Competitive strategies for service organisations

Business analysts are in agreement that our future economy, if not our present one, will be dominated by global business and a service economy. The existing literature, however, fails to explain the influence and application of the principles of strategic management in a global service economy. Competitive Strategies for Service Organizations fills that gap, providing an understanding of the major changes that will affect players in this economy. The picture this book paints is a complex one: the economic model based on the availability of capital is being replaced by one relying on innovation and intellectual capital-the cornerstone of the service economy. Current management strategy theory and its practical application are to some degree out of sync with this emerging model. Drawing on international examples for their case-study material, Neil Botten and John McManus balance their exposition of theory with real-world examples organized around the emerging service model. The authors discuss strategy in all its practical dimensions: political, economic, social and technological. In pulling together existing models and techniques and showing, through case histories, how these frameworks may be used in service organizations, they provide valuable guidelines for the forward-looking leaders of our growing service economy.

Author Notes

Neil Botten is Principal Lecturer in Strategic Management, Director of part-time MBA programs, and Director of the Strategic Change Research Group at the University of Westminster.
John McManus is a management consultant. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

List of Figures	p. xi
List of Tables	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Preface	p. xvii
1 Key Themes in the Global Service Economy	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The evolution of the service economy	p. 1
Economic development and the emergence of the post-industrial society	p. 5
Moving to an invisible trade economy	p. 6
Globalisation and the Service Economy	p. 8
The trio trading blocks	p. 9
Competitive and economic threats	p. 9
Global triggers and the new competitors	p. 13
Succeeding in the global economy	p. 17
Multinational service operations	p. 19
The nature of the borderless world	p. 20
Pull and push factors in cross-border markets	p. 21
Screening cross-border opportunities	p. 23
2 Defining Service Organisations	p. 27
Introduction	p. 27
Classifying service organisations	p. 27
Defining service characteristics	p. 30
Service design	p. 34
Knowing Your Customers and Markets	p. 42
The marketing mix within services	p. 47
The seven Ps	p. 47
The nature of target marketing in services	p. 57
Market analysis	p. 66
3 The Development of Strategic Planning	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
The classical approach	p. 71
The evolutionary school	p. 85
The processual school	p. 91
The systemic school	p. 103
4 Strategic Management Models, Tools, and Techniques	p. 107
Introduction	p. 107
Descriptive models of strategic management	p. 107
Strategic planning	p. 109
The external environment	p. 113
The internal environment	p. 126
Value chain analysis	p. 136
Financial Ratio Analysis	p. 140
Competitive analysis	p. 145
Strategic mission, objectives, and structure	p. 147
Analysis and allocation of strategic resources	p. 155
Core competencies	p. 159
5 The Application of Strategic Management	p. 162
Introduction	p. 162
Global business drivers	p. 162
Value chains and a firm's strategic core	p. 164
Porter's generic competitive strategies	p. 166
Beyond Michael Porter	p. 172
Strategic Vision	p. 176
Inventing a strategy	p. 176
The role of leadership in strategy formulation	p. 180
Strategy formulation	p. 182
Strategy implementation	p. 188
Measuring strategic success	p. 193
6 Future Trends in Strategic Management	p. 201
Introduction	p. 201
The role of IT in business	p. 202
Technology and systems planning	p. 210
Technological alliances	p. 213
Linking IT with the corporate strategy	p. 215
The Evolution of Change	p. 218
The changing shape of organisations	p. 218
The changing shape of external relations	p. 233
The changing shape of the market	p. 236
The changing shape of Europe	p. 250
7 The Case Material	p. 252
Case Study 1 Competitive Strategies in the World Airline Industry	p. 254
The case study	p. 254
Introduction	p. 254
Industry trends and competitive challenges	p. 255
Competitive strategies	p. 257
Competitive positioning strategies	p. 258
Marketing/customer-orientated strategies	p. 259
Cost control	p. 260
Case 1 Air France	p. 260
Case 2 British Airways (BA)	p. 263
Case 3 Delta	p. 265
Case 4 Singapore Airlines (SIA)	p. 268
Conclusion	p. 270
Case Study 2 Baa Plc	p. 274
Introduction	p. 274
Regulation	p. 279
Airport management	p. 281
Retail management	p. 286
Property management	p. 290
International operations	p. 293
Notes	p. 297
Person Index	p. 312
Topic Index	p. 317

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