Reference Library

Our business management reference library is intentionally broad and comprehensive to promote opportunities for cross-functional education. This leads to an executive having a more holistic perspective of the organization he or she is growing. Having a senior team that has a deeper understanding of all organizational disciplines makes everyone's job much easier. These books and reference materials are highly recommended.

When you click on a title, you will be taken to Amazon.com where you will be able to purchase the book, or just review it along with several closely related titles.

Virtual CEO™ Reference Library Each book is listed in conjunction with the Virtual CEO™ Key Component that it supports.

1.0 Strategic Plan	1.1 Mission, Vision, & Competitive Advantage
Your mission, vision, and competitive advantage describe the business you are in, your short and long term market position, and the manner in which you will differentiate your company from your competition.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Focused Purpose	Leading Change, John P. Kotter Disciplines of Market Leaders, Treacy and Wiersema Blur, Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, & Everyday Life, Avinash K. Dixit & Barry J. Nalebuff Crossing the Chasm : Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, Geoffrey A. Moore Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will - How Jack Welch is Making GE The World's Most Competitive Company, Noel M. Tichy & Stratford Sherman
The Future Perspective
Strategic Intent
Strategic Integration
1.0 Strategic Plan	1.2 External Assessment
The External Assessment reflects your organization’s approach to gathering and analyzing essential market data. Included in this data would be competition profiles, macro and micro economic studies, industry opportunities and threats, and key success factors.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Customer Profile	State of the Art Marketing Research, Blankenship & Breen Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management, Liam Fahey & V. K. Narayanan, West Competitive Strategy – Techniques for Analyzing Industries & Competitors, Michael Porter Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Robert M. Grant, Blackwell Smart Thinking for Crazy Times:The Art of Solving the Right Problems, Ian Mitroff Value Migration – How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition, Adrian J. Slywotsky
Industry & Competition Analysis
Environmental Assessment
Key Success Factors
1.0 Strategic Plan	1.3 Internal Assessment
The Internal Assessment reflects the company’s ability to objectively evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. This would include defining its market position, its management processes, and how effectively it utilizes a "value-chain" analysis approach.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Market Position	Integrated Strategic Change, Worley, Hitchen, & Ross Smart Thinking for Crazy Times:The Art of Solving the Right Problems, Ian Mitroff Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Robert M. Grant A Preface to Marketing Management, J. Paul Peter, James H. Donnelly Financial Management – Theory and Practice, Eugene F. Brigham & Louis C. Gapenski Setting the PACE in Product Development, A Guide to Product & Cycle-Time Excellence, Michael E. McGrath Leading Product Development, Steven C. Wheelwright & Kim B. Clark Dictionary of Marketing Terms, Peter D. Bennett Crossing the Chasm : Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, Geoffrey A. Moore Intelligent Enterprise, James Brian Quinn Customer Centered Selling: Eight Steps to Success from the World's Best Sales Force, Rob Jolles Managing Channels of Distribution, Kenneth Rolnicki Retailing Management, Michaal, Ph.D. Levy, Barton A., Ph.D. Weitz Management of A Sales Force,William J. Stanton, Rosann Spiro, Richard Buskirk The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton Strategic Management, Arthur A. Thompson, Jr. & A.J. Strickland III Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad Best Practices: Building Your Business With Customer-Focused Solutions, Robert Hiebeler, Thomas Kelly (Contributor), Charles Ketteman
Finance
Research & Development
Production
Marketing
Sales & Distribution
Customer Service
1.0 Strategic Plan	1.4 Objectives, Initiatives, & Goals
The Objectives, Initiatives, and Goals reflect the company’s ability to articulate what it wants to accomplish, how it will to do it, and when it will be achieved. This section assesses the company’s process of defining its direction, aligning financial and human resource, while instilling accountability and critical measurement.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Vital Direction	The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton The Manager’s Guide to Benchmarking, Jerome P. Finnegan The Great Game of Business, Jack Stack Financial Management – Theory and Practice, Eugene F. Brigham & Louis C. Gapenski Meeting of the Minds, Vincent P. Barabba Deming Management at Work: Six succesful companies that use quality principles of the world-famous W. Edward Deming, Mary Walton Blur, Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer
Resource Alignment
Organization Accountabilities
Measurements
2.0 Organization Design	2.1 Basic Structure
The Basic Structure assessment will help you determine if your organization structure reflects the "Demand Criteria" set forth in your strategic plan. This section will assist you in determining if you are structurally poised to achieve your strategic intent. It will challenge your current model and evaluate ability to adjust to an evolving environment.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Strategic "Demand Criteria"	Designing Organizations, Jay R. Galbraith Strategic Management, Arthur A. Thompson, Jr. & A.J. Strickland III The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will lead You to Tomorrows Profits, Charles L. Martin
Formal Structures
Organization Evolution
2.0 Organization Design	2.2 Organization Effectiveness: Core Competence
Leveraging Core Competencies is the driving force behind your company’s success. This section will assess your ability to identify your core competencies, illustrate your points of differentiation, and challenge your current approach to outsourcing and forming strategic alliances.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Identification of Core Competence	Competing for the Future, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad Intelligent Enterprise, James Brian Quinn The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton Strategic Outsourcing : Risk Management, Methods and Benefits, Maurice F. Greaver
Application of Core Competence
Leveraging of Core Competence
2.0 Organization Design	2.3 Organization Effectiveness: Information, Systems, & Technology
Today’s competitive environment requires rapid and targeted information, aligned systems, and innovative and appropriate use of technology. This section will assess the quality of your information, systems, and technology, and determine if they are in-line with your strategic intent.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Organization Communication	The Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton The Manager’s Guide to Benchmarking, Jerome P. Finnegan Working Knowledge, Thomas H. Davenport & Laurence Prusack Intelligent Enterprise, James Brian Quinn Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management Technology Integration: Making Critical Choices in a Dynamic World, Harvard Business School Press Intellectual Capital – The New Wealth of Organizations, Thomas A. Stewart
Targeted Information
Enterprising Systems
Applied Technology
2.0 Organization Design	2.4 Organization Efficiency
Organization Efficiency is a matter of having the right people, doing the right job, within an optimal performance environment. This section will assess your approach to supervision, your clarity of roles and responsibilities, organization inter-dependencies, and your management of outsourced relationships. The objective is minimal duplicity, maximum innovation, and well-managed risk.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Balanced Oversight & Direction	Intelligent Enterprise, James Brian Quinn Managing on the Edge: How Smart Companies Use Conflict to Stay Ahead, Richard Tanner Pascale Strategic Outsourcing : Risk Management, Methods and Benefits, Maurice F. Greaver
Synthesized Roles & Responsibilities
Managed Outsource & Strategic Alliances
3.0 Organization Culture	3.1 Values & Beliefs
Core values and beliefs help employees understand their company’s commitment to customers, to shareholders, to the community, and to themselves. Values describe the standards and ideals that a company holds in high regard. They provide a framework for implementing strategic initiatives.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Values Integration	Corporate Culture and Performance, John Kotter and James L. Heskett Built to Last, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras Organizational Culture & Leadership, Edgar H. Schein Visionary Leadership, Burt Nanus Integrated Strategic Change, Worley, Hitchen, & Ross Healing the Wounds, David M . Noer Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership & Organizations, Robert K. Cooper, Ph.D. & Ayman Sawaf The Mission Statement Book, Jeffrey The Lessons of Experience: How Successful Executives Develop on the Job, McCall, Lombardo, Morrison Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey An Invented Life, Warren Bennis The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck, M.D. Modern Organizations and Emerging Conundrums: Exploring the Postindustrial Subculture of the Third Millennium, Richard A. Goodman Forging the Heroic Organization, Emmet C. Murphy Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality, W. Michael Hoffman and Jennifer Mills Moore People and Profits: The Ethics of Capitalism, Paul Steidlmeir
Values Communication
Durability
3.0 Organization Culture	3.2 Leadership
Of all the factors that shape an organization’s culture, none has a greater impact on employee behavior or performance than how he or she feels about working for his or her boss. Management style has a direct impact on the degree of job satisfaction that an employee enjoys.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Management Modeling	Productive Workplaces: Organizing and Managing for Dignity, Meaning, and Community, Marvin R. Weisbord The Ultimate Advantage: Creating the High-Involvement Organization, Edward E. Lawler, III The Empowered Manager:Positive Political Skills at Work, Peter Block On Becoming a Leader, Warren Bennis Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey Becoming a Master Manager, Quinn, Faerman, Thompson, McGrath Zapp! The Lightening of Empowerment, William C. Byham, Ph.D. In Search of Excellence, Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Coaching for Improved Work Performance, Ferdinand Fournies The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance, Richard E. Boyatzis Business Without Bosses: How Self-Managing Teams are Building High-Performance Companies, Charles C. Manz and Henry P. Sims, Jr. The Wisdom of Teams, Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith Empowered Teams: Creating Self-Directed Work Groups That Improve Quality, Productivity, and Participation, Wellins, Byham, Wilson
Strategic/Tactical Balance
Empowerment
Development Coaching
Building Effective Teams
3.0 Organization Culture	3.3 Human Resource Systems
To successfully implement strategies, companies must attract and maintain skilled employees. Well-structured and carefully planned HR Systems allow companies to recruit, train, motivate, and inspire.
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Discriminating Recruitment	The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge Pay for Results : A Practical Guide to Effective Employee Compensation (Taking Control Series), Karen Jorgensen Performance Appraisal, Latham and Wexler Performance Planning and Appraisal, Patricia King The Ultimate Advantage:Creating the High-Involvement Organization, Edward E. Lawler, III Pay for Results : A Practical Guide to Effective Employee Compensation (Taking Control Series), Karen Jorgensen The Motivation to Work, Frederick Hertzberg Motivation and Personality, Abraham Maslow Human Motivation, David C. McClelland Organizational Behavior, Kolb, Osland
Employee Orientation
Continuous Learning
Performance Management
Rewards Systems
3.0 Organization Culture	3.4 Organization Character
Company practices shape the daily experiences of employees. Employee perception of their work environment is impacted by the degree to which they are subjected to either extensive rules and procedures, centralized authority, and specialized labor (the mechanistic model), or limited rules and procedures, local authority, and cross-functional roles (the organic model).
Principle Elements	Recommended Reading
Informal Communication	Transforming Leadership: From Vision to Results, John D. Adams, Ph.D. Influencing with Integrity: Management Skills for Communication and Negotiation, Genue Z. Laborde Organizations, Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey An Invented Life, Warren Bennis Managing Conflict in Organizations, M. Afzalur Rahim Guide to Managerial Communication, Mary Munter Making Groups Effective, Alvin Zander Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed and Prosper Where Others Fail, Daryl R. Conner Large-Scale Organizational Change, Mohrman, Mohrman, Ledford, Jr., Cummings, Lawler, III Teaching the Elephant to Dance:The Manager’s Guide to Empowering Change, James A Belasco, Ph. D. Checklist for Change, Thomas R. Harvey
Organizational Feedback
Organizational Credibility
Adaptability to Change