Reader Reviews of The Alpha Strategies
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Comments
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As a board member and an executive, I was pleasantly surprised with how familiar I was with the 8 strategy framework presented in The Alpha Strategies. So many books on business try to impress by
demonstrating how little the reader knows. The authors openly admit that the concepts they are offering are not new; it is known
Managing a company requires managing the principal activities found in every company; such as its finances, people, marketing, and service delivery. the Alpha Strategies brings real rigour to that
reality by reminding us that risk, business definition, growth, and R&D/Technology are also strategies to manage.
The notion that there are 3 types of strategy in every company is even more powerful. I was reminded of a company I was asked to chair. It was a large nonprofit delivering a social good service. Its
vision was to be the largest of its kind in North America. I was very uncomfortable with that vision and had it changed to becoming the best at what it did. The Alpha Strategies gave me a complete
explanation for my largely intuitive discomfort. The dominant strategy, Alpha, for the organization, as set out in its mandate, is Service Delivery - not Growth. The vision statement did not align
with the Alpha. Now it does.
This is a book I would consider essential reading for any board member and senior manager. It provides a provides an excellent framework for understanding and monitoring the strategies of any
company. It also reminds us that risk is one of the 8 strategies to be managed; a premise that should bring a whole new perspective to risk management
N.W. Purves, President, York University Development Corporation