Books on Strategy

Sumit Dhar points to this post on The Collaborative ISB Blog where Thimmaiah Chendrimada, a current ISB student has posted the list of books on strategy.

Sumit says that they will be listing books on Statistics, Entrepreneurship, Management of Organizations, Accounting and Finance over the next few days.

Here is the list of books :

Strategy Essentials:

• Competitive Strategy, Michael Porter
• Competitive Advantage, Michael Porter
• The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael Porter
• Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad
• Gaining & Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Jay Barney

Competitive Interaction and Game Theory:

• Coopetition, Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff
• Thinking Strategically, Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff

Global Strategy:

• The Borderless World, Kenichi Ohmae
• Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution, Chris Bartlett & Sumantra Ghoshal

Strategy and the Internet:

• Information Rules, Shapiro and Hal Varian
• Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence, D. Yoffie

Strategy Implementation:

• Corporate Culture & Leadership, Ed Schein

Knowledge Management:

• The Knowledge Creating Company, I. Nonaka & H. Takeuchi

Strategic Planning:

• The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Henry Mintzberg

Strategic Alliances:

• Alliance Advantage, Gary Hamel and Yves Doz

Mergers and Acquisitions:

• Managing the Acquisition Process, Philippe Haspeslagh and David Jemison

Trust and Networks:

• Structural Holes, Ronald Burt
• Trust in Organizations, Roderick Kramer

Other Classics:

• My Years with General Motors, Alfred P. Sloan
• The Art of War, Sun Tzu
• Strategy and Structure, Alfred D. Chandler

I think this is a great list. My primary interest is Strategy. Let me check how many I have read.

Thinking Strategically, Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff

This is a great introduction to game theory and strategy in general. I have not read the entire book, need to do that. This was recommended to me by Rajesh Jain.

The Borderless World, Kenichi Ohmae

I have read part of "The Mind of a Strategist" and "The Invisible Continent" by Ohmae. The Mind of a Strategist is a book which will shape your mind, provide a process of thinking. Incidently this is not part of the list, I think this should have been there.

My Years with General Motors, Alfred P. Sloan

This is one of all time classics of management. Alfred P. Sloan, the person credited with creating the modern General Motors, is considered the greatest manager to have ever lived. You can find a great deal of stuff about the management of companies, startegy, people decisions (which Sloan considered the most important decision) and values in business.

For example : Sloan postponed the publication of this book till all the people mentioned in the book in a not so positive way have died so as not to hurt them!

One thing this book misses is the personal side of Sloan. For this you need to read the Biography of Peter Drucker, Adventures of a Bystander where he provides a great account of the master. Drucker started his career as a management writer with the study of General Motors, where he practically observed the work of the executives in GM and 'invented management' for the rest of us. This was later published in his seminal book, the Concept of the Corporation.

I think that Managing for Results by Peter Drucker, considered one of the first books on Strategy, should be included here.

I have long way to go in finishing the list. How many have you guys read? If you have any other suggestions do provide your feedback.