The full title is "Value Drivers: The Manager's Guide To Driving Corporate Value Creation" and this is written for the busy manager who wants to understand competitive strategy and corporate strategy.
It is written to answer three main questions:
- How does my company actually work?
- How do I become a better manager?
- How can I fit all these pieces together?
Value Drivers is easy to read, well structured and interesting.
It is also packed with diagrams which is great for people with visual representation systems.
It lacks the rigour of an academic text book but it is not written for either the student or the strategy expert but as an introduction to how you can create value in a business using business strategy.
Chapters in Value Drivers include:
- Why are firms in business in the first place - mission and corporate strategy
- Segmentation - customer based segmentation and skills based segmentation
- Ranking Strategic Business Units
- Corporate Strategy Revisited - portfolio strategy, vertical integration, horizontal integration and financial holding strategy.
- How well is the firm doing
- Understanding the market context
- Core competencies
- Core competencies revisited
- Back to corporate strategy - structures and the role of management
- Back to the bottom line
- Conclusion
Rating for Value Drivers by Mark Scott
I like Value Drivers and rate it with four stars.
That is a recommendation to buy and read for any manager who wants to understand more about business strategy.
Value Drivers will also help MBA students who are struggling with a drier strategy textbook.
Whilst it is good on the overall structure of strategy, Value Drivers is not a guide to putting together a strategic plan. For people looking for a practical book, I recommend Simplified Strategic Planning
Buying Value Drivers
You can buy Value Drivers from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (affiliate links)
For more recommendations on business strategy, see my blog on the Best Business Strategy Books.
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