Strategic Planning

• 19 Questions to Supercharge Your Business Plan Key questions that focus on factors critical to outside investors and to anyone formulating a marketing and product strategy.
  
• How to Get Things Done: A Guide to Strategic Planning A step-by-step program for creating a strategic plan and tactical plan.
  
• Glossary of Strategic Planning Terms Strategic planning terminology.
  

• How Do Venture Capitalists Choose Investments? Empirical study of determining factors in venture capital investments, provided by the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
  
• Money Tree Survey Pricewaterhouse Cooper's quarterly study of equity investments made by the venture capital community in emerging private companies in the U.S.

 

Knowledge Management

• What is Knowledge Management? This article discusses the links between KM, organizational learning, and the bottom line.
  
• Knowledge Management: Everyone Benefits by Sharing Information This article discusses the value and need for KM efforts in large organizations.
• 100 Companies That Matter KMWorld This site lists the one hundred companies, in KM World's opinion, that are best using knowledge management to manage the thinking assets of their enterprises.
  
• "Tools for Knowledge Management" Paper by Anthony Wensley, Associate Professor of Information Systems, University of Toronto, examining the specific tools available for knowledge management as well as the general issues surrounding those tools.

• Strategic Renaissance: New Thinking and Innovative Tools to Create Great Corporate Strategies Using Insights from History and Science
  by Evan Matthew Dudik. Great business strategies, like great discoveries, are inspired acts of creation, brilliantly synthesizing disparate ideas into something surprising and new.
• On Competition
  On Competition, a collection of works by Michael E. Porter, is a critical examination of the dog-eat-dog international economy. The essence of Porter's message is that every company, country, and person must master competition to thrive in brutal international and domestic economies.
• E-Business Intelligence: Turning Information into Knowledge into Profit
  Author Bernard Liautaud explains how to move from data (the extensive raw stats to which most contemporary firms are privy) to information (the proper context in which they must be applied) to intelligence (the collective knowledge from which appropriate actions are initiated).
  
• The Stuff of Heroes : The Eight Universal Laws of Leadership
  William A. Cohen, Senior Advisor at STEP and former Air Force General William Cohen, Ph.D. has been a combat leader in the American and Israeli air forces and a corporate leader for many organizations. He is the author of more than 46 books on business and leadership topics. A former president of the West Point Society of Los Angeles, he lives in Pasadena, California. The Suff of Heroes is an exceptional book isolating eight universal laws of leadership. Here's his list:
  

  1. Maintain Absolute Integrity. 2. Know Your Stuff. 3. Declare Your Expectations. 4. Show Uncommon Commitment. 5. Expect Positive Results. 6. Take Care of Your People. 7. Put Duty Before Self. 8. Get Out in Front.

• The Marketing Plan
  William A. Cohen's book explains the importance of a well-formulated marketing plan and encourages reader participation by including activities toward developing a professional marketing plan. A wealth of convenient forms focus attention and, once completed, serve as the basis of the marketing plan. Includes numerous sample plans which motivate and reinforce comprehension.
• The New Art of the Leader
  William A. Cohen's book is a management classic--widely praised by CEOs and military commanders--celebrating military leadership as a winning model for effective leadership in business. With a firm focus on the practical and the attainable, Cohen shows precisely how to apply the winning tactics of military leadership to modern business. This revised edition features outstanding leadership examples from Desert Storm and Bosnia, including the experiences of General Norman Schwarzkopf and General Colin Powell. Every concept and every technique is demonstrated by a real life example from battle and/or the boardroom. It also showcases the skills and drive of remarkable business leaders, such as Andy Grove (Chairman and CEO, Intel), Steven Speilberg, and Howard Schultz (CEO, Starbucks). The New Art of the Leader teaches exactly how to apply military leadership techniques from all military services, many countries, and many centuries to modern businesses using dramatic examples from both combat and civilian organizations.
  
• Wisdom of the Generals
  William A. Cohen's book is a unique collection of words of inspiration from military leaders throughout the ages plus illuminating discussions from a former U.S. Air Force officer and corporate leader of the application of each saying to everyday life. From Alexander the Great to Colin Powell, outstanding military leaders have inspired troops to victory not by action alone, but by words of courage and conviction, illustrating the practical lessons learned from these leaders which can be applied to everyday life.
  
• Top Executive Performance : 11 Keys to Success and Power
  by William A. Cohen, Nurit Cohen
  
• Building a Mail Order Business : A Complete Manual for Success
  William A. Cohen's book is an unbeatable treasury of terrific direct marketing ideas from one of the most respected experts on marketing and entrepreneurship. Highlights the latest legislation, the newest technology and today's best direct marketing techniques including advances in telemarketing. Packed with timely illustrations, sample ads, offers, mailing pieces and promotional gimmicks.
  

STEP Wise Ideas