Business Strategy for a Better Normal: Concepts and Cases

This book examines how leaders can use strategic thinking to transform their followers, organizations, and industries in the wake of societal shocks like COVID-19 that require re-balancing both leadership and business models. It is organized around a new triumvirate of strategic thinking concepts for the better normal, explained in a 3S Model: Style, Situation, and Strategic Orientation. The environment (situation) creates or deters opportunities that are pursued by leaders with the propensity (style) and the potential (strategy) to develop them.

In the face of ongoing crises such as COVID-19, natural disasters, political upheaval, and climate change, the author proposes that the field of strategic management needs to rethink and update traditional frameworks in order to offer business models more applicable in a rapidly changing environment.

Addressing topics such as sustainability and diversity, this pivotal text fills a gap in strategic thinking and presents illustrative examples and case studies about organizations grappling with making decisions in a dynamically different “new normal.”

Armand Gilinsky is the F Korbel Professor of Wine Business at Sonoma State University, USA, where he has taught strategy and entrepreneurship since 1994. He has authored over 50 published business case studies and several articles on entrepreneurial strategy and socially responsible entrepreneurship. He has served as President of the North American Case Research Association, a group of some 500 case research professionals. Dr. Gilinsky has extensive consulting experience in strategic planning, competitive strategy, and developing business and financial plans.