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[ KEY STRATEGY TOOLS THE 80+ TOOLS FOR EVERY MANAGER TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY BY EVANS, VAUGHAN](AUTHOR)PAPERBACK
"The strategy tools you need for your business to succeed!"Let "Key Strategy Tools" be your guide to developing a winning strategy for your firm. Cherry-pick the most useful approaches for your business and create a robust strategy that withstands investor scrutiny and becomes your roadmap to success.Covering 88 tools and framed within an innovative strategy development process, the Strategy Pyramid, this user-friendly manual takes you through each step of the process. Whether analysing your market, building competitive advantage or addressing risk and opportunity, you'll find the strategic thinking tools you need at every stage in your strategy development.Following in the footsteps of the hugely successful "Key Management Models" and "Key Performance Indicators," this book delivers professional-level information in the practical and accessible framework synonymous with the Key series.
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First published December 1, 2012
44 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Vaughan Evans
46 books7 followersVAUGHAN EVANS is an independent strategy consultant and has specialised in strategy and business planning for business clients and strategic due diligence for private equity over four decades. He is also a prolific writer and dynamic speaker - see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com for further info.
He is the author of the best-selling THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN: HOW TO WIN BACKING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2nd edition, 2015), a book that views business planning distinctively from the perspective of the backer. It guides the entrepreneur or manager on how to address each of the key concerns of the backer, whether banker, investor or board member. Its North American version, THE STANDOUT BUSINESS PLAN: MAKE IT IRRESISTIBLE - AND GET THE FUNDS YOU NEED FOR YOUR STARTUP OR GROWING BUSINESS (2014), was co-authored with success guru Brian Tracy.
THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DEVELOPING A BUSINESS STRATEGY: HOW TO USE STRATEGIC PLANNING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2013) is a companion to the guide on business planning. It has been exceptionally well reviewed by peers, who view it as a succinct, practical and highly readable guide to drawing up a business strategy - ideal for busy managers and entrepreneurs, intent on lifting their business to the next level.
KISSTRATEGY: A KEEP-IT-SIMPLE GUIDE ON HOW TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY FOR YOUR STARTUP OR SMALL BUSINESS (2016), Vaughan's latest book, does what it says on the tin. It keeps business strategy simple. It is concise (100 pages or so), jargon-free and purpose-built for small businesspeople to read on a one hour journey.
KEY STRATEGY TOOLS: THE 80+ TOOLS FOR EVERY MANAGER TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY was one of the top three selling business books in the UK in the first quarter of 2013. The selection of tools, rated as either useful or essential and slotted uniquely into a no-nonsense strategy development process, is innovative, instructive and practically applicable. A more succinct version of this book, 25 NEED-TO-KNOW STRATEGY TOOLS (2014), pulls out the most important tools and adds an insightful case study to each.
LET THE SUN SHINE! HOW STRATEGIC DUE DILIGENCE IS KEY TO ACQUISITION SUCCESS (2015) could well have been Vaughan's first book - he has been highly active in this field since LBOs first wafted across the Atlantic in the mid-1980s. This book "pours sunlight onto the complex challenges of getting strategic due diligence right".
He also writes on career development, on how thinking of yourself as a one person business can advance or transform your career. He deploys the very tools he has developed in business strategy for the analysis of an individual's career prospects. Hence his BACKING YOU! range of books (www.backingu.com), regarded by peers as innovative, insightful and win-win.
Vaughan Evans is a charismatic, humorous and inspirational speaker (see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com/speaking). His lively keynote speech KISSTRATEGY urges the audience to keep business strategy simple, focusing on its three key components of Market, Advantage and Risk. He is also the author of the instructive yet entertaining STAND, SPEAK, DELIVER! HOW TO SURVIVE - AND THRIVE- IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTING (2015).
An economics graduate of Cambridge University and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow with distinction of London Business School, he worked for many years at management consultants Arthur D. Little and investment bankers Bankers Trust. A former resident of exotic lands such as the British Virgin Islands, Borneo, Fiji and Thailand, he hails from West Wales and lives alongside London's Richmond Park.
He is the author of the best-selling THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN: HOW TO WIN BACKING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2nd edition, 2015), a book that views business planning distinctively from the perspective of the backer. It guides the entrepreneur or manager on how to address each of the key concerns of the backer, whether banker, investor or board member. Its North American version, THE STANDOUT BUSINESS PLAN: MAKE IT IRRESISTIBLE - AND GET THE FUNDS YOU NEED FOR YOUR STARTUP OR GROWING BUSINESS (2014), was co-authored with success guru Brian Tracy.
THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DEVELOPING A BUSINESS STRATEGY: HOW TO USE STRATEGIC PLANNING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2013) is a companion to the guide on business planning. It has been exceptionally well reviewed by peers, who view it as a succinct, practical and highly readable guide to drawing up a business strategy - ideal for busy managers and entrepreneurs, intent on lifting their business to the next level.
KISSTRATEGY: A KEEP-IT-SIMPLE GUIDE ON HOW TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY FOR YOUR STARTUP OR SMALL BUSINESS (2016), Vaughan's latest book, does what it says on the tin. It keeps business strategy simple. It is concise (100 pages or so), jargon-free and purpose-built for small businesspeople to read on a one hour journey.
KEY STRATEGY TOOLS: THE 80+ TOOLS FOR EVERY MANAGER TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY was one of the top three selling business books in the UK in the first quarter of 2013. The selection of tools, rated as either useful or essential and slotted uniquely into a no-nonsense strategy development process, is innovative, instructive and practically applicable. A more succinct version of this book, 25 NEED-TO-KNOW STRATEGY TOOLS (2014), pulls out the most important tools and adds an insightful case study to each.
LET THE SUN SHINE! HOW STRATEGIC DUE DILIGENCE IS KEY TO ACQUISITION SUCCESS (2015) could well have been Vaughan's first book - he has been highly active in this field since LBOs first wafted across the Atlantic in the mid-1980s. This book "pours sunlight onto the complex challenges of getting strategic due diligence right".
He also writes on career development, on how thinking of yourself as a one person business can advance or transform your career. He deploys the very tools he has developed in business strategy for the analysis of an individual's career prospects. Hence his BACKING YOU! range of books (www.backingu.com), regarded by peers as innovative, insightful and win-win.
Vaughan Evans is a charismatic, humorous and inspirational speaker (see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com/speaking). His lively keynote speech KISSTRATEGY urges the audience to keep business strategy simple, focusing on its three key components of Market, Advantage and Risk. He is also the author of the instructive yet entertaining STAND, SPEAK, DELIVER! HOW TO SURVIVE - AND THRIVE- IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTING (2015).
An economics graduate of Cambridge University and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow with distinction of London Business School, he worked for many years at management consultants Arthur D. Little and investment bankers Bankers Trust. A former resident of exotic lands such as the British Virgin Islands, Borneo, Fiji and Thailand, he hails from West Wales and lives alongside London's Richmond Park.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 25, 2021
A lot of high level description of strategy tools, but not deep enough to make use of most of them.
August 21, 2018
This is a collection of strategy models like Porter’s 5 Forces or the BCG Matrix but it’s more than that. The author has written a strategy handbook on how to use these models as practical tools. Strategy models are a diverse bunch and they relate to anything from how to set up a distribution chain, to employee knowledge management, to competitive positioning to... well as I said, almost anything. Vaughn Evans, a management consultant and former banker and economist, presents a framework that puts each tool in a natural context. This framework is in itself an excellent tool that displays how various strategy niches fit together. To me this framework is actually one of the main contributions of the book. True, some of the tools presented to a certain extent have to be squeezed into one of the niches, but that’s easily forgiven.
This framework is not only a categorization but also a step by step manual for how to develop a coherent corporate strategy. The only issues hindering this book from being the CEO’s one stop shop are the lack of advice on strategy implementation/execution and also of more mundane lower level tools concerning procurement, production, distribution etc. No matter, the new CEO at least got half of his job covered by Evans text.
As the chapters progress and follow the framework the author at times arrives at necessary tasks related to forming a strategy that has not been covered by a fancy matrix from Michael Porter, McKinsey or Peters & Waterman. Instead of jumping to the next task Evens simply writes a short text on the job at hand, calls it a tool and moves on. Even if some of Evans 88 strategy tools are more to be characterized as concepts such as DCFs, tipping points, Taleb’s Black Swan, price elasticity etc. that the author thinks the corporate manager should know of and use, the fact that no step in the process are skipped makes it possible to build a strategy from the text. Evans also contributes a couple of “proper” tools of himself of which I will use the Suns and Clouds chart frequently in the future.
Despite the pocket book like appearance this book contains 339 rather packed pages and since every tool is summarized the text is rather fact rich. This could be a heavy text if the writing hadn’t been so fluent, at times helped by small pinches of dry humour. The framing of the models also make the reading easier and for those who don’t want to dwell too much on alternative models Evans has picked out those he thinks are the most important ones to use at each step of the strategy formulation. If I could have wished for something more it would have been more pointed tips for further reading. As it is now there are references presented for each rather long chapter and it’s not always clear which of these books if any that relate to the tool you wanted to study further.
