Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest Competitive Advantage: 2026 Release ISE

John E. Gamble is the Mary & Jeff Bell Endowed Distinguished Professor of Business and former Dean of the College of Business at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi. His teaching and research have focused on strategic management and entrepreneurship at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has conducted courses in strategic management in Germany since 2001, which have been sponsored by the University of Applied Sciences in Worms. Dr. Gamble’s research has been published in various scholarly journals, and he is the author or coauthor of more than 100 case studies published in an assortment of strategic management and strategic marketing texts. He has done consulting on industry and market analysis for clients in a diverse mix of industries. Professor Gamble received his PhD, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Alabama and was a faculty member in the Mitchell College of Business at the University of South Alabama before his appointment to the faculty at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. Arthur A. Thompson Jr. earned his BS and PhD degrees in economics from the University of Tennessee, spent three years on the economics faculty at Virginia Tech, and served on the faculty of the University of Alabama’s College of Commerce and Business Administration for 25 years. In 1974 and again in 1982, Dr. Thompson spent semester-long sabbaticals as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School. His areas of specialization are business strategy, competition and market analysis, and the economics of business enterprises. In addition to publishing over 30 articles in some 25 different professional and trade publications, he has authored or coauthored five textbooks and six computer-based simulation exercises that are used in colleges and universities worldwide. Dr. Thompson spends much of his off-campus time giving presentations, putting on management development programs, working with companies, and helping operate a business simulation enterprise in which he is a major partner. Dr. Thompson and his wife of 60 years have two daughters, two grandchildren, and a Yorkshire terrier. Margaret A. Peteraf is the Leon E. Williams Professor of Management Emerita at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. She is an internationally recognized scholar with a long list of publications in top management journals. She has earned myriad honors and prizes for her contributions, including the 2020 Strategic Management Distinguished Scholarship Award—a newly created award that has been dubbed “the Nobel Prize of Strategic Management.” She was also given the 1999 Strategic Management Best Paper Award in recognition of the deep influence of her work on the strategy field. Professor Peteraf has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management as well as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society. She has served as a member of the Academy of Management’s Board of Governors, as Chair of the Strategic Management Division of the Academy, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Strategic Management Society. She has taught in Executive Education programs around the world and has won teaching awards at the MBA and Executive Education level. Dr. Peteraf earned her PhD, MA, and MPhil at Yale University and held previous appointments at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

• PART ONE: CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES FOR CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGYSection A: Introduction and Overview1. Strategy, Business Models, and Competitive Advantage2. The Strategy Formulation, Strategy Execution ProcessSection B: Core Concepts and Analytical Tools3. Evaluating a Company’s External Environment4. Evaluating a Company’s Resources, Capabilities, and CompetitivenessSection C: Crafting a Strategy5. The Five Generic Competitive Strategies6. Strengthening a Company’s Competitive Position: Strategic Innovations, Competitive Moves, and Scope of Operations7. Strategies for Competing in International Markets8. Corporate Strategy: Diversification and the Multi-business Company9. Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Sustainability, and StrategySection D: Executing the Strategy10. Superior Strategy Execution—Another Path to Competitive AdvantageAppendix: Key Financial Ratios: How to Calculate Them andWhat They MeanPART TWO: CASES IN CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY1. SpaceX in 2025: Its Vision, Business Model and Achievements in Space Exploration2. AirBnB 20253. Competition in the Energy Drink Industry in 20254. Academy Sports + Outdoors in 20255. Electronic Arts: It's Strategy in the Video Game Industry6. Netflix's Strategy in 20257. Tesla's Strategy in 20258. Under Armour in 20259. LVMH in 2025: Its Diversification into Luxury Goods10. Vail Resorts in 202511. Starbucks in 202512. Nestle in 2025: Reducing Plastic Waste?