Futurists Recommend Strategic Planning Books for 2007

More Nimble Strategic Planning Approach is Enjoying Resurgence of Interest HOUSTON – Just in time for the New Year, The Association of Professional Futurists (APF) today announced its Top Ten List of Strategic Planning Books for businesses, organizations and individuals looking to apply some strategy to their planning efforts in 2007 and beyond.  “What better time of year to rethink our approach to planning for the future and add some expert strategy to the effort,” says Andy Hines, APF board member and Senior Director of Consulting at Social Technologies, a leading foresight consultancy.

The APF is a global community of practicing futurists who use an interdisciplinary approach to explore a range of plausible futures in order to more effectively prepare clients and organizations for what lies ahead. Hines, also Adjunct Professor in the Futures program at the University of Houston, recently polled APF members on their favorite strategic planning texts and synthesized their recommendations into a list that he plans to distribute to graduate students enrolled in the Futures program this Spring.  “While not as trendy as it was during the 1980s, ‘a slimmed down, more nimble approach to strategic planning’ is enjoying a resurgence of interest,” says Hines.

APF 2007 Top Ten Strategic Planning Books

• The Strategy of Indirect Approach, by Basil Lidell-Hart, 1954; (an influential military text)
• Strategic Planning: What Every Manager Must Know, by George Steiner, 1979, 1997; (considered by many to be
  the standard text in the field)
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, by Michael Porter, 1980; (includes a Five Forces model which is considered a starting point for strategic analysis)
• Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd Edition, by John M. Bryson, 1995. (used by the University of Houston Futures program; companion workbook also available)
• Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management, by Henry Mintzburg,1998; (outlines the major schools of strategic thinking)
• The Sixth Sense, by Kees Van der Heijden, 2002. (useful in linking strategy to foresight)
• Seeing What's Next, by Clay Christensen, 2004. (applying ideas of Innovator's Dilemma to forecasting industry evolution)
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, by Renee Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim, 2005; (emphasizes capturing and creating new demand rather than focusing on battling existing competitors in the existing spaces)
• Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast! by Robert W. Bradford and J. Peter Duncan, 2000. (used by Regent U's Strategic Foresight Master's program)
• Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage, by Jay Barney and William Hesterly, 2005. (includes useful case study examples)