find this book worth reading, as will students of the modern organization." —John Seely Brown Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation "The new realities of competition beg a new approach to innovation and R&D; Fourth Generation R&D answers that challenge. With lucid arguments and detailed case studies, Fourth Generation R&D sketches a powerful new paradigm for planning and managing innovation. Every manager concerned with innovation and its role as a strategic resource—that's to say, every manager—will profit from this new understanding." Lawrence Wilkinson President, Global Business Network "Fourth Generation R&D is a tour de force. Its sweep, depth, and use of graphics are all truly remarkable (not to mention its command of the literature on innovation). The distinctions it draws between continuous and discontinuous innovation—and between tacit and explicit knowledge—are fundamental." —John Yochelson President, The Council on Competitiveness
Customer Reviews:
Strategic management of innovation.......2002-09-27
You might be curious about what the title of this book refers to. It¡¯s rather simpler than you might guess. In a common vocabulary in business, it refers to the ¡®radical innovation¡¯. Then, you might infer that the 3rd generation R&D should be the incremental innovation. Yep. You¡¯re right. But those conventional terms don¡¯t fit completely into what authors argues. There is sufficient reason to coin such neologisms. The argument of this book goes like this. Traditional market research tends to deal with explicit knowledge. Focus group, survey, structured interview, all tackle what is pre-definable or expressible in word. But could such approaches spot the next generation product? authors question. No. customers can¡¯t put into words their gut feeling needs. They could spot it only when it appears on the market. The real breakthrough in product development, more often than not, comes in unexpected way. Thus, authors pose the question, ¡®How we should manage the uncertainty?¡¯ Put in other way, ¡®how we should manage the innovation?¡¯ R&D or product development must include incremental innovation. But in this turbulent environment, it¡¯s not enough. To be the leader in the market, not follower, one should ride ahead the tide. Then the question of R&D should be the radical innovation. Break with the identifiable trend. Then what product should be devised? All R&D begins with the product concept. But now the concept should be based on what customer¡¯s gut feeling or their tacit needs. Don¡¯t make what customer wants today. Make what they want tomorrow. At this point, you might retort: ¡®Yep. You¡¯re right. But it¡¯s easier to be told than to be done. How I could do so?¡¯ Here comes the knowledge management. Customers¡¯ tacit needs tend to be buried in noise of day-to-day information flow. There are numerous reasons for such filtering out. But all in all, to be sensitive to that kind of info, the authors maintain, is to manage the organization innovative. Knowing is not doing. Doing needs the capability to do. Then innovation requires the capability building. But it¡¯s not that simple to build up. It must face resistance inside the firm itself. Radical innovation tends to be the capability-destroying one. so developing innovative product usually comes with organizational innovation.
Above is the problem authors pose to us. I think the better title of the book is ¡®Strategic management of innovation¡¯. This book is not about the specificity of R&D, but about how to manage the firm innovative. Overall tenet of the book is so close to Nonaka & Takeuchi¡¯s ¡®The Knowledge-Creating Company¡¯. But this book is written not for academic researcher but for managers in the field. Points are made in graphic way with various case studies by authors. Nonetheless, it lacks the depth of Nonaka & Takeuchi¡¯s book. I recommend to read this book with Nonaka & Takeuchi¡¯s.
great content, not so great style.......2002-01-04
The book starts out with theoretical constucts and eventually uses examples to show their relevance. I found the authors' style of writing rather awkward. The organization of the material also makes the book somewhat difficult to follow. However, the well researched material presented is worth buying the book.
Sustainable Innovation!.......2000-12-06
Authors Miller and Morris have nailed the impending transformation of R&D from its historical, product-centric past to its emerging knowledge-centric future. In addition, their focus on 'discontinuous' and 'fusion' innovation promises to lead the way for industry, in general, whose R&D functions typically produce less than one new product innovation per decade and whose new products, when they are produced, tend to fail in under four years. The authors' explicit embrace of knowledge management is also welcome, as the value of most companies now tends to rest more on the weight of their intellectual assets than on so-called 'hard' assets. Finally, this book's focus on distributed, enterprise-wide innovation signals the tearing down of R&D's overly centralized and compartmentalized profile in most firms, and offers strong support for the view that innovation should be structured as a distributed, whole-firm social process, not an administrative one. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in R&D, innovation, knowledge management, intellectual capital, organizational learning, and sustainable innovation.
Provocative Analysis of Innovation.......2000-04-05
Fourth Generation R&D makes explicit many of the concepts and processes of innovation that often seem mysterious and complex. The author's framework for innovation applies to organizations competing in accelerated and dynamic markets.
Innovation algorithm.......1999-12-25
Most business leaders today understand that innovation is survival. This book gets beyond the usual trivial pablum about *being more creative* to show the kinds of mechanisms and methods that give R&D traction. If you want to stop wasting your R&D dollars and get better ROI, this book offers clear, actionable, and reliable insights.