It’s hard to pick out favourites out of all the models presented. However, the manual for corporate acquisitions is simple but excellent. If all those involved in M&A historically had followed it serious amounts of shareholders money would have been saved. I also appreciated a trio of connected tools called Customer Purchasing Criteria, Key Success Factors and Rating Competitive Position. Here you first identify what customers need from a product (the CPCs), then what a company and its competitors has to do to deliver the CPC (i.e. the KSFs) and lastly you weigh the KSFs according to their importance and rank all the relevant competitors on how they fulfil them. This gives a highly revealing picture of the competitive position of a company. I also feel I have to read more about the Blue Ocean strategy.
On top of getting a reference toolbox of strategy models and a manual for strategy formulation those who read the book cover to cover also receive a useful crash course on the history of strategy and management theories. This book will be the first one I return to whenever a task of strategic nature has to be handled.
This framework is not only a categorization but also a step by step manual for how to develop a coherent corporate strategy. The only issues hindering this book from being the CEO’s one stop shop are the lack of advice on strategy implementation/execution and also of more mundane lower level tools concerning procurement, production, distribution etc. No matter, the new CEO at least got half of his job covered by Evans text.
As the chapters progress and follow the framework the author at times arrives at necessary tasks related to forming a strategy that has not been covered by a fancy matrix from Michael Porter, McKinsey or Peters & Waterman. Instead of jumping to the next task Evens simply writes a short text on the job at hand, calls it a tool and moves on. Even if some of Evans 88 strategy tools are more to be characterized as concepts such as DCFs, tipping points, Taleb’s Black Swan, price elasticity etc. that the author thinks the corporate manager should know of and use, the fact that no step in the process are skipped makes it possible to build a strategy from the text. Evans also contributes a couple of “proper” tools of himself of which I will use the Suns and Clouds chart frequently in the future.
Despite the pocket book like appearance this book contains 339 rather packed pages and since every tool is summarized the text is rather fact rich. This could be a heavy text if the writing hadn’t been so fluent, at times helped by small pinches of dry humour. The framing of the models also make the reading easier and for those who don’t want to dwell too much on alternative models Evans has picked out those he thinks are the most important ones to use at each step of the strategy formulation. If I could have wished for something more it would have been more pointed tips for further reading. As it is now there are references presented for each rather long chapter and it’s not always clear which of these books if any that relate to the tool you wanted to study further.
It’s hard to pick out favourites out of all the models presented. However, the manual for corporate acquisitions is simple but excellent. If all those involved in M&A historically had followed it serious amounts of shareholders money would have been saved. I also appreciated a trio of connected tools called Customer Purchasing Criteria, Key Success Factors and Rating Competitive Position. Here you first identify what customers need from a product (the CPCs), then what a company and its competitors has to do to deliver the CPC (i.e. the KSFs) and lastly you weigh the KSFs according to their importance and rank all the relevant competitors on how they fulfil them. This gives a highly revealing picture of the competitive position of a company. I also feel I have to read more about the Blue Ocean strategy.
On top of getting a reference toolbox of strategy models and a manual for strategy formulation those who read the book cover to cover also receive a useful crash course on the history of strategy and management theories. This book will be the first one I return to whenever a task of strategic nature has to be handled.
October 15, 2015
“I wish I had thought of the idea for this book. Or could have done it so well! The selection of topics is excellent, the commentary astute, and the explanations simple and engaging. Perfect for reading on a plane or browsing at home.”
Richard Koch, entrepreneur, co-founder L.E.K. Consulting and author, The 80/20 Principle
“This is a new, very practical and delightfully pithy approach to strategy making. It offers a fabulous compendium of the major strategy tools, woven into a no-nonsense, step-by-step strategy process. An enormously refreshing and helpful book, invaluable to novices and strategy experts alike."
Marcus Alexander, Professor of Strategy and Enterprise, London Business School
“A really practical guide to strategy development. All the relevant tools are explained in detail, but highlighting the essential ones is a master stroke that will save endless hours!”
Adrian Beecroft, Chairman, Dawn Capital and former Senior Managing Partner, Apax Partners
"A comprehensive inventory of the tools and analytical frameworks of strategy. The key value of this book is the guidance it offers on how to apply these tools - and this is rooted in Vaughan Evans' deep experience of working with them."
