Case studies in strategic management

88

Long Range Planning Vol. 13

K. F. JACKSON, Bulmershe-Comino Professor Studies, College of Higher Education, Reading

December of Administrative (707)

Retail Planning in the European Communilies, edited by R. L. DAVIES, Saxon House-Teakfield, Famborough (1979). 241 pp. Ll1.50 (hardback). International comparisons of the development of town planning procedures and of marketing institutions are always seductive. They suggest the possibilities of answers to an almost endless series of questions which puzzle the long range planner: Are there lags between countries which may make it possible to predict how those which are not as ‘advanced’ as others will evolve through analogy to the course of events in the advanced country? Are institutional controls more or less effective in one country than another? Are there great planning disasters from which lessons might be learnt? This series of conference papers has been excellently edited by Dr. Ross Davies of the Department of Geography, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. It contains much more than many volumes of this type. Most of the papers are well documented and contain an impressive array of detail. General papers on retail trends in the E.E.C. Countries and on the responsibilities of retail planning set the scene for 8 papers on individual countries. Generalized conclusions are difficult from such a range of material. ‘The Editor has not however ducked this task. To some extent the task is easier than one might have anticipated. The range of issues bearing on retail planning is so considerable that it is surprising that there is so much common ground between the authors from different countries. One of the authors specifies the problems as: how much or how many?, what type?, when?, and where?. Most agree. How we should begin to answer these questions does not however appear to have been spelt out in any of the countries. Perhaps this is where the international perspective is really needed. Dr. Schiller in an amusing introductory chapter outlines how political the planning process actually is in Britain. Rarely thereafter do the contributors provide the reader with much insight into the way in which this process works out in their individual countries. Those who are technicians in the planning process somewhat naturally look for improvements in planning from better information and more research. Those who are academics tend to emphasize the external results of the development process: the amount, the location, the form and the date of development. Rarely is there any consideration of the costs and the consumer benefits of different forms of development or indeed the absence of new development. Nor is there much comment on the role of developers in the planning process. However these comments should not be taken so much as a criticism of the book as of the structure of retail planning in all countries. Thus for long range planners there are still many questions which have barely been formulated let alone answered. The essays in this book may well help in this process. They certainly provide a welcome international perspective to something which all too often has been insular in conception. Whilst generally the book is well produced and conveniently arranged, there may be some who will fnd a type size of about 8 point rather small for easy reading. Perhaps the publishers might note this. In specialist productions of this type there appears to be too large a range of type sizes in use. Those who buy a book unseen may finish up either with a document which is best read some feet from the eyes or with one which needs a magnifying glass. DAVID THORPE, Research London

Director,

John

Lewis

1980 Case Studies in Srrutegic Manugenent, J. M. STOPFORD,D. F. CHANNON and J. CONSTABLE,Wiley, Chichester (1980), 541 pp. AS.95 (softback) & L21.50 (hardback). This book is compulsive bedside reading for all managers in that it enables them to experience the development of an incredible range of companies from Kitchen Queen through to Trafalgar House without having to suffer the consequences of that experience. The 33 cases developed by the authors are mainly of U.K. and European companies which enables the reader more easily to relate to the environments and cultures within which these companies operate. The cases are grouped together under seven headings so that taken together the reader can consider concepts and problems of change, of adjustment to external forces, of styles of management, and, above all, where firms are becoming increasingly diverse in their spread of activities, of managing complexity. The first group is ‘Introduction to Strategic Life Cycles which studies the development of Kitchen Queen from its start in 1965 to only 13 years later a public offer for sale of 6.81 million ordinary shares at 1Op each at a price of 29p per share, a turnaround situation at Anglian Canners, the pre-1969 Matchbox glory of Lesney products, the growth through acquisition of NSS Newsagents and the appetizing story of Tizer. For businessmen who wonder how the hotels in which they stay decide upon the face the hotel shows to the public the Lex Hotel Strategy is very educational. Given an insight into the International Shipping Industry (under ‘Industry Structure and Strategy’) one is then shown the problems and strategies of Fumess Withy and British Shipbuilding. ‘Managing the External Environment’ has very different connotations for Norcem, the Norwegian Cement manufacturers who will never be profitable, but neither will it ever be bankrupt ! The government will not allow either ‘to happen’ as against F. Hoffman-La-Roche whose pricing policy has caused government wrath to the ever ebullient ‘Tiny’ Rowlands and his multinational manoeuverings at Lonrho to Inmos the fledgling RAM 16K. ‘Planning Systems’ are the life blood of the Corporate Planner and therefore the systems of Ameri Chem Corporation, Lex Service Group and Big Buy Supermarkets are included to keep the adrenalin flowing. ‘Styles of Management’ range from Erskine of Securicor doing his 5a.m. morning swim in the Serpentine, working 18 h a day, and then sleeping in the office, to the employees’ ‘ownership’ of Scott Bader followed by ‘The Cycle of Goodness’ of YKK. ‘Decision Making and Leadership’ illustrates the musical chairs at General Trading Company, Woodstock’s problems at Crown Company, the ripples under the surface of Solent and what to do with an offer of A3Om from the Department of Industry by Carter Ltd. ‘Managing Complexity’ describes the strategic moves between 1972 and 1979 of Volvo, the new policy and structure of Fiat’s captive steel group, the French, American detente at the Bancil Corporation, the agonies of Strategic Positioning at Albion, the Sheffield Portfolio Management and recovering of Capital Expenditure System at Norcros followed by the OST System and Transfer of Experience Curves at Texas Instruments to our new Trafalgar hero Nigel Broackes.

