In a world where customers are fickle and markets change overnight, you need to be ready to move rapidly when opportunities or threats arise - and that means knowing what your business is good at, and what it isn't. This book helps you to understand your organisation's potential, its capabilities and limitations, so when new challenges appear, you'll know how to manage your resources effectively to take advantage of them. It will show you how to build a more sustainable competitive advantage by revealing the techniques that underlie your firm's strategy, and explain how to improve and manage these resources to reinforce your strengths and ameliorate your weaknesses. Written for managers of small to medium sized businesses and industry consultants, this book also forms part of a three-volume set covering business strategy, performance, and competencies. Supporting material is available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521750301.

This unique industry guide consists of a three volume set which explains in practical terms how to develop effective manufacturing strategy for your business, how to measure the performance of your processes and procedures, and how to assess and manage the capabilities of your business to provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Worksheets, examples and practical advice are included throughout, and supporting material is available online. Based on a uniquely structured process developed over many years with major industry clients, including Rolls-Royce and Federal Mogul, its holistic approach can be applied to every area of operations from the entire organization down to individual business units or processes. Written for business managers and consultants and suitable for small to medium sized enterprises, and business units of larger organizations.