Amazon.com
From the time our ancestors lived in caves to that day in the late '80s when Chrysler sanctioned unofficial "tech clubs" to promote the flow of information between teams working on different vehicle platforms, bands of like-minded individuals had been gathering in a wide variety of settings to recount their experiences and share their expertise. Few paid much attention until a number of possible benefits to business were identified, but many are watching more closely now that definitive links have been established. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, consultants Etienne C. Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder take the concept to another level by describing how these groups might be purposely developed as a key driver of organizational performance in the knowledge age. Building on a 1998 book by Wenger that framed the theory for an academic audience, Cultivating Communities of Practice targets practitioners with pragmatic advice based on the accumulating track records of firms such as the World Bank, Shell Oil, and McKinsey & Company. Starting with a detailed explanation of what these groups really are and why they can prove so useful in managing knowledge within an organization, the authors discuss development from initial design through subsequent evolution. They also address the potential "dark side"--arrogance, cliquishness, rigidity, and fragmentation among participants, for example--as well as measurement issues and the challenges inherent in initiating these groups company-wide. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy.
Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization.
In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable.
Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them.
Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them.
Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California.
Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado.
William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent Book.......2007-10-01
I have a project focused on communities, and this book seems right on what I needed. I haven't read it completely, so this is only a first sight review.
How to Thoughtfully Steward Knowledge for the Common Good.......2007-01-02
Cultivating Communities of Practice is a manual and guide created by a community of authors in order to help businesses and organizations more thoughtfully and intentionally steward the knowledge of the community for the benefit of the whole. They understand that energy and "aliveness" about any topic is not created or manufactured, but simply cultivated. Just like a farmer must cultivate the soil, plant the seeds, nurture the crop, and identify and deal with the weeds; the authors help us learn the in and outs of how to cultivate communities that learn to manage knowledge for the common good. In this guide they provide us with the three basic elements for communities of practice; the seven principles for cultivating these communities; the five developmental stages of these communities; the common disorders and treatments; and finally how to start communities of practice in such as way that these communities work for the benefit of the whole. This guide enables people to move from theory to practice.
The three fundamental elements of communities of practice.
While communities of practice have many forms - large and small, local and global, within or across organizational boundaries - they all have three common elements, each of which plays a vital role in the health and success of these communities. When one understands the three fundamentals of communities of practice - domain, community and practice - they are able to better help these groups evolve to their full potential.
* The domain is the specific sphere of knowledge or particular issues that identifies the heartfelt concern of this community. A well-defined domain gives focus and depth to the community and allows the community to be on the leading edge in a particular area of knowledge.
* The community is the people who embody and steward the knowledge in this particular domain. It is "a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment." (Pg. 34) While each community develops a unique ethos; trust and respect are key elements for any community.
* The Practice entails a shared set of practical resources, protocols, tools, frameworks and ideas that enable the community to perfect and develop their particular craft. "Whereas the domain denotes the topic the community focuses on, the practice is the specific knowledge the community develops, shares and maintains." (Pg. 29)
Because knowledge with human beings is a complex matter, the head (domain), the heart (community) and the hands (practice) each play a vital role in communities of practice.
This is a great book on how to thoughtfully steward knowledge for the common good.
Excellent seminal material.......2006-08-05
It is an esential book for organization leaders, since it points out the main issues that impact on performace, based on the true social knitting of communities.
It establishes clearly the structure of communities and discusses their stages of development, which by themselves are an excellent tip to develop communities within a company. The doughnut metaphor for the dynamics of performance and strategy is an excellent way of explaining the double fabric of relations in a company.
Making it happen.......2006-05-30
I have a great interest in how organizations, particularly those with Christian leadership, work and how they respond to change. This book is rich with the stuff that will help organizations develop in a globalized society. I asked many questions as I read the book. For example, "How does YWAM's Student Mobilization Centre, as a growing network of ministries internationally, develop community and create truly life changing learning spaces for students and leaders who participate in our ministries?"
How can I contextualize a Community of Practice within the framework of YWAM's ministries?
In recent years, our leadership has begun to weave our international conferences around points of passion, like water, women's issues, justice, and children at risk. Our mission has also begun to look at a new paradigm for global strategy called Project 4K wherein the map is divided into about 4000 geographic units highlighting those areas still requiring engagement. What is needed in YWAM is a new cross-platform, multi-disciplinary team focus to properly engage each of those geographic regions.
Our Student Mobilization Centre, a centre of the University of the Nation, needs to develop field leaders who can coordinate multi-disciplinary field project teams and who harmonize outreach teams to serve the long-term community development project goals with special emphasis on field based learning. The UofN operates with the same conclusion that Wenger, et al present in Communities of Practice; that is, useful knowledge is not a downloadable commodity. It requires participation. The best learning experiences are in the context of relationships, especially those experiences and relationships that at the same time unfamiliar and familiar. In my experience, students learn best when taken out of the familiar culture to serve and learn in a context that challenges their expectations and status quo learning experiences. They also learn best if put in a situation where they are challenged to work together with those who either share their skill set and academic training, or they share the same missionary goals.
