Porter's books are excellent but they are also pretty long so if
you only have the Xmas period to do it all, I suggest you read
only a portion of each of Porter's books and use the time you
have saved to read:
Craig Hickman, The Strategy Game, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.
[this will give you a bit of the flavour of taking a strategy
simulation workshop. The book assumes that you are the CEO of
MedTech and at the end of each chapter you are faced with a
binary decision that takes you to a different chapter depending
on which way you decided to go]
Kenichi Ohmae, The Mind of the Strategist, McGraw-Hill, New York,
1982. [Japanese view of strategy written by a McKinsey
consultant]
J.I. Moore, Writers on Strategy and Strategic Management,
Penguin, New York, 1992. [each chapter summarizes the thinking of
a different person giving you a good overview of the different
approaches to strategy. All the major thinkers are covered.
Chapters include Andrews, Ansoff, Chandler, Porter, Buzell &
Gale, Henderson, Tregoe & Zimmerman, Abell, Bower, Hamermesh,
Mintzberg, Rumelt, Salter & Weinhold, Williamson, Burglman &
Sayles, Digman, Galbraith & Kazanjian, Hofer & Schendel, Pierce &
Robinson, Thompson & Strickland, Quinn, Lindblom, Harrigan and
Slatter.]
Lou Kates, louk@teleride.on.ca