Strategic Thinking and Planning for Sustainable and Entrepreneurial Businesses

To be a strategic thinker, to function as a Strategos, is to engage in nonlinear thinking. To think simultaneously in time and space, to be visionary about the future and rigorously analytical about the present. The Strategos is both a right and left brain thinker and is able to move fluidly back and forth between the desired future and the actual present, constantly using the stream of information provided by ongoing events to monitor and adapt strategic actions in the pursuit of evolving vision. Paul W. Thurman, Nicholas Harkiolakis and Daphne Halkias have presented strategic thinking as a dynamic learning process for the individual strategist and for organizational strategic teams. This process is best summarized as having three distinct levels; Conceptual, Analytical and Operational. It should be apparent that it is not enough to have a great strategic concept, a vision, supported by a rigorous, comprehensive strategic analysis that yields a coherent strategic action plan. That strategic plan must also be executed and implemented effectively. The authors have developed a book on strategy that is relevant to today's global economic recession, one that focuses on entrepreneurial and sustainable ventures. It is a high quality, user-friendly book for students and faculty, efficient in scope and presentation and includes topics that are 'hot' points in today's global business world.