The trend of increasing technological disruption means that strategic challenges for business leaders are greater than ever before. Businesses need a new approach to strategic decision-making to motivate and mobilize stakeholders to achieve the overarching business goals.
Baaij and Reinmoeller’s new mapping method enables business leaders to organise their thoughts towards identifying strategic issues without distraction, so they can decide on a clear path towards the best strategic plan. Mapping out the most effective strategy means that organisations can anticipate and manage roadblocks to strategic change, and make winning and well-executed operational choices.
Marc Baaij says: “Maps for each process help you to organise your thoughts and simplify complex matters. The mapping method is not a linear approach, but incorporates important feedback loops at two levels.
“The first level is feedback from issues, from the development of strategy hypotheses, and testing. The second level is feedback loops from strategy execution, back to the development of strategy and exploring issue. This mapping method is designed as a rigorous approach, but you can also revert to a quick approach if you do not want to spend the time and resources to apply the method by the book.”
The hard copy and eBook version of Mapping a Winning Strategy – Developing and Executing a Successful Strategy in Turbulent Markets by Marc Baaij and Patrick Reinmoeller is published on Monday 10 September 2018 and is available online via Amazon, bol.com and other book sellers. A free sample chapter that includes ‘The mapping method at a glance’ is available here:
Sample chapter – Overcoming the challenges of strategy with the mapping method
About the authors
Marc Baaij, PhD. is an associate professor of strategy at Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University (RSM). He coaches managers on real-world strategy projects. Baaij has previously been a strategy consultant and a research manager at The Boston Consulting Group. Baaij has authored many articles for scientific and professional journals, as well as professional titles and textbooks on the strategy and problem-solving methods used by top-tier consultants. He has also worked for IBM, and holds degrees in economics and strategy.
Patrick Reinmoeller, PhD. is an associate professor of strategic management at RSM and a professor of strategic management at Cranfield School of Management, where he is also the academic head of the Directors as Strategic Leaders programme. Reinmoeller's research on innovation, organisations and strategy has been published in several leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, the Asia-Pacific Management Journal, Organization Studies, and the MIT Sloan Management Review.