Sustaining High Performance in Business

This book provides a concise yet complete guide for strategic management.

Managers face a difficult challenge in successfully guiding their firms so that they sustain high financial performance, while also being sensitive to the environment, taking good care of their employees and customers, being fair with their suppliers, and giving back to the communities in which operate. While many books have been written that focus on one business topic or another as the key to achieving sustainable success in business, it is the efficiency and effectiveness of a firm's entire value creating system that determines its long-term performance.

In this book, systems theory is used as an integrative mechanism to combine the best ideas about sustaining high performance from the fields of economics, the resource-based perspective, and stakeholder theory. Tools are provided for conducting in-depth, detailed analyses of each part of a firm's value creation system and its contribution to the total stakeholder value created by the firm. The book then describes how to use this information to create winning strategies that lead to the creation of additional stakeholder value and high long-term financial performance. In addition, detailed implementation tools are provided to ensure that strategies are carried out successfully. This book provides a concise yet complete guide for strategic management.

Jeffrey S. Harrison is a University Distinguished Educator, University Distinguished Scholar, and the W. David Robbins Chair of Strategic Management at the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond. In 2023, he received the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Outstanding Faculty Award for his lifetime contributions to research, teaching, and service to the profession and the community. His work has been published in the top journals in strategic management and business ethics and he has fourteen published books. In addition, Dr. Harrison has provided consulting and executive training to dozens of organizations, including Lockheed Martin, DuPont, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Volvo North America, American Express, and Siemens.