학위과정에서 읽었던 조직론 교과서의 하나로 내가 봤던 것은 2판이다. 지금도 사무실 책상에 놓고 참고할 때가 많다. 경영학도를 위한 조직론+전략 교과서라 생각하면 된다. 경영학 교과서치고는 그리 두껍지 않지만 경영학 교과서 답게 많은 케이스들로 설명이 되어 있어 쉽게 읽힌다. 경제학적인 수리모델도 박스로 처리되어 있다.
다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다
This is a textbook for MBA classes both on business strategy and on business economics which focuses on the economics of industry and firm. Textbook is supposed to introduce students to the vocabulary of each discipline, not to specific or uncommon theory. So it¡¯s far from singular or creative. Nevertheless, to be a good textbook, at least in social sciences, it should meet two criteria:
1. it should relate concepts to empirical cases. Social sciences are the empirical sciences. So their concepts are also empirical. But when I took economics courses, textbooks led me to think ¡®economics is no more than a math exercise.¡¯ When deriving and calculating ISLM model, for example, you could not disagree with me. And worse, such a knowledge could be neither applicable nor realistc, and could not endure against student¡¯s amnesia. In this regard, this book is worth recommending. It¡¯s full of cases from real business world and always attempts to explain concepts in the real world meaning.
2. A good textbook should have a consistent framework which integrate various concepts introduced in the book into a coherent and meaningful whole. This book, from start to end, raises the question, ¡®What is the business strategy?¡¯ the business strategy is about how to attain competitive advantage, put another way, how to strategically position one¡¯s firm in the competitive environment. Competition increase the supply of output in the market, and drive down price, therefore, profitability. The firm is the organization to earn profit. Them the strategy of firm is how to earn higher profit than competitors¡¯. When a firm earns a higher profit rate than the average rate of competitors , the firm has a competitive advantage in the market. A firm¡¯s profitability within a market depends both on market-led economics and firm¡¯s capabilities. Part I and II of this book is about what constitutes and affect firms¡¯s market and industry or firm¡¯s environment. Part III is about how to achieve and sustain competitive advantage or about firm¡¯s strategic positioning. In a nutshell, a firm has the ultimate objective to earn higher profit rate. To achieve that goal depends both on firm¡¯s environment and on firm¡¯s own capabilities. Strategy is firm¡¯s interaction with its environment.