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Building a successful business all comes down to one thing: Strategy. Within this strategy, leaders will outline plans for growth, brand and direction. With a good strategy at its core, a business can stay resilient and adaptable throughout its entrepreneurial journey.
Because of this, founders and business leaders have spent a lot of time mastering the art of business strategy. Here, we take you through some of our favourite books for learning about it, written by some of the best in the business.
What Does Business Strategy Cover?
Business strategy covers everything, from how a business is positioned, to how it’s going to grow. Some core elements that business strategy covers include:
Positioning: During the strategy phase, the positioning of the company will be laid out. This positioning will feed into everything, including brand, how to compete with similar business offerings and the company’s USP. This will be central to all major business decisions, so is an important element of setting the company up for success.
Growth: The business strategy will also lay out how the company decides to grow. Is it investing in marketing? Partnerships? Staff? These growth plans will be laid out with measurable targets to make sure the business is staying on track.
Budget: The way that the company is funded, especially at the start, has a huge impact on how money is spent. If it is being funded by the founders, the budget will need to be set and used resourcefully. If it is being funded by investors, leaders might allocate budget to areas that can speed up growth and work towards profitability. This budget is laid out and referenced throughout to make sure that money is being spent in the right way.
Here, we take a look at some of the best books for business growth.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
This book takes leaders through exactly what they need to do to create a good business strategy. The author talks about the need to create meaningful plans, without meaningless buzzwords.
He talks about nine sources of power that can be used to drive companies forwards, taking from some of the most successful in the world.
Buy the book here.
Good to Great
Jim Collins and his team spent years studying why some companies go from being good to great and others don’t.
The book talks about key things that set the top-performing companies apart from their competitors, allowing leaders to set themselves up for success from the start.
Buy the book here.
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
This book is perfect for business leaders looking to learn from the best in the business. Auther A. G Lafley, first CEO of Proctor and Gamble, talks about the choices he made that grew the company to a $100 billion valuation.
The book talks through 5 strategic choices that will help companies stand out from the crowd.
Buy the book here.
Blue Ocean Strategy
Instead of fighting for space in competitive markets with low profit pools (red oceans), the author talks about how businesses should strive to create new markets (blue oceans).
This book is all about how to make the competition irrelevant, helping businesses work out how to create their own blue oceans.
Buy the book here.
Your Strategy Needs A Strategy: How to Choose and Execute the Right Approach
This book takes leaders through a step-by-step approach to creating an effective business strategy. It talks about the importance of assessing the business environment and the company’s place within it.
From there, it talks about the importance of timing and execution, helping readers plan their moves from start to finish.
Buy the book here.
The Art of Strategy
Taking inspiration from game theory and applying it to business, this book talks about the art of anticipating your competition’s next move.
Using case studies to showcase ideas, this book is all about mastering business using the art of strategy.
Buy the book here.
Competitive Strategy
One of the most popular books around competitive strategy, author Michael Porter talks through his tools for business development.
The three areas he asks leaders to consider are lowest cost, differentiation, and focus. Through this, he helps them set their businesses up for success from the start.
Buy the book here.
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