The advantage to us if we follow this integrative field project model of ministry in the University of the Nations is that we will begin to share knowledge gained in the field. Wenger argues that we can "establish a common baseline" of curriculum for the training school outreaches of the UofN. We will also increase our ability and speed generating and implementing creative ideas for community development, evangelization, and training. These project teams will help us steward and share the knowledge gained. These long-term community development field projects could serve as "laboratories" for curriculum development as well as cross-disciplinary field project leadership development.
To accomplish this, we will need to form cross-platform, multi-disciplinary, communities of practice at field sites where school outreaches may be hosted and outreach staff leadership may be trained. The most essential element of this field-based learning community is the authentic cross-cultural ministry that must be the foundational intent and the fruit of the project. When these missionary communities of practice exist, the witness of the Kingdom of God will be evident in a much greater way, at that field site. These communities of learning and leadership equipping may in turn affect a change in the whole of our mission through an integrated development model of field ministry and leadership equipping.
How might I develop a Community of Practice in Madison, WI?
YWAM's campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin is going through a re-birth and re-generation since our recent inaugural School of University Ministries wherein key leaders in Madison have been given new insight, developed new international cooperation, and shared vision. I see now how the formation of a multi-faceted community of practice in Madison with strong links to field-based learning communities provides a context for a new model of Church engagement with the university community. This community of practice will be a new international study center at the University of Wisconsin.
This new community will not replace existing structures. It will build connections between these different structures including churches, families, professionals/professors, and student organizations. It will connect students, faculty, families, business and church leaders in the university community from many cultures and nations. For example, families have a reason for engaging the university students, because "God sets the lonely in families" and students need role models for marriage and family. However, families do not have much context or place from which to engage students. Therefore there is a need for this kind of community.
The key knowledge that may be shared in this context will come from the field-based learning communities; these communities will link problems and needs with solutions. The problems will always be relevant to today's global community. However, the solutions will not be presented from the ivory tower of the academy or from the expert in the field. Solutions will be discovered together in a multi-cultural, multi-discipline, cross-platform, international community of practice engaged in serving and learning at home and abroad. The challenge for us in YWAM is to "cultivate" this kind of community by removing barriers and encouraging participation. Wenger et al says, "You cannot cultivate this new community model in the same way you develop traditional organizational structures." Our aim will be to connect these pockets of people who have some interest in engaging students and issues relevant to today, especially in the cause of Christ. Our challenge is to create a space and coordinate these unconnected people at key events that will foster the development of a new community; we must cultivate a community of practice.
What can I do to develop our international network with the Communities of Practice paradigm?
The cross-platform project teams and field-based learning sites I have been referring to are the key to our international development in the Student Mobilization Centre. Internationally, we are equipping and releasing leaders to create network teams within their own context. A "common baseline" of terms and methods is forming as our new course, the School of University Ministries, begins to multiply internationally to equip this generation of YWAM campus ministry workers. What is missing is a field-based outreach practices training experience or a field assignment for the School of University Ministries. What must be done is the formation of field project teams at field sites to host, equip, and train outreach team leaders as they carryout the function of leading a student outreach team on an integrated development project.
I desire to see the practical outworking of this vision within the context of my own life and ministry. The challenge to me is to deliberately form communities of practice in my ministry context. This book give me the tools and the principles to make it happen.
A good book but not for everyone.......2006-04-04
The authors have done an impressive work collecting best practices from industries. The book is a good textbook for all KM and OD practitioners to consider in learning about CoP. However, as one of the reviewers have noted, it does not tell you the steps in nurturing a CoP since human behaviours differ among (as well as WITHIN) organisations. The book does however provide a clear definition of how a working CoP would look like.
Readers who are keen on KM should read other works on social network to complement the learning. At the heart of any CoP is social dynamics. Understanding that will help to create CoP that is sustainable and useful to the organisation.
Book Description
Expanded and revised again for its Third Edition, this popular book and its companion CD-ROM are highly accessible, self-contained desktop references developed to be informative, practical, and easy to use. They help small and mid-sized businesses as well as non-profit organizations and public-sector agencies to achieve effective, efficient, and disciplined business development, proposal development, and knowledge management (KM) processes. These, in turn, contribute to increased contract awards and enhanced levels of revenue. Using this book, any small company or organization with a viable product or service can learn how to gain and keep a client's attention, even when working only a few employees. Entrepreneurs can use this resource to assist in the establishment of best-of-breed business development, proposal development, knowledge management, and publications infrastructures and processes within their organizations. In many ways, a small company's future performance in the marketplace will be a direct result of how effectively it chooses to implement the disciplined business development, proposal development, and KM processes and methodologies as well as the modes of thinking presented in this work. All 18 chapters have been updated and expanded to provide you with the very latest guidance on effective proposaling—so essential to the growth and development of your organization.
