Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Why do some companies thrive while others in the same industry languish? How can a struggling firm achieve higher annual earnings? What allows new corporations to become successful in highly competitive industries? In this book, now updated and expanded, Sharon Oster shows that combining a sound understanding of economic and managerial principles can make a striking difference in the quality of the strategic planning of an organization and provide guidelines for effective corporate strategies.
The third edition of Modern Competitive Analysis includes new material on game theory, added value analysis, and strategic intent. Examples are drawn from modern network industries and more attention is paid to newly deregulated markets. Unusually broad in scope, with many examples from large and small companies, service firms, manufacturers, foreign and American organizations, as well as non-profit corporations, the book emphasizes an economic approach to strategic planning, using the most recent theories to illuminate situations faced by businesses today. Covering new and important areas in economics not treated in other management and strategic planning books, and couched in clear terms that make these concepts especially accessible, Modern Competitive Analysis is a fundamental resource to the managers of today and tomorrow.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Introduction
• I The Competitive Environment
• 2 Efficient Markets
• 3 Industry Analysis
• 4 Understanding the Impediments to Entry
• 5 Groups Within Industries
• 6 Competing in Global Markets
• II Inside the Organization
• 7 Competing for Advantage
• 8 Setting and Implementing Goals
• 9 Organizational Design and Strategic Planning
• 10 Corporate Diversification
• 11 Vertical Linkages
• 12 Mergers, Acquisitions, and Strategic Alliances
• III Rivalry
• 13 Understanding Rivalry: Game Theory
• 14 Product Positioning and Strategic Marketing
• 15 Competitive Pricing
• 16 Competitive Research & Development and Innovation
• 17
• IV The Planning Process
• 18 The Strategic Planning Process
• Appendix 1 Some Case Suggestions
• Appendix 2 Financial Ratio Analysis
• Appendix 3 Using Statistics to Determine Advantage
• Appendix 4 A Discussion of Portfolio Techniques
• Notes
• Glossary
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this third edition of a highly regarded text for undergraduate and graduate students of business, Oster (economist, Yale School of Management) focuses on business management: the organizational strategy necessary for firms to succeed financially in a competitive market environment. Many topics are familiar to microeconomists: industry analysis, barriers to entry, organizational structure, strategic planning, diversification, vertical integration, mergers, rivalry, competitive pricing, R&D, and regulation. An enormous number of well chosen examples illustrate the discourse. However, the explicit development of analytical tools is meager, limited to basic game theory (the only formal discussion of oligopoly), the demand curve (but not the marginal revenue curve), rates of return to capital (but not discounted cash flow or economic value added), and a few other topics. This volume is very good at raising questions of strategy and giving apt examples, but not at providing the analytic tools of price theory or finance, and not at offering an encyclopedic reference. The intended audience, business practitioners as well as students, will continue to find this volume extremely helpful in navigating the competitive marketplace. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. R. A. Miller Wesleyan University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Sharon M.OsterFrederick Wolfe Professor of Economics and ManagementYale University School of Organization and Management.