Peter Lorange

Strategy implementation: the new realities

Abstract In this article, we shall cover issues relating to how to strengthen strategy implementation for business contexts aiming at faster, internally-generated and profitable business growth. The basic assumption is that formal planning and control systems, as they traditionally exist, need to be modified to allow for such growth. A number of questions need to be raised to understand the phenomenon better and to avoid inhibition of such rapid growth. A model for business unit strategy will be presented, as well as an assessment of the overall strategic portfolio of a business, with a focus on new roles for key executive actors in the strategic process.

Strategy means choice: also for today's business school!

Purpose – To share some key strategic paradigms for business schools with leading educators, academic administrators and executives.Design/methodology/approach – The article is normative. The normative propositions and conclusions are drawn from the research done for the authors monograph New Vision for Management Education: Leadership Challenges. A number of case studies are reported, as well as an inductive study of IMD.Findings – There is a need to focus on growth niches, such as executive education rather than MBA, undergraduate or PhD education.Research limitations/implications – Limitations include the lack of a large‐scale database established from rigorously compiled survey data, and the lack of parametric/non‐parametric statistical analysis.Practical implications – Leading business schools must be demand‐oriented, must listen to customers‐cum‐executives and corporations, should undertake research that points towards thought leadership, and should work with the business world through lifelong lea...

Driving renewal: the entrepreneur‐manager

Purpose – Strategic renewal requires both a top‐down and bottom‐up effort. Top management sets the broad vision for the firm and specifies the scope and pace of renewal. However, it is the firms entrepreneur‐managers who shape its renewal strategies and take responsibility for their implementation. This paper aims to profile the skills, personal traits and experiences of successful entrepreneur‐managers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses field research.Findings – The paper finds that entrepreneur‐managers are in part corporate entrepreneurs. They are outward‐focused, cognizant of changes in their business environment and the new opportunities that these may bring. They are willing to experiment with new business models and to explore new capabilities. But they are also operating managers interested in scaling up an entrepreneurial idea and in delivering results. They have a few special personality traits. They are not risk averse and are action oriented. They are also supremely self‐confident. ...

The business school of the future: the network‐based business model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight how an innovative design might look for a business school of the future.Design/methodology/approach – This is a think‐piece, but draws heavily on the real‐life experience of the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich.Findings – A practical approach is presented for “how to do it” – clear, implementational guidelines regarding the design of the business school of the future.Originality/value – A new model is put forward in the paper for business schools of the future.

Continuous renewal, and how Best Buy did it

Purpose – As an alternative to the two extremes of protecting and extending the core business versus transforming it, the article aims to propose two other renewal strategies, “leverage” and “build,” that together provide a pathway for continuous renewal.Design/methodology/approach – This article looks at the case of Best Buy, which has progressively used “leverage” and “build” strategies to modify its competence platform from an early emphasis on operational excellence to complement it with modularity, flexibility and customer centricity. Correspondingly, its market reach has grown from Minnesota to all of North America with recent forays into China.Findings – When the firms performance did not meet expectations, top management did not focus merely on better execution; rather it questioned if the firms vision needed to be revised. Best Buys renewal journey is guided by a continuous re‐visioning of the company, or in Best Buys jargon continuous re‐“Concept”ualization of the company. Best Buy has trans...

Pedagogical advances in business models at business schools – in the age of networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on potential advances in pedagogy and on the process of learning in business schools. It examines innovations in teaching and learning methods particularly in the context of networked organizations. Design/methodology/approach – It approaches, and examine the impact of, three key developments in business schools, namely, recent advances in IT, changes in the architecture of classrooms and learning spaces and advances in the way teaching is undertaken. Findings – The paper suggests that a blend between self-learning via distance approaches and face-to-face learning will increasingly become the norm. Face-to-face sessions might be in a “flat room” environment with a creative mix of short lectures, experiential, group learning and conceptual plenary lectures, software innovations, and digital textbooks “open plan” learning spaces would complement the instructional process. Research limitations/implications – There are clear implications for parallel IT (develop...

The Business School in the Twenty-First Century: Enhancing dynamic capabilities in the business school: improving leadership capabilities in curricula and management

INTRODUCTION In Chapter 3 we questioned the existence of a ‘theory of managing’ and examined the issue of what necessary capabilities and qualities management educators should develop in their students. We initially focused on Mintzberg’s ten managerial roles, which we clustered into interpersonal , informational and decisional skills. We then reinterpreted them to suggest that management education should cover: the intellectual skills of analysis , criticism and synthesis ; the study of the domain of management knowledge (i.e. knowledge skills about the structure and functioning of organisations, including process skills about the interactions and interfaces between the different functions); the range of Mintzberg’s interpersonal skills , including imagination, vision and leadership capabilities; the multi-disciplinary nature of the managerial skill set required to develop the broader skills of global and cultural intelligence. (Here managers must learn to be sensitive to ethical and socio-cultural differences and take an holistic view of the enterprise in global networks.) As Thomas (2007: 13) has pointed out elsewhere, it is quite clear that corporate ‘recruiters increasingly require higher-level candidates who possess complex interactive skills (i.e. the ability to link things together and frame complex problems) involving an enhanced judgemental mindset’. He goes on to indicate that the challenge for business schools is ‘to produce students who have the skills, flexibility and training to compete in the new economy defined by globalization and technological change’. In other words, the curriculum must increasingly embrace a cross-disciplinary, holistic and interactive form of education with a strong focus on global exposure, ethics and social responsibility.

Tailor-made strategic processes to meet the firm's portfolio and financial pressures: An empirical study

Tailor-made strategic processes to meet the firms portfolio and financial pressures : An empirical study