Corporate Universities

Aanjagers van de lerende organisatie

Rademakers, M. (Ed.) / Publisher: Kluwer (2012)

http://www.kluwershop.nl/management/details.asp?pr=17167

The book is aimed at senior managers and HRD professionals, and revolves around the strategic role of corporate universities ('drivers of the learning organization'), and includes:

• Four conceptual chapters (intro, business strategy, three generic corporate university strategies, final chapter on strategic paradoxes)
• Eight cases on how corporate universities shape(d) their strategic role. They are authored by corporate university executives, and edited by the lead author. Companies included are Shell, ING Bank and DHV Group, and also (Dutch) non-profit companies in the water industry, housing, and government. Also included (in Chapter 15) are examples of IKEA, Exact, and Ducati.
• Three visionary chapters about the past, present and future of corporate universities, featuring the development of ING Business School, and identifying different generations of corporate universities, including Disney, Apple, Heineken, TNT and Ahold. Attention is paid to the impact of new technology en social media on learning in organizations.
• In the final chapter, an analysis is being made of the cases in the book. Five strategic issues for corporate universities are identified, such as the questions of being vision-driven or issue-driven.

In short, "Corporate Universities: Aanjagers van de lerende organisatie" is a challenging book that caters for the growing need for knowledge and insights into the strategic potential of corporate universities. The state-of-the-art frameworks and examples are a must-read for managers and professionals who want to get the most out of the strategic learning capability of their organization.

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STRATEGY

Process, Content, Context

Conventional strategic management education is dominated by a strong industry recipe that: limits the number of perspectives presented; uses an overly simplistic step-by-step strategic planning approach; reworks original material into consistent and bite-size pieces of text; and leans heavily towards the author's own domestic context in terms of the choice of perspectives, theories, examples and cases.

De Wit and Meyer's Strategy takes a strikingly different approach. The fundamental differences of opinion within strategic management are not ignored or smoothed over. Instead, the authors carefully guide the students through the many, often conflicting, perspectives in the field of strategy, in order to help them become critical and creative strategic thinkers.

Opinions on the book:

Human Systems Management (2008) , Vol. 27, pp. 87–88

“Why review a strategy teaching textbook, one might well ask, when so many are similar in content and structure? The reason is this one is different.”

Academy of Management Learning & Education (2005), Vol. 4, Nr. 4, pp. 516-517

“Therefore,[…], Strategy Synthesis presents one realistic and effective option available to most strategy instructors for improving student abilities in a number of these key areas. It is an intellectually stimulating book that is certain to engage the student reader through its unique approach.”

Unknown user on amazon.com

“Challenging... yes. Intelligent... absolutely! Relevant to the needs of people working with strategy... undoubtedly! [… ] This is an exceptional piece of work. Highly recommended.”

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STRATEGY SYNTHESIS

Resolving strategy paradoxes to create competitive advantage

The belief that managers and potential managers will profit from understanding the major conflicting approaches to strategy forms the point of departure for this book. Ignoring the profound differences between the various schools of thought does not enhance a manager's or student's capacity for strategic thinking. Rather, it is only when there is knowledge of the various points of view can strategists truly see the range of options open to them. Then they can find a way to choose between them, or integrate them, to be practically effective. To structure the comparison of strategy approaches, the most important conflicting strategy perspectives have been clustered together around ten key strategy issues, one key issue per chapter. Two classic readings in each chapter by key strategic thinkers further represent the two opposite positions.

De Wit and Meyer's Strategy Synthesis actively challenges the educational orthodoxy to encourage students and managers to be critical, and to challenge them to be analytical, in order to facilitate creativity and unconventional thinking. In this text the authors carefully guide students and managers through the many, often conflicting, perspectives in the field of strategy, in order to help them become true strategic thinkers.

back to top

STRATEGY SYNTHESIS

Resolving strategy paradoxes to create competitive advantage

The belief that managers and potential managers will profit from understanding the major conflicting approaches to strategy forms the point of departure for this book. Ignoring the profound differences between the various schools of thought does not enhance a manager's or student's capacity for strategic thinking. Rather, it is only when there is knowledge of the various points of view can strategists truly see the range of options open to them. Then they can find a way to choose between them, or integrate them, to be practically effective. This book is intended for readers who need a strategy text, without the case material.

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STRATEGY SYNTHESIS

Resolving strategy paradoxes to create competitive advantage

Meyer, R. & Wit, B. de

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SOVEREIGN OR SERVANT?

Cross fertilizing 20 approaches to develop a robust leadership style

Meyer, R. & Meijers, R.

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SURVIVAL OF THE FATTEST?

Understanding the Value Added of Multi-Business Corporations

Meyer, R.

view here

Lecture, delivered on the official acceptance of the office of professor of Corporate Strategy at TiasNimbas Business school,Tilburg University on Friday, September 11^th 2009.

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MAPPING THE MIND OF THE STRATEGIST

A quantitative methodology for measuring the strategic beliefs of executives

Meyer, R. / Publisher: Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

This study is about mapping the mind of the strategist - quantitatively measuring the core beliefs that executives have about the best way to approach strategic issues. The objective is to develop a reliable instrument for measuring these strategy beliefs, which can be reused across a broad range of cognitive studies. The intention is to create a Hofstede-like universal instrument for quantitatively capturing strategic beliefs of executives across any range of industries and cultures.

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MANAGING INTER-FIRM COOPERATION IN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

A comparison of the Dutch and UK potato industries

This book is about inter-firm cooperation, and how and why it differs from country to country.

Based on a cross-national comparative study between the highly competitive Dutch and UK potato industries, the book reveals that both bilateral (i.e., firm-to-firm) and multilateral forms (i.e., business associations) of cooperation differ greatly between these countries. Moreover, it is shown that inter-firm cooperation can be considered as an important way to gain competitive advantage in internationally competitive markets.

The book provides an interpretive framework for analysis, helping to explain why distinct ways of inter-firm organization can develop in same industries, in different countries. It is argued that managers need to take into account the influence of key social institutions when they develop their strategies, and that they, to some degree, can influence them for the benefit of their organizations.