Robert M. Grant, ENI Professor of Strategic Management, Bocconi University, Milan, visiting fellow at Georgetown University, Washington and author of the market leading strategy textbook for business school students, Contemporary Strategic Analysis, now in its 7th edition
“Everything you need from a tool kit, comprehensive, practical and high added value.”
Mike Garland, Partner and Head of Portfolio Group, Permira Advisers LLP
“This book really works. I hope it becomes a standard for every management team seeking private equity; it would certainly make my life much easier.”
David Williamson, Managing Director, Nova Capital Management
“A broad yet accessible explanation of the range of strategy tools actually used by businesses. Whether you are an experienced strategy specialist or newer to the field, you will find this an invaluable guide.”
Robert Samuelson, Executive Director Group Strategy, Virgin Media
“Strategy is at the heart of a successful business – with this excellent book, Vaughan Evans has provided an extremely clear roadmap to achieving that success”
James Courtenay, Global Head, Advisory & Infrastructure Finance, Standard Chartered Bank
“A very satisfying read. This is a guide to strategy which covers all the necessary ground in a very straightforward and no nonsense way, employing a number of good real life examples of strategy in practice. It is written by a true expert and will prove an invaluable tool for anybody involved in the running of a business.”
Vince O’Brien, Director, Montagu Private Equity and Past Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association
“It can be difficult to keep up to date with all the latest developments in the world of strategy, let alone how one guru’s work blends with those of his predecessors. Vaughan Evans has done it for us. He gives us a thorough refresher course, with each leading strategy theory, model or matrix presented as a tool in the manager’s toolkit – and carefully placed in each step of the strategy process. Each tool is described in a lucid and vivid style seldom found in a business manual. Refreshing and invaluable for a DIY strategist.”
Christine Harvey, former Director of Business Analysis and Planning, GlaxoSmithKline R&D
“A practical approach, easy to read and understand, on how to build your business strategy, the steering direction that any business, large or small, needs to succeed”
Jose-Maria Maldonado, Partner, Bridgepoint Capital, Madrid
“Every company needs to know where it is headed. It needs a strategy. That doesn’t have to be complicated, especially for an SME. Much of it is common sense. Be guided by Vaughan Evans’s sensible but sparkling book and you will get the strategy you need.”
Peter Wright, Investment Director, Finance Wales
“I had never come across a strategy manual that was as useful as the Powerpoint slides we used to follow at my former consulting group. Until now. Evans’s book is exceptional. It is effectively two books in one: a DIY strategy manual and a toolkit. The manual is arranged around his Strategy Pyramid, with its nine no-nonsense building blocks. Then in each block he lays out a bunch of tools, guiding us as to which are the most essential, for developing a strategy. This is an easy-to-follow strategy process that any manager can run with. A winning book for a winning strategy.”
Stephen Lawrence, Chief Executive, Protocol Education Ltd and former Managing Director, Arthur D. Little
“Often one of our portfolio companies needs to firm up or redefine its strategy. Sometimes we have to call in strategy consultants to help the management team. With this tiptop strategy manual to hand, we may not need to make those calls.”
Ken Lawrence, Partner, Gresham Private Equity
"Another excellent book from Vaughan Evans. This time he's achieved the near impossible task of writing a book on strategy formulation that is actually differentiated from the plethora of other offerings out there. By setting out each of 88 strategy models and techniques within a transparent process, this book will be genuinely useful to managers and entrepreneurs.”
James Pitt, Partner, Lexington Partners
"Many businesses fail to deliver their potential or fail altogether because they neglect to develop a clear, concise, appropriate and well-communicated strategy. Business books on the subject often don’t help – they tend to adopt a theoretical approach, appearing to the manager to lack practical relevance. As a result, they can be unhelpful and uninspiring. This is far from the case in Vaughan Evans’s excellent Key Strategy Tools. He has put together a well constructed compendium of techniques and tools, from Porter to Rumelt, Hamel to Hammer, plus some gems from his own solid experience, and provides clear guidance on their relevance and application. Evans has a ‘no nonsense’ conversational style of writing and has delivered a book for all managers, regardless of experience. As with his recent guide to writing a business plan, this is not for your business library. It is for action on your desk!"
Grahame Hughes, Founding Director, Haven Power Ltd.
“I am not aware of any other book that brings together so many different business analysis tools into a single volume, cleverly grouped to shape a manual. You can’t have a Haynes manual for strategy, but this is as close as you will get to one. It has the potential to become the standard reference text for busy executives.”
