While managers typically view business through the lens of a single firm, this book challenges readers to take a broader view of their enterprises and opportunities. Here, more than 50 leading thinkers in business and many other disciplines take on the challenge of understanding, managing, and leveraging networks.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Richard Normann and his colleagues developed an original approach to strategy, based on seeing value as inherently co-produced in systems. Their 'Value Creating Systems' approach was a strong contrast to the idea of 'competitive advantage' that defined strategy at the time. The approach focuses on the design of the 'offerings' that define relationships among co-producers, and which connect actors in fields which transcend traditional industry borders. In the contemporary networked world, where consumers become co-producers, the ideas Normann and his colleagues developed towards strategy are uniquely effective in explaining and guiding practice.Strategy for a Networked World revisits and further develops these ideas. It is co-authored by two long-standing colleagues of Normann, Rafael Ramírez and Ulf Mannervik, who have successfully applied these ideas to their own consultancy practice. This book provides the theoretical basis for strategies of value co-creation, an accessible methodology and practical guidance, case studies of Facebook and the World Economic Forum, and examples of successful collaborations with organisations such as EDF, Scania, Essity and Shell.Designed to advise strategists and business developers working in uncertain, complex and turbulent contexts, it is suitable both for practitioners and for academics, combining theory and the means to turn it into practice. It will also serve as a valuable contribution to MBA classes and towards the development of more effective business strategies.

Although social, political, technological and business networks hold our modern world together, we still lack a good understanding of what business networks are, how they work, and the language of network analysis that we may apply to solve common, everyday problems. This book looks at such questions as: How do we make sense of the business networks we participate in and the networks we observe from a distance? Are business networks distinct from social networks, and if so what distinguishes them? How can business network analysis from a multidisciplinary perspective enhance strategic management? Emanuela Todeva deftly explores the patterns of networking and the dynamics of network relationships, to show how we can begin to tap their full potential. Of great interest to students and scholars of business network analysis, this revealing volume will also prove informative for managers wishing to obtain insights into network dynamics and its implications for strategic decision making. Business Networks expertly provides an interdisciplinary overview. It skilfully engages the reader with a range of economic, sociological, strategic management and communication theories that contribute to our knowledge of networks and networking. Transcending specific disciplines, and synthesizing the contributions that shape the structural, relational and cultural approaches to network analysis, Todeva’s outstanding text offers a wealth of conceptual frameworks and an exhaustive typology of existing business networks.

Research at the intersection of social networks and strategic management identifies a range of performance-enhancing network position advantages - access to partners, information, innovation, and resources - that are distributed differentially across network positions. This book discusses network processes.

Using site-specific optimization approaches in international manufacturing networks is increasingly proving insufficient. To solve this problem, several holistic and integrated alternatives have been developed to reflect a global perspective. This book presents advances in the St. Gallen Global Manufacturing Network Model and its application in numerous industry-, benchmarking- and research projects. The contents combine data-driven solutions with qualitative management frameworks for the strategic optimization of international manufacturing networks. In the first part, the book addresses the foundation of manufacturing network management and further describes the St. Gallen Operational Excellence approaches to manage plant performance. On this basis, the authors show how plant- and network-level performance can be enhanced via key improvement domains (e.g., strategy, configuration, coordination, performance management, digitalization). In turn, the second part demonstrates the application of the constructs in manufacturing companies from various industries. By combining research and practice, the book offers unique perspectives on the management of global production striving toward higher performance on manufacturing site and network level.

Rethink your business for the digital age. Every business begun before the Internet now faces the same challenge: How to transform to compete in a digital economy? Globally recognized digital expert David L. Rogers argues that digital transformation is not about updating your technology but about upgrading your strategic thinking. Based on Rogers's decade of research and teaching at Columbia Business School, and his consulting for businesses around the world, The Digital Transformation Playbook shows how pre-digital-era companies can reinvigorate their game plans and capture the new opportunities of the digital world. Rogers shows why traditional businesses need to rethink their underlying assumptions in five domains of strategy—customers, competition, data, innovation, and value. He reveals how to harness customer networks, platforms, big data, rapid experimentation, and disruptive business models—and how to integrate these into your existing business and organization. Rogers illustrates every strategy in this playbook with real-world case studies, from Google to GE, from Airbnb to the New York Times. With practical frameworks and nine step-by-step planning tools, he distills the lessons of today's greatest digital innovators and makes them usable for businesses at any stage. Many books offer advice for digital start-ups, but The Digital Transformation Playbook is the first complete treatment of how legacy businesses can transform to thrive in the digital age. It is an indispensable guide for executives looking to take their firms to the next stage of profitable growth.

"This book examines the impact of m-commerce, m-learning, and m-knowledge management technologies on organizations, such as online stores, higher education institutions, multinational corporations, and health providers"--

During the last decade, platform businesses such as Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and eBay have been taking over the world. In almost every sector, traditional businesses are under attack from digital disrupters that are effectively harnessing the power of communities. But what exactly is a platform business and why is it different? In Platform Strategy, Laure Claire Reillier and Benoit Reillier provide a practical guide for students, digital entrepreneurs and executives to understand what platforms are, how they work and how you can build one successfully. Using their own "rocket model" and original case studies (including Google, Apple, Amazon), they explain how designing, igniting and scaling a platform business requires learning a whole new set of management rules. Platform Strategy also offers many fascinating insights into the future of platforms, their regulation and governance, as well as how they can be combined with other business models. Benoit Reillier and Laure Claire Reillier are co-founders of Launchworks, a leading advisory firm focused on helping organizations develop and scale innovative business models.

As one of the first books to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, this is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders--from writers, lawyers and finance professional to executives in the entertainment, publishing and hardware and software industries-- navigate successfully through the information economy.

How to close the gap between strategy and execution Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don’t have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors. Based on new research, the authors reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as IKEA, Natura, Danaher, Haier, and Lego. These companies: • Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities • Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others • Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it • Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board • Shape the future instead of reacting to it Packed with tools you can use for building these five practices into your organization and supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this is your guide for reconnecting strategy to execution.