Organizational strategies are important in today's highly competitive environments. Businesses, as well as public sector organizations, need a unifying logic, which emerges out of dialogue among its members and also guides their actions. An organization's 'control system' has potential to become a key to this. Controlling for Competitiveness describes how management control is crucial in mobilizing, using, and communicating the knowledge and skills of managers and employees. Controllers should design situation-specific control systems, assuring that actions will be based on appropriate information and incentives. Enterprise systems facilitate coordination and information exchange, thus enabling the development of a consistent and congruent strategy throughout the organization. The involvement of all levels of management - as well as most employees - in this process creates motivation and commitment to the organization's strategy. It also prepares for executing strategy through a creative use of metrics, decision tools, and clarified responsibilities. The book underlines the need to understand management control as part of the organization's control mix (control package). It provides numerous examples of how systems and people interact in shaping a strategic focus in private as well as publicly-owned organizations. In addition to the authors' research experiences, the book is based on recent interviews with 16 leading complex organizations in the private and public sector.

This book is about competitive advantage and how it is created at the company level. Our theoretical starting point is that the alignment of strategies and control systems affects the firm's chances of successfully positioning itself in its chosen area of competition. The firm is in a better position to concentrate on activities that create value for the customer if its strategies and control systems are mutually consistent and adapted to expected external demands. This book is thus a contribution to the literature that treats competitive advantage on the basis of the match between the environment and internal resources. Our ambition has been to provide additional knowledge in the area through a comprehensive discussion on co-ordination and integration of strategies and control systems.

This book, with contributions by both leading scholars and industry experts, provides a coherent framework for understanding complex determinants and patterns of industry competitiveness. Divided into eight parts, it covers both quantitative and qualitative research on the following topics: technologies, economic development, and human resources in Industry 4.0; management in the digital economy; artificial intelligence and knowledge management approaches; drivers of sustainable and innovative development in corporations; resilient and competitive systems in the energy sector; compliance and anti-corruption mechanisms; and competence networks and technological integration. Thanks to its highly stimulating discussions on the determinants and patterns of industry competitiveness, this book appeals to a wide readership.

How should firms’ control systems be designed and used to formulate and implement strategies that will contribute to competitive advantage and sustained high performance? This book offers some thought-provoking suggestions. It contains empirical studies of such diverse manufacturing enterprises as Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Saab, Scania, SCA Packing and Volvo, as well as an insurance company and two chamber orchestras. All firms and organizations presented offer interesting and exciting insights, each in a specific way and each with a fascinating history. The book presents research on the relationship between strategy, control and competitive advantage over extended periods and at several strategic levels, while also taking into account the existence of multiple control systems in a single firm or other organization. Readers are offered an in-depth look into how changes in the environment lead to adjustments in strategies and control systems. It is shown, in addition, how difficult and challenging it can be to implement these changes, and why such efforts are not always successful. But perhaps most importantly, the book conveys an in-depth understanding of how strategies and control systems affect competitive advantage and performance. In both its coverage and focus, the book is unique. Not only does it provide valuable contributions to the research field of strategy and management control; it also represents a substantial commitment in terms of resources and involvement over an extended period. The book is highly recommended to researchers, practitioners, graduate students and all others interested in this area.

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Competitive Innovation and Improvement: Statistical Design and Control explains how to combine two widely known statistical methods‘statistical design and statistical control in a manner that can solve any business, government, or research problem quickly with sustained results. Because the problem-solving strategy employed is pure scientific metho

The essential history of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) during the Nixon Administration How did Richard Nixon, a president so determined to compete for strategic nuclear advantage over the Soviet Union, become one of the most successful arms controllers of the Cold War? Drawing on newly opened Cold War archives, John D. Maurer argues that a central purpose of arms control talks for American leaders was to channel nuclear competition toward areas of American advantage and not just international cooperation. While previous accounts of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) have emphasized American cooperative motives, Maurer highlights how Nixon, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird shaped negotiations, balancing their own competitive interests with proponents of cooperation while still providing a coherent rationale to Congress. Within the arms control agreements, American leaders intended to continue deploying new weapons, and the arms control restrictions, as negotiated, allowed the United States to sustain its global power, contain communism, and ultimately prevail in the Cold War.

How legacy firms can combine their traditional strengths with the power of data and digital ecosystems to forge a new competitive strategy for the digital era. How can legacy firms remain relevant in the digital era? In The Future of Competitive Strategy, strategic management expert Mohan Subramaniam explains how firms can leverage both their traditional strengths and the modern-day power of data and digital ecosystems to forge a new competitive strategy. Drawing on the experiences of a range of companies, including Caterpillar, Sleep Number, and Whirlpool, he explains how firms can benefit from data’s enlarged role in modern business, develop digital ecosystems tailored to their unique business needs, and use new frameworks to harness the power of data for competitive advantage. Subramaniam presents digital ecosystems as a combination of production and consumption ecosystems, which can be used by legacy firms to unlock the value of data at various levels—from improving operational efficiencies to creating new data-driven services and transforming traditional products into digital platforms. He explores the ways sensors and the Internet of Things provide new kinds of customer data; presents the concept of digital competitors—other firms that have access to similar data; discusses the new digital capabilities that firms need to develop; and addresses privacy and security issues associated with data sharing. Who needs this book? Any firm that wants to revitalize traditional business models, offer a richer customer experience, and expand its competitive arena into new digital ecosystems.