Richard Hepper, Deputy Chief Executive, Capital for Enterprise
“This is a most impressive book. I particularly like the approach it takes structurally, with each of the 88 tools assigned its rightful place in the strategy formulation process. It is a comprehensive, practical and highly effective guide to strategy and will prove an invaluable aide to both entrepreneurs and managers of larger businesses. I genuinely like this book.”
Charles Ind, Managing Partner, Bowmark Capital LLP
"In writing Key Strategy Tools, Vaughan Evans has provided us with a handy reference book of strategy models and techniques, with the added benefit of a sound process manual. Using his characteristic brand of humour, Evans reminds us of most of the tried and tested tools and introduces some stimulating new ones too."
Mike Price, Chief Executive, Better Strategy Ltd
“Where else can you find instant access and a user-friendly guide to over 80 important strategy tools? A must for every manager’s desktop.”
Paul Gough, Partner, STAR Capital Partners
“Vaughan Evans has done it again. His book on business planning last year showed entrepreneurs how to build a plan that meets investor concerns. But a winning plan hinges on a winning strategy. Now Evans sets out how to build such a strategy, clearly and progressively. Follow this book and you’ll build a strategy to win over investors.”
Jonathan Derry-Evans, Partner, Manfield Partners
"A successful strategy requires an intellectual framework, clear analysis and the tools to construct it. Vaughan Evans' new book brings all these together and explains, in jargon-free language, how to choose and use the tools most relevant to your needs to create a compelling strategy. Comprehensive, but clear and concise, and evidently honed from practical experience, this is the go-to strategy guide for entrepreneurs and managers alike.”
Richard Kemp, Managing Partner, Sephton Capital
Richard Koch, entrepreneur, co-founder L.E.K. Consulting and author, The 80/20 Principle
“This is a new, very practical and delightfully pithy approach to strategy making. It offers a fabulous compendium of the major strategy tools, woven into a no-nonsense, step-by-step strategy process. An enormously refreshing and helpful book, invaluable to novices and strategy experts alike."
Marcus Alexander, Professor of Strategy and Enterprise, London Business School
“A really practical guide to strategy development. All the relevant tools are explained in detail, but highlighting the essential ones is a master stroke that will save endless hours!”
Adrian Beecroft, Chairman, Dawn Capital and former Senior Managing Partner, Apax Partners
"A comprehensive inventory of the tools and analytical frameworks of strategy. The key value of this book is the guidance it offers on how to apply these tools - and this is rooted in Vaughan Evans' deep experience of working with them."
Robert M. Grant, ENI Professor of Strategic Management, Bocconi University, Milan, visiting fellow at Georgetown University, Washington and author of the market leading strategy textbook for business school students, Contemporary Strategic Analysis, now in its 7th edition
“Everything you need from a tool kit, comprehensive, practical and high added value.”
Mike Garland, Partner and Head of Portfolio Group, Permira Advisers LLP
“This book really works. I hope it becomes a standard for every management team seeking private equity; it would certainly make my life much easier.”
David Williamson, Managing Director, Nova Capital Management
“A broad yet accessible explanation of the range of strategy tools actually used by businesses. Whether you are an experienced strategy specialist or newer to the field, you will find this an invaluable guide.”
Robert Samuelson, Executive Director Group Strategy, Virgin Media
“Strategy is at the heart of a successful business – with this excellent book, Vaughan Evans has provided an extremely clear roadmap to achieving that success”
James Courtenay, Global Head, Advisory & Infrastructure Finance, Standard Chartered Bank
“A very satisfying read. This is a guide to strategy which covers all the necessary ground in a very straightforward and no nonsense way, employing a number of good real life examples of strategy in practice. It is written by a true expert and will prove an invaluable tool for anybody involved in the running of a business.”
Vince O’Brien, Director, Montagu Private Equity and Past Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association
“It can be difficult to keep up to date with all the latest developments in the world of strategy, let alone how one guru’s work blends with those of his predecessors. Vaughan Evans has done it for us. He gives us a thorough refresher course, with each leading strategy theory, model or matrix presented as a tool in the manager’s toolkit – and carefully placed in each step of the strategy process. Each tool is described in a lucid and vivid style seldom found in a business manual. Refreshing and invaluable for a DIY strategist.”
