Stories
Stories
Smart Choices by John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa (Harvard Business School Press)
Decision-making is a major part of life for every human being. Where should you live? Which house should you buy? Is it time to change careers? Whom should you hire? Should you reorganize your business?
Howard Raiffa, the Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Managerial Economics, Emeritus, at HBS, is a pioneer in the development of decision and negotiations analysis. In Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions, Raiffa and his coauthors present a down-to-earth, systematic way of thinking about complex choices. They suggest that the decision-maker start by probing his or her objectives (including interests, fears, and aspirations) and use these reflections to help generate creative alternatives for evaluation. They emphasize the desirability of proactive thinking: looking for opportunities to explore as well as reacting to problems to be solved.
Says Raiffa, "Smart Choices is based on the premise that quality decision-making is a fundamental and valuable life skill that can shape and influence in a positive way one's personal and professional life."
The book suggests an organized framework to help individuals make intelligent choices. It presents ways to identify the right problem or opportunity, probe one's values, generate and evaluate alternatives, think about tradeoffs, and cope with uncertainties and attitudes toward risk. It concludes with a list of common errors or biases in decision-making and ideas for overcoming or avoiding them.
"Smart Choices should be relevant and accessible to all MBAs," says Raiffa, adding a bit whimsically, "and to all non-MBAs as well."
On Competition by Michael E. Porter (Harvard Business School Press)
HBS professor Michael E. Porter has published a new book that for the first time collects in a single volume the full range of his seminal articles on competition and strategy. Titled On Competition, it includes ten of Porter's articles from the Harvard Business Review and two entirely new articles he has written for this volume. In addition, in the book's introduction, Porter, who is perhaps the world's leading expert on competition and strategy, reveals how the key themes of his work have developed and come together over time.
On Competition is organized into three sections that delineate Porter's insights into competition at different levels and in different settings. Part One, "Competition and Strategy: Core Concepts," addresses competition and strategy for companies. Part Two, "The Competitiveness of Locations," explores the influence of location on competition — and the national, state, and local economic policies needed to enhance competitiveness. Part Three, "Competitive Solutions to Societal Problems," explores how the principles of competition can help provide realistic solutions for social problems in areas such as the environment, health care, and urban poverty.
The articles in On Competition represent the full scope of Porter's work on competition and strategy; assembled in a single volume, his ideas gain added strength and significance. Bridging economic theory and management practice, the book provides a powerful intellectual foundation and a pragmatic blueprint for both companies and countries seeking effective strategies for competing in today's global economy. "If this collection could convey only one message," Porter writes in his introduction, "I would want it to be a sense of the staggering power of competition to make things better — both for companies and for society."
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