CD-ROM Included! Features useful proposal templates in Adobe Acrobat, platform-independent format; HTML pointers to Small Business Web Sites; a comprehensive, fully searchable listing Proposal and Contract Acronyms; and a sample architecture for a knowledge base or proposal library.
Recent reviews of the Second Edition of this work have been published in Business Week (New York); Minorities and Women in Business (Washington, D.C.); Canada One Magazine; E-merging Business magazine (Pacific Palisades, California); Small Business Advisor (Los Angeles); and Women's Business of South Florida (Hollywood, Florida). Amazon.com, where it ranks in the top 1% of sellers, includes 10 exemplary reviews of the Second Edition of the book, as well.
Customer Reviews:
Knowledge-Based Mentorship!.......2003-02-19
The most comprehensive, single source, small business strategy guidebook I have read and applied.
The tactical processes Robert Frey recommends gets you focused early by crystallizing your business strategy, mentoring you step by step, establishing knowledge-based decision points and executing a successful proposal.
The CD is a great plus with schedules, proposal templates, and more to get you started for your next contract award!
Fellow Small Business CEOs, Institutionalize this Material!!.......2002-12-10
In this blue-ribbon edition, Robert Frey provides enough valuable proposal management detail to establish your proposal department, to write your proposal manager's job description, to outline your proposal team's functions, to produce topflight and winning proposals, and to measure the proposal team's success. And if that were not enough, Frey offers his bravura insights into knowledge management and how this wonderful concept can be realistically and incrementally applied to the proposal development process.
Frey mentors you to success with regard to every aspect of proposal management. Frey's style is not staid and wooden. To the contrary, his love for his audience and his desire for their proposal management success shines forth. I would pay twice as much for the book. My company's proposal win rate this year alone proves the worth of the material in these pages. Invest in it, do what it says, and prepare for the reward.
Excellent Source of Proposal Management Information.......2002-11-20
Bob Frey has again created a valuable source of information that should be on every Business Development professional's desk. It presents a clear and concise approach to properly managing the proposal business acquisition process, including creating a winning proposal. The use of Knowledge Management approach to leveraging intellectual property provides an excellent approach to crafting a winning strategy and incorporating it in the proposal. I highly recommend this book.
An Indispensible Resource for Small Govenment Contractors.......2002-05-21
The previous editions of Robert Frey's invaluable book "Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses" have already established this title as a virtual bible of proposal development for small business government contractors, particularly in the support services. Now, with this third edition, some 20% longer and with extensive new material, Frey expands the utility of this important book by integrating his approach with the emerging discipline of Knowledge Management.
In addition to his complete yet concise discussion of nuts-and-bolts proposal issues such as organization of the proposal volumes, establishing the role of the proposal manager, and so on, Frey demonstrates how an effective organization of corporate intellectual capital can be a critical resource in the marketing proposal process. Importantly, he provides step-by-step procedures for creating such an added-value environment.
As in the previous two editions, Frey's approach is very highly application-oriented. He lays out theory when necessary, but his principal goal -- which he achieves admirably -- is to equip the reader with an exhaustively complete set of marketing and proposal development procedures and tools (all the way down to a template for phone lists!).
If I have any complaints at all, it is that the sequence of chapters could use some rearranging; a chapter on internatiohnal proposals seems to be placed unexpectedly, and there is one very brief chapter on private-sector solicitations that could be easily merged with another chapter or deleted altogether. But these are quibbles. This book has garnered a well-deserved reputation as arguably the premier reference work in this field. It is inadequate to state that it deserves a place in every small government contractor's library; it would be more accurate to say that such firms cannot afford *not* to have this book and pay close attention to it!
Book Description
Internet and intranet technologies offer tremendous opportunities to bring learning into the mainstream of business. E-Learning outlines how to develop an organization-wide learning strategy based on cutting-edge technologies and explains the dramatic strategic, organizational, and technology issues involved.
Written for professionals responsible for leading the revolution in workplace learning, E-Learning takes a broad, strategic perspective on corporate learning. This wake-up call for executives everywhere discusses:
• Requirements for building a viable e-learning strategy
• How online learning will change the nature of training organizations
• Knowledge management and other new forms of e-learning
Marc J. Rosenberg, Ph.D. (Hillsborough, NJ) is an independent consultant specializing in knowledge management, e-learning strategy and the reinvention of training. Prior to this, he was a senior direction and kowledge management field leader for consulting firm DiamondCluster International.
Download Description
Learn what companies like AT&T, Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Merril Lynch, Prudential, and U S West and others have accomplished with e-learning.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!!!.......2003-12-13
This book is a must!!! It is an essential approach for understanding eLearning beyond the myriad of applications and placing it as part of a wider framework.
