Henk W. Volberda – författare

How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? How can we measure a firm's flexibility? Can a more flexible firm be created? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award-winning study and now available for the first time in paperback, Henk Volberda's Building the Flexible Firm shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Although traditional organizational forms have worked well in the relatively stable environments of the past, the globalization of markets, rapid technological change, shortening product life cycles, and increasing aggressiveness of competitors have radically altered the ground rules for competing in the 1990s and beyond. Increased competition forces firms to move more quickly and boldly than before, and to experiment in ways that do not conform to traditional administrative theory. This book offers a wealth of insights into the way firms can increase their flexibility. It is based on extensive interviews with practitioners and supported by many longitudinal case studies on flexibility improvement within large corporations. The author provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. He also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.

`Readers interest in an overview of important aspects of the strategy field will find this book a helpful volume to add to their shelves' - Administrative Sciences Quarterly

This is a new overview of the strategy field, with internationally renowned contributors summarizing the latest directions and developments in strategic management theory in the context of their theoretical roots in economics, organization theory, and systems theory.

The contributors outline the most promising new directions on the basis of a systemic treatment of paradigms or schools of thought in strategy: redrawing firm boundaries, developing dynamic capabilities and discovering viable strategy configurations.

The volume will be an invaluable companion to advanced courses in strategy and management, used as a reader alongside case material and field studies. As well as providing a summary and evaluation of the different schools of thought in strategy, the volume offers a synthesis of the American and European approaches.

`Readers interest in an overview of important aspects of the strategy field will find this book a helpful volume to add to their shelves' - Administrative Sciences Quarterly

This is a new overview of the strategy field, with internationally renowned contributors summarizing the latest directions and developments in strategic management theory in the context of their theoretical roots in economics, organization theory, and systems theory.

The contributors outline the most promising new directions on the basis of a systemic treatment of paradigms or schools of thought in strategy: redrawing firm boundaries, developing dynamic capabilities and discovering viable strategy configurations.

The volume will be an invaluable companion to advanced courses in strategy and management, used as a reader alongside case material and field studies. As well as providing a summary and evaluation of the different schools of thought in strategy, the volume offers a synthesis of the American and European approaches.

`Readers interest in an overview of important aspects of the strategy field will find this book a helpful volume to add to their shelves′ - Administrative Sciences Quarterly

This is a new overview of the strategy field, with internationally renowned contributors summarizing the latest directions and developments in strategic management theory in the context of their theoretical roots in economics, organization theory, and systems theory.

The contributors outline the most promising new directions on the basis of a systemic treatment of paradigms or schools of thought in strategy: redrawing firm boundaries, developing dynamic capabilities and discovering viable strategy configurations.

The volume will be an invaluable companion to advanced courses in strategy and management, used as a reader alongside case material and field studies. As well as providing a summary and evaluation of the different schools of thought in strategy, the volume offers a synthesis of the American and European approaches.

In the quest for competitive advantage, navigating change can be daunting. Following a unique, four-part structure focussing on and confronting strategic issues, sensing opportunities and threats, choosing strategies and transforming organizations, this essential textbook offers a fresh and provocative perspective on strategic management.

In the quest for competitive advantage, navigating change can be daunting. Following a unique, four-part structure focussing on and confronting strategic issues, sensing opportunities and threats, choosing strategies and transforming organizations, this essential textbook offers a fresh and provocative perspective on strategic management.

In the quest for competitive advantage, navigating change can be daunting. Following a unique, four-part structure focussing on and confronting strategic issues, sensing opportunities and threats, choosing strategies and transforming organizations, this essential textbook offers a fresh and provocative perspective on strategic management.

The authors of this book alert that professional services like law, accountancy, and consultancy firms are set to face major disruption. The most important driver and enabler are the new technologies that help and in part substitute the work done by professionals. The second important disruptor is the new generation of professionals – “NewGen” – who are less interested in building their careers in a hierarchical organization and more interested in entrepreneurial challenges in small teams, with more rapid returns. In the meanwhile, major service conglomerates – the “big four” accounting firms, the “big three” consulting firms to name a few examples – build their network using their brand and substantial resources. All along, the relentless pressure from clients to receive more services at lower cost continues. Medium-sized professional firms as well as one-person independents appear to suffer most from these disruptions and are most anxious to find new ways to conduct their business. But the leaders of large firms also feel that they are increasingly unable to support the innovative entrepreneurship of their most promising professionals while their organizations institutionalize and their overheads continue to grow.This book proposes a new orientation and model of a professional service firm as an answer to these challenges, by creating a Professional Service Community. It is a synergistic team of organizations that share a vision of their role in society and main lines of their mission as well as the quality of their deliverables and their key clients. At the same time, they are independent in designing their internal business models – like recruitment, training, knowledge management, and economics. The Professional Service Community provides a unique and highly attractive level of entrepreneurship, flexibility, and efficiency to the benefit of its clients, partners, staff, and other stakeholders. It is the way of the future.