Thursday, February 21, 2013

Crafting And Executing Strategy

Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases 
by Arthur Thompson, Margaret Peteraf, John Gamble, A. J. Strickland III

 The 18th edition of Crafting and Executing Strategy represents one of our most important and thoroughgoing revisions ever. The newest member of the author team, Margie Peteraf, led a thorough re-examination of every paragraph on every page of the 17th edition chapters. The overriding objectives were to inject new perspectives and the best academic thinking, strengthen linkages to the latest research findings, modify the coverage and exposition as needed to ensure squarely on-target content, and give every chapter a major facelift. While this 18th edition retains the same 12-chapter structure of the prior edition, every chapter has been totally refreshed. And the chapter content continues to be solidly mainstream and balanced, mirroring both the best academic thinking and the pragmatism of real-world strategic management.

 Known for its cases and teaching notes, this edition provides an unparalleled case line up of 28 cases. (1) 25 of the 28 cases are brand new or extensively updated for this edition, (2) The selection of cases is diverse, timely, and thoughtfully-crafted and complements the text presentation pushing students to apply the concepts and analytical tools they have read about. (3) Many cases involve high-profile companies. (4) And there’s a comprehensive package of support materials that are a breeze to use, highly effective, and flexible enough to fit most any course design.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction
by Martin Gilbert

 In the early hours of November 10, 1938, Nazi storm troopers and Hitler Youth rampaged through Jewish neighborhoods across Germany, leaving behind them a horrifying trail of terror and destruction. More than a thousand synagogues and many thousands of Jewish shops were destroyed, while thirty thousand Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Kristallnacht—the Night of Broken Glass—was a decisive stage in the systematic eradication of a people who traced their origins in Germany to Roman times and was a sinister forewarning of the Holocaust.

 With rare insight and acumen, Martin Gilbert examines this night and day of terror, presenting readers with a meticulously researched, masterfully written, and eye-opening study of one of the darkest chapters in human history.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience

The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience
by Emory M. Thomas


This volume, first published in 1971, has made us look again at the events surrounding the Civil War. The Confederate Southerners likened themselves to the American revolutionaries of 1776. Although both revolutions sought independence and the overthrow of an existing political system, the Confederates battled for a political separation to conserve rather than to create. The result, however, was a transformation of the antebellum traditions they were fighting to preserve.