Knowledge Management = Learning Organization 2K.......2001-11-16
Marc Rosenberg is the Peter Senge of Knowledge Management. He builds on the key aspects that Senge acknowledges as key competitive aspects of organizations that need to learn, adapt, and stay solvent. He starts from identifying the difference between instruction vs information and the fact that so many times organizations get caught up in the "who" and the "how" instead of the "what" and the "why." For any trainer this book was interesting from the standpoint of how he defines different levels of knowledge. There are some key graphics and useful charts that help one grasp the complexity of e-learning. I started reading and thought it would be more about on-line learning, but he really took it much broader quickly. On-line learning is only a drop in the bucket of uses for the intranet. As much as we have out there he points out that there is much more to be saturated. Technology is a useful modality that can complement and enhance existing training. There was no threat to the training industry in his book. Training is still essential--but it needs to accomidate the information age and be much more timely, flexible, relevant. The one criticism I have is the fact that he doesn't address the fact that some people still need to have the classroom experience. There is the framework that you can increase aquisition of information, but if some of the psychological aspects of employee needs are not met--you get a drop in productivity, employee satisfaction and employee retention. There is still a lot to debate but he makes a compeling case regarding e-learning and knowledge management.
Packed With Knowledge!.......2001-09-20
Author Marc Rosenberg provides one of the first books devoted to strategies for developing organization-wide, online learning. He goes beyond the obvious technological challenges of Web-based training to explain that technology and content are meaningless without a culture of learning. But creating this culture means confronting dramatic strategic, organizational and political issues. In this roadmap for building and sustaining a learning culture, Rosenberg offers an essential balance between the structure of e-learning (design and technology issues) and its implementation (acceptance and support issues). His book is an impassioned wake-up call to all executives who are concerned about the future of their organizations. To begin building your company’s culture of learning, ... arm yourself with this practical, yet philosophical, manual — a weapon for professionals on the front lines of the revolution in workspace learning.
good overview and introduction to elearning.......2001-06-29
The author brings a good overview and sense of sincere understanding to the elearning space. The book does any excellent job of arming the internal champion of elearning with the data required to show the executive team the importance, value and return on investment.
E-Learning Review.......2001-04-13
This book walks the reader through all aspects of elearning, from the human side of learning theory to the technical side of capability development and deployment. This was an excellent starter book that covers all the bases when it comes to the subject of elearning. The index clearly presents all of the content so the book may also be used as a quick reference guide where the reader can focus only on those areas of interest.
Book Description
This comprehensive volume describes and compares three different methodological approaches for gaining business knowledge: the analytical approach, the systems approach, and the actor's approach. It then examines the consequences of using each approach in various practical and theoretical situations. Exploring the links between the ultimate presumptions--the basic methodological approach--various techniques employed, and the field of study itself, Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge provides a complete analysis of this expansive area. Techniques discussed include historical studies, case studies, dialogues, language development, collecting data, measurement, controlling reliability, and validation. Numerous examples and illustrations are used throughout the book. Long a best-seller in Scandinavia, this volume will be of particular interest to advanced students and academics in the fields of organizational studies, management, and research methodology. Business consultants and professionals with a focus on knowledge as a competitive necessity will also find the volume to be an excellent resource.
Customer Reviews:
There are better alternatives.......2007-09-23
This was a required textbook for a course that I recentely took. The context is very abstract and difficult to understand. It's about high-level abstraction of three knowledge-creation methodologies: actor, system, and analytic approach. Most students were lost in its content including myself. Even the school is considering using another one in the future. Save your money if you are trying to learn how to do research. You'll have better luck on research methods by going with books written by Cooper and Schindler, Robson, or Crewell.
For your thesis work........1998-12-17
A bit complex in the beginning but it covers a lot of material. A complete guide to the three main methodologies.
Book Description
In this work, acclaimed management expert Edward Lawler tells companies what they can do to meet today's "rewards systems challenge"--attracting and retaining talented employees in a market where the employees hold the upper hand. Here, Lawler outlines a creative compensation system that recognizes employee knowledge and skill as a critical aspect of an organization's net worth. In basing his system on the individual employee's value to the organization, Lawler introduces an approach to compensation that simultaneously motivates employees to higher levels of performance and increases shareholder value.
To read the introduction from this book, click here.
Customer Reviews:
The Key Theme of Today's Reward System........2000-02-28
Rewarding Excellence is truly a fascinating study that is more about how to design and manage complex organizations than how to pay individuals.
As argued by Lawler, "the old reward practices and systems that worked well in nationally focused, bureaucratic, capital-intensive, hierarchical, steady-state, near-monopoly corporations such as the old General Motors and AT&T simply don't fit the realities of today's business environment. Dramatic change is needed, and it is not difficult to identify what the key theme of today's reward systems should be : a focus on rewarding excellence. Many factors argue for excellence being the number-one focus of any organization's reward system, including the ability to attract and retain the best people and to motivate the kind of performance that an organization needs in order to succeed in the new economy."
In this context, Lawler :
* argues that organizations should adopt a new logic of organizing that recognizes the new competitive realities and that today's key sources of competitive advantage are human capital, core competencies, and organizational capabilities.
* shows why the old reward systems, which focus on jobs and merit pay, don't do an adequate job of developing and motivating either individuals or organizations.
I highly recommend this excellent study to all executives and HR professionals.
Average customer rating:
- "New economics of information" or new business of information?
- A knowledge economy classic
- Learn from the past & avoid being swept-away by E-commerce 2
- A valuable e-business classic - but lacks an epilogue
- Internet Hype
|
Blown To Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy
Philip Evans
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Strategy & Competition
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Leadership
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Systems & Planning
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Theory
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Information Technology
| Harvard Business School Press
| By Publisher
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Leadership
| Harvard Business School Press
| By Publisher
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Harvard Business School Press
| By Publisher
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Strategy Planning
| Harvard Business School Press
| By Publisher
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
MIS
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age
-
Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance
-
The Instant Economist
-
A Practical Companion to Ethics
-
Great Traditions in Ethics
ASIN: 087584877X |
Amazon.com
Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster think that the Internet can blow away practically any business, and in Blown to Bits, they examine how the new economy is "deconstructing" industries such as newspapers, auto retailing, and banking while creating new opportunities for others. They write that the "glue that holds today's value chains and supply chains together" is melting, and that even "the most stable of industries, the most focused of business models and the strongest of brands can be blown to bits by new information technology."
Evans and Wurster, both executives of the Boston Consulting Group, argue that the Internet demands new business strategies because it provides companies tremendous "reach" for customers without sacrificing "richness," or the quality of the information about products and services. The book shows how some businesses--Microsoft and Intuit in personal finance, Dell Computer in retailing, and the Automotive Network Exchange in manufacturing supply--are thriving amid a rapid expansion of connectivity and the widespread acceptance of new technical standards on the World Wide Web. Clearly written and tough-minded, Blown to Bits is required reading for business leaders, entrepreneurs, strategists, and others concerned about the new economics of the information age. --Dan Ring
Book Description
Richness or reach? The trade-off used to be simple but absolute: Your business strategy either could focus on "rich" information - customized products and services tailored to a niche audience - or could reach out to a larger market, but with watered-down information that sacrificed richness in favor of a broad, general appeal.
Much of business strategy as we know it today rests on this fundamental trade-off.
Now, say Evans and Wurster, the new economics of information is eliminating the trade-off between richness and reach, blowing apart the foundations of traditional business strategy.
Blown to Bits reveals how the spread of connectivity and common standards is redefining the information channels that link businesses with their customers, suppliers, and employees. Increasingly, your customers will have rich access to a universe of alternatives, your suppliers will exploit direct access to your customers, and your competitors will pick off the most profitable parts of your value chain. Your competitive advantage is up for grabs.
To prepare corporate executives and entrepreneurs alike for a fundamental change in business competition, Evans and Wurster expand and illuminate groundbreaking concepts first explored in the award-winning Harvard Business Review article "Strategy and the New Economics of Information," and present a practical guide for applying them. Examples span the spectrum of industries--from financial services to health care, from consumer to industrial goods, and from media to retailing.
Blown to Bits shows how to build new strategies that reflect a world in which richness and reach go hand in hand and how to make the most of the new forces shaping competitive advantage.
Download Description
The new economics of information is blowing apart the foundations of traditional business strategy. According to Blown to Bits, your business definition, industry definition, and competitive advantage are simultaneously up for grabs. Evans and Wurster argue that with the spread of connectivity and common standards, your customers will increasingly have rich access to a universe of alternatives, your suppliers will exploit direct access to your customers, and focused competitors will pick off the most profitable parts of your value chain. With an uncompromising clarity and vivid examples, Blown to Bits is targeted squarely at today's practicing business and corporate leaders. This groundbreaking book shows how to build new strategies that reflect the new economics of information, and explains how to take advantage of the forces shaping today's competitive advantage.
Customer Reviews:
"New economics of information" or new business of information?.......2007-01-29
"Blown to Bits" is a book about the "new economics of information technology" and its impact on businesses. The "morals" of the story include the fact that traditional business entities are increasingly being destroyed by newer and technology-based competitors. The destruction is happening because some old-style firms, after years of dominant positions in the market, have rested too comfortably on their laurels, unaware of emerging competition. Other firms are simply locked-in old technologies either because their investments are irreversible, or because changing old models of doing business may hurt stakeholders without guaranteeing future success.
The preceding statement suggests the difference between the "economics of information" and the "economics of things". Things and information are wed, but the marriage is fracturing, signaling an impending separation. The separation brings things and information is sharp competition, which increases the market value of information and tends to reduce the market value of things. The ensuing tradeoff between the quality of information (richness) and the quantity of information (reach) determines technical capability (production possibilities curve). However, with the value of information rising relative to the value of things, it becomes easy for "enablers" such as internet connectivity and standardized dissemination to shift the production possibilities frontier outward. The shift represents deconstruction defined as the "dismantling and reformulation of traditional business structures" (p. 39).
