Sometimes fine tuning is not enough. Sometimes you need to take the leap and make a strategic shift, a big move that involves committing a substantial amount of resources (time, people, money) to the pursuit of a new goal. Achieving that goal could launch your company into a new league; failing could set you back years. If you’re making a big move like this, you need it to be a smart one. Smart Big Moves shows you how to make the smart strategic shifts that will take your business to the top. While the book revolves around a light-hearted, easy-to-read story, it is founded on hard facts, being based on the results of longitudinal case studies conducted by the authors with more than two dozen multinational companies that have made dramatic changes. Some of these succeeded, others failed and Smart Big Moves presents the lessons that were learned, in an unusual and easily digestible format. The strategic shifts were all different: some big moves were industry firsts, others were made in response to shifts in the industry or the business environment, and others were responses to company-specific problems. Yet Strebel and Ohlsson have teased out five types of big move that apply across the board. These are big moves for:

• Getting back into shape
• Restoring profitability
• Going for growth
• Relaunching growth
• Finding a new game

So whether you need to increase profitability, improve your top-line revenue or find a brand new business model to kick-start your business, Smart Big Moves will reveal the secrets of how to make sure any big move you make pays off.

Paul Strebel is the Sandoz Family Foundation Professor of Strategic Change Management at IMD, Lausanne. He is currently the director of IMD’s program on High Performance Boards and previously directed the Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives. He has worked with top management teams on strategic shifts and change leadership, and has been a keynote speaker and seminar leader for numerous multinationals, including most recently ABB, UPM-Kymmene, Credit Suisse, and Coloplast. Paul’s work on the anticipation and management of strategic shifts has influenced many managers and organizations, including HSBC, Nokia, the European Central Bank, and the UN High Commission for Refugees. He has published a number of books, including Breakpoints: How Managers Exploit Radical Business Change and on Trajectory Management: Leading a Business over Time, as well as numerous articles in the academic and popular press. He received the 2004 Award for Research on Leadership from the Association of Executive Search Consultants for his article "The Case for Contingent Governance" published in Sloan Management Review and he also has several awards from the European Foundation for Management Development for case studies on strategic change.

Anne-Valérie Ohlsson has been a Research Associate at IMD since 1999, working on business strategy, mergers & acquisitions and the challenges of managing people in a global organization. She also has substantial experience as a practitioner, having worked in marketing roles for Pfizer and the International Olympic Committee. Anne-Valérie is co-author, with Jacques Horovitz, of A Dream with a Deadline (FTPH, 2007) and has also written for Sloan Management Review and the FT Handbook of Management. She has published a substantial number of case studies. Her current research interests focus on entrepreneurship.

Strebel, P. & A-V Ohlsson (2005) The Art of Making Smart Big Moves. MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2006, vol. 47, no 2.

Strebel, P. (2006) Sequencing change in the pursuit of better performance. IMD Perspectives for Managers, p. 1-4.

Strebel, P. & A-V Ohlsson (2005) Smart Big Moves, Perspectives for Managers, IMD publications.

Strebel, P. & A-V Ohlsson (2004) Trajectory Management. Financial Times Handbook of Management (3rd ed), Crainer, S. & D. Dearlove (eds.) Prentice Hall, 1094 p.

Strebel, P. & A-V Ohlsson (2003) Beyond Best Practice: Introducing Trajectory Management, Perspectives for Managers, IMD publications.

Strebel, P. (2003) Trajectory management: leading a business over time. J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester.

Strebel, P. (1998) The Change Pact: building commitment to ongoing change. Financial Times Pitman Publishing, London.

Strebel, P. (1995) Creating industry breakpoints: changing the rules of the game. Long Range Planning, 28 (2), 11-20.

Strebel, P. (1994) Choosing the right change path. California Management Review, 36 (2), 29-51.

Strebel, P. (1992) Breakpoints: how managers exploit radical business change. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Strebel, P. (1989) Competitive turning points: how to recognize them. European Management Journal, 7(2), 141-147.

Strebel, P. (1988) Rebalancing the organization: key to outpacing the competition. IMD Perspectives for Managers, 3.

CHAPTER 1 Finding a New Game 1
Beware Opportunistic Hubris 2
Wipro: Opportunism and Experience 4
Experience-based Entrepreneurship 12
Secrets of Finding a New Game 16

CHAPTER 2 Going for Growth 21
Beware Inside-out Projection 22
Apple: Not Projection but Customer Value Creation 26
Value-creating Roll-out 34
Secrets of Going for Growth 40

CHAPTER 3 Getting Back into Shape 45
Beware Narcissistic Denial 46
HSBC: Not Denial but Reality 50
Real Realignment 57
Secrets of Getting Back into Shape 64

CHAPTER 4 Relaunching Growth 69
Beware ‘Me Too’ Imitation 70
Dow Corning: Not Imitation but Distinctiveness 73
Distinctive Repositioning 78
Secrets of Relaunching Growth 83

CHAPTER 5 Restoring Profitability 89
Beware Raising the Stakes 90
ABB: Not More Risk but Bold Simplicity 94
Bold Restructuring 102
Secrets of Restoring Profitability 107

CHAPTER 6 Secrets of Smart Big Moves 113
Smart Strategy – Think Smart Before Acting Big 116
Smart Psychology – Don’t Let Your Ego Trap You 118
Smart Risk Management – Avoid Jumping, Learn to Run 124