HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy, Vol. 2

by Harvard Business Review, Michael E. Porter, A.G. Lafley

Do you have the right strategy to lead your company into the future?

Get more of the management ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy (Vol. 2). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you combat new competitors and define the best strategy for your company.

With insights from leading experts including Michael E. Porter, A.G. Lafley, and Clayton M. Christensen, this book will inspire you

Choose a strategy that meets the demands of your competitive environmentIdentify the signals of disruption and take steps to avoid itUnderstand lean methodology and how it is changing businessTransform your products and services into platformsInstill your strategy with creativity and purposeGenerate value for your company, while also contributing to society

This collection of articles includes "Your Strategy Needs a Strategy," by Martin Reeves, Claire Love, and Philipp Tillmanns; "Transient Advantage," by Rita Gunther McGrath; "Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy," by A.G. Lafley, Roger L. Martin, Jan W. Rivkin, and Nicolaj Siggelkow; "Managing A New Framework," by Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes; "Surviving Disruption," by Maxwell Wessel and Clayton M. Christensen; "The Great Repeatable Business Model," by Chris Zook and James Allen; 'Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy," by Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Geoffrey G. Parker, and Sangeet Paul Choudary; "Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything," by Steve Blank; "Strategy Needs Creativity," by Adam Brandenburger; "Put Purpose at the Core of Your Strategy," by Thomas W. Malnight, Ivy Buche, and Charles Dhanaraj; "Creating Shared Value," by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer.

Genres: Business, Business Strategy, Nonfiction, Management

263 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 24, 2020

Reviews

[Amir Jabbari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first essay is on 4 different modes of strategy which are classical, adaptive, visionary and shaping. I always found coursebooks on strategy a bit distant from the real world, but this essay helped me to figure things out.

[Grant Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid advice I think, some essays are better written than others. This is great for upper level manager types, but it gives some kind of grounding in general strategic principles for business.

[Anton Roe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great articles and insights.
Disappointing that so many of the articles are 20 years old. The most recent was from 2008 (15 years ago)

[Emrecan Dogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Went through the audiobook and noted a few of the articles to dig deeper:
- Surviving Disruption
- The Great Repeatable Business Model
- Pipelines, Platforms, and the New Rules of Strategy
- Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything
- Put Purpose at the Core of Your Strategy (partial)

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's disappointing to read academicians talk about real-world events in hindsight and call it good strategy.

There are things to learn, no doubt, from the essays, but only if you take most of it with a healthy dose of rational scepticism, aka, a fistful of salt.

[Sriram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lot of good articles. Enjoyed it

would love it if each had been only for 10 minutes

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this selection of articles - interesting and informative. I’ll keep my eye out for more HBR collections.