The flow of information in deconstructed enterprises is decentralized and orderly chaotic, rather than hierarchical. The benefit of deconstruction is the shifting out of the richness-reach tradeoff constraint; the corresponding cost is vulnerability and how to assess the level of vulnerability. Here the book does a good job of discussing possible outcomes, all of them indicating that deconstruction poses significant challenges for the incumbent.
As deconstruction succeeds, both richness and reach increase, which in turn permits disintermediation. So-called "navigators" replace traditional intermediaries which tend to reduce information, but with internet access and speedy information delivery, consumer surpluses rise. This is evident from the PC industry where consumers have gained as sales have shifted from the salesperson, to local superstores, to telephone orders, and now internet shopping.
Again with complete deconstruction competition comes to stand on three legs: richness and reach of information, and affiliation with consumers. Here dedicated communication lines replace old-style communication hierarchies. Intermediaries vanish and opportunities for outsourcing increase with all the pros and cons this implies. Moreover, once we change the supply chain, changing the organization is a natural consequence. The effect of organizational change on richness, reach, and affiliation has important implications for ownership, risk profile, control, as well as employment. Whether such implications are good or bad depends on the response of a business to organizational change. The author offers interesting concepts here like fluidity, flatness, and trust.
The book concludes with a brief chapter on what is needed to manage the deconstruction programs: new principles and new leadership.
This is clearly a creative effort - although it occasionally sounds preachy. Some examples like how Dell (the company maker) dealt with change are perfect; other examples like Silicon Valley may have been good during the dotcom years. By "new economics of information technology" the book really means "new business of information technology". If I am correct, it is easy to understand why the book does not mention groundbreaking work on the economics of information by Nobel Prize economists like Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Spence, and George Akerlof, even where it refers to information asymmetries. Regardless, I would still recommend this book.
Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
A knowledge economy classic.......2006-01-27
Traditionally, companies have had to focus their information strategy on either richness or reach.
Richness is a measure of the quality of the information. Richness concerns six aspects of information:
· Bandwidth: how much information can be moved in a given time.
· Customization: the degree to which the information can be personalized.
· Interactivity: the level of exchange possible between groups of people based on the size of the group.
· Reliability: reliability of information decreases with an increase in the size of the group in which it is exchanged.
· Security: a measure of the sensitivity of the information.
· Currency: a measure of how up-to-date the information is.
Reach is the number of people exchanging information. In traditional business, companies have had to compromise, sacrificing richness for reach, or reach for richness. However, the advent of the Internet, say the authors, has blown this traditional understanding of managing information to bits.
The compromises and trade-offs that existing companies have had to make between richness and reach, make them vulnerable to new competitors who are able to utilize the internet to step entirely outside of the richness/reach dichotomy. Until recently it has been impossible to share very rich information with as many people as one likes. The Internet has radically altered this equation. The consequences of unbundling information from its carrier, however, can be devastating for existing industries. The authors call this process Deconstruction. They outline four steps to understanding how deconstruction will play out in a particular industry:
1. Examine how informational economics shape your industry.
2. Consider how new technologies can shift those existing structures.
3. Analyze how the various players in the business system could create economic value as a consequence of those changes.
4. Lead the transition from the old business to the new one.
Learn from the past & avoid being swept-away by E-commerce 2.......2005-04-06
Although tempered by the DotCom bust, information technology is still very real and continues to shake up industry after industry, and an untold number of companies are being swept-away by the resulting riptides. Clearly written and tough-minded, Blown to Bits is required reading for entrepreneurs, and others wanting to transform their companies before it's too late.
Chapter 1: A Cautionary Tale
Chapter 2: Information and Things
Chapter 3: Richness and Reach
Chapter 4: Deconstruction
Chapter 5: Disintermediation
Chapter 6: Competing on Reach
Chapter 7: Competing on Affiliation
Chapter 8: Competing on Richness
Chapter 9: Deconstructing Supply Chains
Chapter 10: Deconstructing the Organization
Chapter 11: Monday Morning
Opportunities are everywhere. The problem is transforming ideas into reality. Blown to Bits is a hard-hitting book that will definitely open your eyes. The New Economy is literally pushing aside old line companies in favor of dynamic, new enterprises. Everyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur should read this book or risk climbing the wrong mountain.
Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation
A valuable e-business classic - but lacks an epilogue.......2004-08-31
This book is an important e-business classic. But despite the authors' clever recommendations, an epilogue is missing, as the Internet revolution they announced did not materialise. The Internet EVOLUTION, however, lives on.
Blown to Bits is about the consequences of the Internet for businesses.
The most important conclusion in the book is that the combination of increased bandwidth, global interconnected electronic network, faster computers and open standards are abolishing the requirements up to now of balancing information reach with information richness.