Partnership, (660)

Having been humbled by these experiences the Corporate

Planner

Book Reviews and the Business Policy teacher and student will be Oh, so much the wiser. BRIAN SHAW, Senior Lecturer, Polytechnic of Central London

Business

Policy

Programmes, (704)

An Introduction

to Business Accounting for Managers, 3rd Edition, W. C. F. HARTLEY,Pergamon, Oxford (1979). 221 pp. A4.95 (softback) and ElO.50 (hardback).

It is 11 years since the 2nd edition of the book was published. It has been considerably revised and enlarged to include material on subjects which have become more significant during the past decade, such as the introduction of accounting standards, the importance of cash flow, value added and of course, problems of inflation. The text is divided into 17 short chapters and is concerned mainly with published accounts of companies, although there are three chapters relating to internal management accounting and one very useful chapter on the difficult subject of corporate taxation. The text is illustrated throughout with many numerical examples, tables and diagrams which should prove very useful to the reader who has time to study and work through them. A number of the chapters go into subjects which are not generally covered in a text of this nature; for example, the chapter on development and principles of book keeping spends some time describing classification of accounts, debits and credits which are, perhaps, not relevant to a manager’s understanding of accounting. The chapters on cash flow and inflation accounting form a useful introduction to these very important subjects. However one feels that more time could have been spent discussing inflation and other problems in the context of managerial planning and control. The book is aimed at a management accounting student undertaking a preliminary course in appreciation of accounting and is well-suited for this purpose. However, for the practising manager and planner who require a ‘ready reference to accounting topics there are other books available which may be suitable. Such books are, Finance for the Non-Accountant by L. E. Rockley, Business Books (3rd Edition of 1979) and for a more compact introduction, Management Accounting for Non-Financial Managers by D. C. M. Jones, Management Guide No. 7 of the B.I.M. (1978). JOHN V. PEARSON,responsible for Accounting istrative Staff College, Henley-on-Thames

Macroeconomics

for

89

Dr. Reekie, Reader in Business Economics at the University of Edinburgh, points the way forward and his book should be welcomed by students (economics undergraduates perhaps as well as those on MBA courses), busy managers (who will appreciate Reekie’s concise style) and economists (grateful for his forthright support and accepting admonitions to caution and humility). His basic premise is that macrmconomics will reach faulty policy conclusions unless underpinned by micrc+economic analysis. Thus the first chapter is on basic demand and supply theory, starting where the manager is, making business decisions. An outline of national income accounting then follows; this is necessarily sketchy, but unnecessarily inaccurate in a few places (for example, second-hand car sales from businesses to private persons ate included in consumer spending). The third Chapter rescues Say’s equality ‘the sum of all planned market excess demands, over all goods, including money, is zero’ from obscurity and makes it a lynch pin of the subsequent analysis of the macro markets: labour, commodities, bonds and money. In this analysis, the implications for economic policy, i.e. what governments are likely to be urged to do in given economic and political circumstances, and the possible micro-economic reactions by businessmen and consumers (often not what governments expect), are constantly born in mind. Thus the reader should ap preciate that the theory-this is a theoretical text book-is moulded in the real world. The reader will also soon appreciate that Dr. Reekie is of a monetarist persuasion: the neo Keynesian would not accept all hii conclusions. But then an attraction of this book is that each argument is so clearly developed from basic premises that the alert reader will be able to use its analytical framework to move from different premises to different conclusions. Three small grouses. The exposition is marred by a few errors in descriptive material, e.g. building society deposits are not part of money supply ‘Ma’ as stated in the foomote on page 90. A brief mathematical appendix would be valued by those who find algebra easier to follow than diagrams. A bibliography for further reading would have been useful. This book is recommended reading for students, managersespecially those in finance, marketing and planning-and business economists needing a refresher course. RICHARDJ. HALL, Director, Staniland Hall Associates Ltd., London and Lecturer, Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (697)

Studies, The Admin(706)

Managers,

W. D. &Km, Philip Allan, Deddington (1980), 163 pp. L4.50 (softback) 81 L9.00 (hardback). To the harassed manager, beset simultaneously by debilitating inflation and falling demand, macro-economics may seem quite baffling. It appeared relatively easy a few years ago: Keynes had pointed the way towards solving the economic problem. All the government had to do was reflate (increase aggregate demand) when unemployment was too high and deflate (reduce aggregate demand) when inflation threatened. True, the economists hadn’t perfected the art, but given time and better data they would. Now, in the aftermath of the troubled seventies, we have in Britain the neo Keynesians, ‘New Cambridge’ and Monetarists, with widely differing views as to how the economy works and widely differing policy prescriptions.

BOOKS RECEIVED Martagerial

Planning, March-April 1980, Planning Executives Institute, Oxford, Ohio, 40 pp. (softback). Received May 1980. (714)

Practical Corporate Planning, J. ARGENTI, Geo. Allen & Unwin, London (I980), 221 pp. A4.95 (softback) & A;IO.95 (hardback). Received May 1980. Management for

national,

(715)

the 1980’s,

Hemel

W. CHRISTOPHER,Prentice-Hall InterHempstead (1980) 295 pp. E4.50 (softback).

Received May 1980.

(716)

Vol. 1, No. 1, February 1980 (the first four issues are due to appear in 1980 in one volume, the subscription price being U.S. $80.00 or D.fl. 156.00) NorthHolland Publishing Co. Amsterdam. Received May 1980. (717) Large-scale

A Practical

Systems,

Theory and Applications,

Guide to Budgetary

and Management

Control

Systems,