Building the Flexible Firm: How to Remain Competitive

Author: Henk W. Volberda
List Price: $34.50
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ISBN: 0198295952
Publisher: Oxford University Press (April, 1999)
Sales Rank: 592,292
Average Customer Rating: 5 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5
An excellent contribution from Volberda
Based on Igor Ansoff award winning study, this book is an invaluable reference for all executives who are interested in strategy and living organizations of the 21st century.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Mastering the agility/stability paradox in turbulent markets
This exceptional book presents an in-depth, scholarly examination of flexible organizations. It provides a framework (or strategic approach) to guide decision makers in developing an organization able to quickly adapt to hyper-competitive challenges. The author shows that to be successful, organizations require a paradoxical balance between flexibility (viewed as the managerial task) and sufficient stability to exploit change (seen as the organization design task). In other words, firms need to balance creativity, innovation, and speed with clarity of focus, coordination and control. This is an extraordinarily thoughtful work that delves deeply into this complex strategic challenge. It includes a comprehensive questionnaire for measuring the environment and the organization in terms of turbulence, flexibility and other dimensions. Highly recommended to all executives engaged in organizational design and strategic planning, and who are willing to tackle an intellectually! demanding book that is well worth the effort.

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