One example is the alternative media that a company can select when potential customers are targeted. Newspaper ads can reach a broad audience with a limited and static message. At the other end of the scale, a personal meeting with the customer gives the opportunity for deep, detailed and interactive information.
Businesses' supply chains include the same balancing act. When firms do business, the number of partners is inversely correlated to the richness in the information of the interchange.
The Internet removes this balancing act because you suddenly can reach many partners without compromising on the level of detail and complexity of the information (vast reach AND vast richness).
According to the authors, the consequence is that the value chain is blown to bits. They call it deconstruction, which happens when the things economy increasingly is separated from the information economy. "Information is the kit that binds the value chains and supply chains". But the kit is eroding. Information is no longer embedded in the physical units. The economy for physical things and the economy for information are fundamentally different. Unlike physical assets, information (an idea, illustration, checklist, article, etc.) can be reproduced costless infinitely. And where things are worn out, information remains their original form.
Blown to bits contains a wealth of well-described cases like newspapers, banks, car dealers, stock brokers, computer hardware and last not least Encyclopaedia Britannica. In addition, the book includes many interesting text boxes with questions the reader can use for further consideration.
In the bright light of hindsight!
Blown to bits was published in the roaring heydays of the dot-com wave ... and it shows. In 2001, two years after Blown to bits was published, the authors admitted their mistakes in an article for their employer, Boston Consulting Group. They summarised the evolution:
1) It is increasingly clear that the new economy is not displacing the old one. Instead the old is in the process of transforming itself from within.
2) The Internet is NOT proving to be a disruptive technology (i.e. characterised by eliminating the advantages for existing market players). Instead, incumbents are using it to challenge their own business models.
3) Information does not, in general, "want to be free"; instead, intellectual property rights are being extended.
This does not imply that the Internet won't change a lot. Nor can we all can return safely to the good old ways of doing business. Rather, it means that all incumbents have got a second chance to get e-business right.
This conclusion concurs with the view of strategy professor Michael Porter (quoted August 2001 in Business Week)
"We need to see the Internet as complementary to other things the company does rather than contradictory or cannibalistic. That was a really fundamental mistake that many people made. They assumed that this was a disruptive technology that existing companies could not embrace as efficiently as a new company coming in with a clean sheet of paper.
And Porter concludes: "The Internet as a family of technologies will have a very powerful effect on operational effectiveness. We'll see deeper integration among service, sales, logistics, manufacturing, and suppliers."
Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
Internet Hype.......2003-12-10
The authors must be embarrassed. But they are probably too busy on their next bogus book full of more mananagement consulting buzzspeak and claptrap.
"Blown to Bits"?--perhaps they were referring to the bursting of the Internet bubble??
Book Description
This book presents the latest management ideas in knowledge creation and management in readable and non-technical chapters. Leading experts have contributed chapters in their fields of expertise. Each distils his or her subject in a chapter that is accessible to managers who want to learn what can be applied to their organizations without the distracting details of research methodology. Each chapter, however, is based on careful research. The book is organized so that readers can easily find chapters of most interest and value to them. The emphasis is on the practical applications of knowledge to a wide variety of organizations and functional areas.
Average customer rating:
- Fascinating book on knowledge in organizations
|
Organizational Epistemology
Georg Von Krogh , and
Johan Roos
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Organizational Learning
| Organizational Behavior
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0312124988 |
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating book on knowledge in organizations.......1999-02-12
This book offers a fresh perspective on knowledge in organizations. Clearly, the book was written for an academic audience and reflective practitioners, but if you take the time to read its core messages, you will think differently about the knowledge assets available to the firm.
Books:
- Root Cause Analysis Handbook: A Simplified Approach to Identifying, Correcting, and Reporting Workplace Errors
- Self-Modifying Systems in Biology and Cognitive Science (IFSR International Series on Systems Science and Engineering)
- SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft's Collaboration and Productivity Platform
- Silicon Alley: The Rise and Fall of a New Media District (Cultural Spaces)
- Spidering Hacks
- Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
- Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
- Strategic Intelligence: Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, and Knowledge Management
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
- The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- Southwestern Silver Jewelry
- Finding a Job After 50: Reinvent Yourself for the 21st Century
- Hunter's Tracks
- News from Nowhere and Other Writings
- River Road Recipes: The Textbook of Louisiana Cuisine
- ORIENTAL GAMEFOWL: A Guide for the Sportsman, Poultryman and Exhibitor of Rare Poultry Species and G
- Edge Chronicles 3: Midnight Over Sanctaphrax
- Cost Accounting: Using a Cost Management Approach
- MY SISTER FROM THE BLACK LAGOON : A Novel of My Life
Aligning the Stars
Learning to Think Strategically (New Frontiers in Learning)
The Pirate Inside: Building a Challenger Brand Culture Within Yourself and Your Organization
MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth
Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change
