Value and Strategy

Value and Strategy: Competing Successfully in the Nineties presents fresh ideas, concepts, and practical suggestions for decision makers who must sustain growth and profitability in today's competitive business environment. Clearly written and illustrated with examples, graphics, and a glossary, this compact volume propels the idea of customer value to the forefront of business strategy. Value has emerged as a key idea in strategy because, as never before, customers can from pick and choose from among many different products and services. As a result, their expectations and demands for value, including quality, innovation, and affordability, have reached new heights. Shenkman thus begins by showing how a valuing process is used in everyday life: how a buyer thinks about value; how the idea of value operates in the processes of buying and selling; and how value and profits are created in the course of a relationship between a business and its customers. Dr. Shenkman then shows how in today's markets businesses both compete and cooperate in order to establish a leading position for their products and services. These efforts are necessary to ensure profitability, but they also combine to create powerful forces that limit the viability of any product or service over time. Market forces thus fuel the phenomenon of turnover that requires constant innovation and organizational responsiveness.

Value and Strategy outlines practical steps managers can take to ensure their organization's success. It helps decision makers see more clearly into the dynamic and ambiguous situations that arise each day as a result of relentless market pressures. It provides new insights that help to foster meaningful organizational change, while ensuring that employees have a personal stake in the business's profitability. Shenkman believes that work can play a constructive and creative role in people's lives. Using the strategy presented in this volume, managers can create the organizational conditions in which people can work together to innovate, solve problems, and create new opportunities for the business.

MICHAEL H. SHENKMAN is a Senior Consultant at Mage Centers for Management Development. With more than twenty years experience in business, he has been an independent consultant for the past twelve years.