Bensoussan Babette E. - Analysis Without Paralysis: 12 Tools to Make Better Strategic Decisions

12 Tools to Make Better Strategic Decisions

Babette E. Bensoussan
Craig S. Fleisher

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Printed in the United States of America

First Printing September 2012

ISBN-10: 0-13-310102-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-310102-7

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bensoussan, Babette E.
Analysis without paralysis : 12 tools to make better strategic decisions / Babette E. Bensoussan,
Craig S. Fleisher. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Analysis without paralysis : 10 tools to make better strategic decisions. c2008.
ISBN 978-0-13-310102-7 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Business intelligence--Evaluation. 2. Competition--Evaluation. 3. Strategic planning. 4.
Business planning. I. Fleisher, Craig S. II. Title.
HD38.7.B4555 2013
658.401--dc23
2012026808

This book is dedicated not only to our wonderful family and friends but to all the dedicated business people who are seeking better insights in a constantly changing world

To write this book I had to stand on the shoulders of many. My coauthor, Craig Fleisher, gave me so much support and understanding during my moments of crisis. My wonderful husbands patience, nurturing, and understanding provided a safe space for me to work. My family and dear friends understood the many times I was not there for them while completing this book. To the many broad shoulders at FT Press, thank you for making this book happen and, to Jeanne Glasser, for asking us to do it again. We could not have done it without you.

Finally, I would like to thank my many clients and colleagues for the challenges and questioning that made me realize there had to be a simpler way to do business analysis without being left in a state of paralysis. I hope this little book provides you with the necessary tools to solve some of your problems.

Babette Bensoussan

I would like to express my gratitude to my longtime coauthor and friend, Babette Bensoussan, for her thoughtful work toward realizing this book. I also want to thank my family members, friends, and colleagues for their patience and understanding while I was completing the book. My former outstanding BBA student and mentee Darby E. Chancey gets my special appreciation for being a great help with reviewing and adding useful ideas to several chapters, as well as BBA student Jason Grooms, my spring semester 2012 intern. I also want to thank individuals at several universities who have worked with and supported me. They include the Leicester Business SchoolDe Montfort University (UK) and my good friend Dr. Sheila Wright, with whom I have supervised several doctoral students as well as numerous research projects, and Tampere University of Technology (Finland) and Professor Mika Hannula, who is Dean of the Faculty of Business and Technology Management. There I am a docent and also support students in the doctoral program. Jeanne Glasser and her efficient FT Press colleagues and staff have also been helpful throughout this effort. Last, but not least, I want to thank my outstanding colleagues at Aurora WDC, particularly Arik and Derek Johnson, who often have to put up with my working many late hours completing books like this one.

Dr. Craig S. Fleisher

Many of the techniques described in this book were conceptualized by leading economists, financial and cost accountants, futurists, business professors, consultants, and other insightful practitioners or scholars. They often developed their ideas to solve pressing analytical problems they faced. We are grateful to these individuals for increasing our understanding of business, competitive, and strategic analysis. We have made a sincere effort to acknowledge the originators of these techniques in this book. Nevertheless, sometimes accurately making this acknowledgment can be difficult, such as when the technique (for example, SWOT) was quickly and widely accepted and came to form the commonly held body of knowledge underlying organizational decision-making.

Babette E. Bensoussan is Managing Director of the MindShifts Group, a consulting firm specializing in strategy and competition in the Australasia region. She is widely recognized and sought after for her international expertise in competitive analysis. She has mentored and trained executives and organizations to deliver and implement competitive analysis and competitive intelligence programs. She has undertaken over 300 major studies and undertaken consulting for Australian and global Fortune 500 companies as well as SMEs in strategic business and marketing planning, competitive intelligence, and strategic analysis.

She is a Fellow and a Meritorious Award winner of the international association of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). She has taught competitive intelligence in undergraduate business and MBA programs at universities in Australia and China. She is an adjunct professor at the School of Business, University of Technology, Sydney.

She has published numerous articles on strategic planning, competitive intelligence, and strategic marketing, and is an invited speaker and guest lecturer both domestically and internationally. She is the coauthor of five books on business strategy, competition, and analysis. Her first two books, Strategic and Competitive Analysis (Prentice Hall, 2003) and Business and Competitive Analysis (FT Press, 2007), have been the top-selling books in this field and have been translated into multiple languages.

Craig S. Fleisher, Ph.D., is the Chief Learning Officer and Director of Professional Development at Aurora WDC, Madison, Wisconsin, a leading professional services firm in the intelligence field. A former dean at two business schools, university research chair, and full professor, he is widely considered to be the Dean of Intelligence Analysis. He has won several outstanding professor, book, research, and speaking awards and was recognized as one of Canadas top MBA professors by Canadian Business. He is a docent of the graduate Faculty of Business and Technology Management at Tampere University of Technology (Finland) and is a member of the Executive MScom graduate faculty at Universit della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland). He has held or holds adjunct positions at leading universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. His PhD is from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh.