The Strategist's Toolkit

The companion book to COURSERA's popular massive open online course "Foundations of Business Strategy" and the recently launched five-course specialization, "Business Strategy."

The Strategist's Toolkit is a concise collection of the most commonly used tools in strategic analysis. Jared Harris and Michael Lenox have carefully selected 13 analytical techniques that every student and executive needs to master. Harris and Lenox begin with a brief overview of the process for integrative strategic analysis, followed by an easy-to-follow framework for understanding and using each of the 13 tools. The concluding chapter ties everything together with a four-step process for conducting an integrative strategic analysis.

JARED D. HARRIS is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and is a Senior Fellow at Darden's Olsson Center for Applied Ethics. He is a celebrated professor who teaches both the required MBA Strategy course and the required MBA Business Ethics course, in which he also serves as course head. Jared's research has been published in a number of refereed academic outlets and highlighted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the New Yorker, as well as other media outlets in the United States, Canada, Germany, India, Portugal, and the UK. His academic career follows a distinguished business career, first in consulting at several leading public accounting firms, followed by a stint as a CFO for a small technology startup.

MICHAEL J. LENOX is the Samuel L. Slover Professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. He is an award-winning professor who teaches and serves as the course head for the required first-year strategy course in the MBA program. His research has appeared in over 25 refereed academic publications and has been cited in a number of media outlets including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Economist. In 2009, he was recognized as a Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute and as the top strategy professor under 40 by the Strategic Management Society. In 2011, he was named one of the top 40 business professors under 40 by Poets & Quants. Mike taught over 100,000 students through his massive open online course (MOOC), Foundations of Business Strategy.