Book reviews 305

nature of the interview, types of question and responses, etc., would perhaps have been useful and added weight to the arguments contained in the text.

The presentation of the book is particularly pleasing. There is a clear contents page, and most useful of all, a detailed and accurate index. Each chapter is concluded with a brief summary followed by comprehensive notes.

The book is aimed at ‘managers and directors of small- and medium-sized technology-based firms . . . and will be of interest to venture capitalists and consultants, MBA students and those interested in small business management’, and thus is geared towards a wide and varied audience. I would also envisage its interest to widen to information workers who increasingly work within high-tech firms and students doing general business courses.

To conclude, then, gambling for growth makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature on high-tech business. Overall, a very readable book, reasonably priced at S 2 4 . 9 5 , which will prove useful to both practitioners and students alike.

Maria E. Burke Department of Library and Information Studies,

The Manchester Metropolitan University

Implementing Strategic Change-A Practical Guide for Business. T. Grundy, Kogan Page, London, 1993.

Change and strategy are key essential topics for all managers and anyone involved in business. However, over the years, many of the books written on these topics have promised more than has been delivered. Although this present book is well worth reading, it also falls into that category. The book is divided into four sections, with part one exploring strategic change. This examines the rationale for change, managing the change process and ‘power tools’ for change. Numerous ideas are incorporated from a wide range of sources and summarized. The ‘power tools’ include sections on force field analysis, systems of change and stakeholder analysis. The summaries and bringing together of all these techniques are what makes the book worth reading- this is excellently done. Overall, however, there is no clear sense of a message to help with implementation-at least to this reader.

Section two continues the process with a look at linking vision and action and again there are excellent references and numerous and useful checklists, but still no real sense of practicality from the word go. Three cases are presented on the Dowty group, the Prudential Life Administration and IC1, which are well written and presented.

Part four looks at conclusions on steering strategic change. There are two appendices, one looking at the change gurus and

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306 Book reviews

another on a fictious case study of a company undergoing strategic change.

For those managers new to the topic the book is recommended but not to those with any familiarity with strategic change. The book provides good linkage of ideas for an MBA or short-course elective, but there are too many gaps and issues left untreated. Most disappointingly of all, the author’s message is lost in the pulling together of material. When top managers agree that the main issues of strategic change lie in implementation and a broadening of individual frames of reference, books of this kind are to be welcomed but this is just an introduction, awaiting some other more in-depth and practical account.

Ralph Lewis

Strategic management: A research guide with comprehensive bibliographies. Robert J. Mockler, The Planning Forum, 5 58pp, price US$12 5.

I must declare an interest in this book, in that Bob Mockler discussed it with me before publication, and gave me an undeserved mention as thanks for the small pieces of information I sent him.

The book is a comprehensive reference source, covering books, articles, case studies, dissertations, case studies, video and audio cassettes, conferences, computer information systems and computer software sources. I may have missed some of the sub-headings !

Sections have a classification system to facilitate location of the information.

It is already a thick volume, containing much information that has not previously been drawn together under one cover. It is, of course, a reference source, not a book for cover to cover reading (unless you enjoy reading lists), and one that I am pleased to have available to me.

The author provides his address and invites people to write to him about additions, deletions and corrections. It is his intention to make it even more comprehensive.

When someone presents you with accessible information, it is easy to be churlish and complain about what is missing. If I say that he needs a broader source of books on strategy published outside of the USA, it is a comment made with gratitude for what is there rather than objecting to its limitations. UK books in print are under-represented. However, with help from those of us who use his book I am sure that this will be remedied in the future.

D. Hussey

0 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Journal of Strategic Change, October 1993