Includes bibliographical references and index.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION; The Market is the Message; The Concept of Strategy; Communicating the Strategic Market Plan; Skeleton Strategic Market Plan; Alban Chemicals: a Completed Strategic Market Plan; DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC MARKET PLAN; Introduction and Background to the Plan; Executive Summary; Defining the Business; Product Market Portfolio; Analysing the Environment; Analysing the Firm; Key Strategic Issues; Future Mission Goals, Targets and Portfolios; Gap Analysis; The Strategies; Tactics and Implementation; Resources for the Strategic Plan; Index; Index of Names

Why is it that there are some firms that are enduringly successful, showing year after year results that are superior to rivals? Why is it that such firms are not confined to certain industries or certain locations or are of a certain size? This book asserts that remarkably successful firms are not so because of luck or exceptional circumstances but rather such firms succeed for two reasons:the drive and strategic vision of their managers andthey follow strategic rules which confer successThe title of this book reflects its purpose: to persuade managers that enduringly successful firms are those that understand most clearly and then serve most effectively the markets they address. Consequently the book provides managers with a practical step-by-step blueprint which will enable them to develop and implement strategies which will make their firms enduringly successful. The book asserts that successful firms become so, not because of lucky industrial circumstances, but because of the drive and strategic vision of their managers. This is good news for managers as it means that being in a relatively poor industry is not a sentence to a dismal career: informed managerial effort can overc