The Financial Times Guide to Strategy

Richard Koch is an author and entrepreneur-investor. He not only writes books about how to achieve more, start new companies, make more money, and enjoy life more, but he also practises what he advocates. He was one of three founders of LEK, a noted international strategy consulting firm; and for the past thirty-seven years has invested in new and fast-growth companies, and compounded his money at an annual rate of twenty-two percent. By his own reckoning, he is now a sterling billionaire. The companies he has started or been a significant investor in include Filofax, the Belgo moules-frites chain, Plymouth Gin, Betfair, Auto1, and Fanduel. The concepts he has used to make money are described in this Financial Times Guide to Strategy, in The Star Principle, and in The 80/20 Principle, which has sold well over a million copies and been translated into forty languages. He is based in Gibraltar and also has homes in Cape Town, Australia, and Portugal.

• INTRODUCTION1. The use and abuse of strategy2. A brief history of strategy3. Swings in strategic thinking: seven phases4. Towards a synthesis5. From quick and dirty strategy to nearly perfect strategyPART ONE: BUSINESS UNIT STRATEGYA do-it-yourself guide1. Overview2. What businesses are you in?3. Where do you make the money?4. How good are your competitive positions?5. What skills and capabilities underpin your success?6. Is this a good industry to be in?7. What do the customers think?8. What about the competitors?9. How do you raise profits quickly?10. How do you build long term value?11. Conclusion12. Addition note on the theory of Business Unit StrategyPART TWO: CORPORATE STRATEGY1.The joy of Corporate Strategy2. An ecological view of Corporate Strategy3. Five dimensions of Corporate Strategy4. The strange power of the 35 word strategy4. ConclusionPART THREE: STRATEGIC THINKERSPART FOUR: STRATEGIC CONCEPTS, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES