The Beans and the Dreams: Reader's Edition

Management science has become like theology, dominated byrespected gurus and a body of accepted teachings. However,the pressures of a rapidly changing business environment aremaking managers and leaders more and more aware of theneed for a broader scope of ideas to help in decision-makingand the encouragement of innovation. Here I have attemptedto combine conventional theories of management with conceptsand writers outside of the conventional and accepted orthodoxyat the danger of being burned at the managementstake for heresy.Yet, the original source of this work on strategic managementwas inspired by the need to provide students of the subject atbachelor and masters level with a basic script to guide theirstudies and was first published as a series of four books. Thiswas of course accompanied by face-to-face lectures and manydiscussions and term papers. It is the author's intention tohere provide a simple framework that managers and leadersas well as students and teachers of management can use as abasis for provoking thought and intention. It was because ofmany requests to provide the four sections in the form of onebook as a reader for managers and others interested instrategy that inspired me to produce this reader's edition.