Abstract
‘Strategy’ has now become a word in business which is widely used, and consequently devalued, and is still poorly understood. It is necessary, therefore, to define strategy as used in business theory prior to determining those elements which have relevance for large contractors in the construction industry.
‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t care where …’ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go’ said the Cat.
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
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Notes and References
Drucker, P. F., Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices ( New York: Harper & Row, 1973 ) p. 122.
Hofer, C. W. and Schendel, D., Strategy Formation: Analytical Concepts ( St Paul, Minn.: West, 1978 ) p. 25.
Ansoff, H. I., Corporate Strategy: An Analytical Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion ( New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965 ).
Abell, D. F., Defining the Business ( New York: Prentice-Hall, 1980 ) p. 217.
Harvey, D. F. Business Policy and Strategic Management (Columbus, Oh.: Merrill, 1983); pp. 21–2 list eight different studies which support the favourable results of strategic planning.
See Barry, H. ‘Strategy and the Business Portfolio’, Long Range Planning Vol. 10, No. 1 (February 1977) pp. 9–15 for more detail on the growth-share matrix.
See Wind, Y. and Mahajan, V., ‘Designing Product and Business Portfolios’, Harvard Business Review Vol. 59, No. 1 (January-February 1981) pp. 155–65. This lists several other variants of the business array technique, such as the directional policy matrix adopted by Royal Dutch Shell.
Porter, M. E., Competitive Strategy - Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors (New York: Free Press, 1980 ) and Competitive advantage - Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance ( New York: Free Press, 1985 ).
McKinsey, New Game Strategies, a McKinsey Staff Paper ( New York, 1980 ). This section leans heavily on this paper.
Hillebrandt, P. M., Analysis of the British Construction Industry ( London: Macmillan, 1984 ).
Drucker, P. F., Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles ( London: Heinemann, 1985 ) p. 23.
Henderson, B., The Logic of Business Strategy ( Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1984 ) pp. 15–25.
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© 1989 The University of Reading
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Ramsay, W. (1989). Business Objectives and Strategy. In: Hillebrandt, P.M., Cannon, J. (eds) The Management of Construction Firms. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13626-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13626-1_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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