Christine Harvey, former Director of Business Analysis and Planning, GlaxoSmithKline R&D
“A practical approach, easy to read and understand, on how to build your business strategy, the steering direction that any business, large or small, needs to succeed”
Jose-Maria Maldonado, Partner, Bridgepoint Capital, Madrid
“Every company needs to know where it is headed. It needs a strategy. That doesn’t have to be complicated, especially for an SME. Much of it is common sense. Be guided by Vaughan Evans’s sensible but sparkling book and you will get the strategy you need.”
Peter Wright, Investment Director, Finance Wales
“I had never come across a strategy manual that was as useful as the Powerpoint slides we used to follow at my former consulting group. Until now. Evans’s book is exceptional. It is effectively two books in one: a DIY strategy manual and a toolkit. The manual is arranged around his Strategy Pyramid, with its nine no-nonsense building blocks. Then in each block he lays out a bunch of tools, guiding us as to which are the most essential, for developing a strategy. This is an easy-to-follow strategy process that any manager can run with. A winning book for a winning strategy.”
Stephen Lawrence, Chief Executive, Protocol Education Ltd and former Managing Director, Arthur D. Little
“Often one of our portfolio companies needs to firm up or redefine its strategy. Sometimes we have to call in strategy consultants to help the management team. With this tiptop strategy manual to hand, we may not need to make those calls.”
Ken Lawrence, Partner, Gresham Private Equity
"Another excellent book from Vaughan Evans. This time he's achieved the near impossible task of writing a book on strategy formulation that is actually differentiated from the plethora of other offerings out there. By setting out each of 88 strategy models and techniques within a transparent process, this book will be genuinely useful to managers and entrepreneurs.”
James Pitt, Partner, Lexington Partners
"Many businesses fail to deliver their potential or fail altogether because they neglect to develop a clear, concise, appropriate and well-communicated strategy. Business books on the subject often don’t help – they tend to adopt a theoretical approach, appearing to the manager to lack practical relevance. As a result, they can be unhelpful and uninspiring. This is far from the case in Vaughan Evans’s excellent Key Strategy Tools. He has put together a well constructed compendium of techniques and tools, from Porter to Rumelt, Hamel to Hammer, plus some gems from his own solid experience, and provides clear guidance on their relevance and application. Evans has a ‘no nonsense’ conversational style of writing and has delivered a book for all managers, regardless of experience. As with his recent guide to writing a business plan, this is not for your business library. It is for action on your desk!"
Grahame Hughes, Founding Director, Haven Power Ltd.
“I am not aware of any other book that brings together so many different business analysis tools into a single volume, cleverly grouped to shape a manual. You can’t have a Haynes manual for strategy, but this is as close as you will get to one. It has the potential to become the standard reference text for busy executives.”
Richard Hepper, Deputy Chief Executive, Capital for Enterprise
“This is a most impressive book. I particularly like the approach it takes structurally, with each of the 88 tools assigned its rightful place in the strategy formulation process. It is a comprehensive, practical and highly effective guide to strategy and will prove an invaluable aide to both entrepreneurs and managers of larger businesses. I genuinely like this book.”
Charles Ind, Managing Partner, Bowmark Capital LLP
"In writing Key Strategy Tools, Vaughan Evans has provided us with a handy reference book of strategy models and techniques, with the added benefit of a sound process manual. Using his characteristic brand of humour, Evans reminds us of most of the tried and tested tools and introduces some stimulating new ones too."
Mike Price, Chief Executive, Better Strategy Ltd
“Where else can you find instant access and a user-friendly guide to over 80 important strategy tools? A must for every manager’s desktop.”
Paul Gough, Partner, STAR Capital Partners
“Vaughan Evans has done it again. His book on business planning last year showed entrepreneurs how to build a plan that meets investor concerns. But a winning plan hinges on a winning strategy. Now Evans sets out how to build such a strategy, clearly and progressively. Follow this book and you’ll build a strategy to win over investors.”
Jonathan Derry-Evans, Partner, Manfield Partners
"A successful strategy requires an intellectual framework, clear analysis and the tools to construct it. Vaughan Evans' new book brings all these together and explains, in jargon-free language, how to choose and use the tools most relevant to your needs to create a compelling strategy. Comprehensive, but clear and concise, and evidently honed from practical experience, this is the go-to strategy guide for entrepreneurs and managers alike.”
Richard Kemp, Managing Partner, Sephton Capital
July 21, 2021
Just a list of approaches to diverse topics such as project management, corporate strategy, and so on. The list is long, and thus the content is shallow.
OK, if you want only to have a reference book of approches
OK, if you want only to have a reference book of approches
July 10, 2015
Amazing little book with plenty of insights and practical suggestions
February 26, 2016
It's great reference and strategy framework!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews