Company culture: setting the right tone
- Article
- 13 Mar 2023
Meet four experienced board members who all understand the power of a strong culture for any organisation to achieve its long-term goals.
Exam guides: the inside track on… Business Strategy and Technology, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Business Planning
- Article
- 07 Nov 2022
In the fourth of our series of guides, tutors share their insights on the Professional Level Business Strategy and Technology, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Business Planning exams.
Navigating change to stay ahead
- Article
- 07 Oct 2022
While all businesses may follow a set long-term strategy, they must be ready to navigate major change when the need arises, and then prepare again for further change in the future.
In it for the long haul
- Article
- 07 Oct 2022
Businesses of any size require a set of long-term goals and a detailed plan for how to achieve them. Three very different companies share how they go about this.
Climate risk is an “inescapable” part of chartered accountants’ remit
- Article
- 01 Nov 2021
For those looking to future-proof their career, being able to embed climate change and wider sustainability issues into business strategy and planning, risk management, procurement and performance management is essential.
Exclusive
What happens if we don't make net zero?
- Article
- 11 Aug 2021
Looking at the potentially huge consequences for business
Exclusive
The CFO and strategy
- Article
- 11 Aug 2021
Rick Payne explores the CFO’s many roles in strategy, how to overcome barriers and define your approach.
Reports
Exclusive
SR72 The aspiring CFO
- Report
- 2021
- PDF (1,950kb)
A practical, realistic, hands-on and immense learning opportunity of all you need to know to become the CFO
Exclusive
Platform businesses: A Guide
- Helpsheets and support
- 2021
This guide explores the characteristics of platform businesses and the importance of different aspects of trust in making them work. It concludes with five actions that will help you consider the opportunities they provide.
Exclusive
Business Ecosystems: A Guide
- Report
- 2021
The term ecosystem is regularly bandied about in business conversations. But what does it mean and is it a useful metaphor for improving business performance?
Exclusive
The CFO and Strategy
- Report
- 2020
Our first report explores the nature of strategy, particularly how CFOs balance planning and opportunism. We then consider the various aspects of the CFO's role in strategy.
Exclusive
Special Report 68: Commercial Insight
- Report
- 2020
- PDF (1,761kb)
This special report explores how to be more commercial to add value and generate profit for your firm.
Exclusive
Special Report 65 - Smart Reporting
- Report
- 2019
- PDF (1,597kb)
This special report will be a handy go-to guide – we take you through the latest techniques and thinking behind the new smart world with which CFOs, and aspiring CFOs, must contend.
Exclusive
Special Report 64: Managing People
- Report
- 2019
- PDF (1,487kb)
Managing people is one of the most important skills needed to successfully navigate your way to the top of the corporate ladder. This report provides practical tips and advice on topics such as team management, dealing with difficult people and the effect of technology on recruitment.
Exclusive
Special Report 63: Innovation
- Report
- 2018
- PDF (1,674kb)
Innovation is key to improving productivity and efficiency. This report covers the subject with practical and interesting articles.
Strategy tools
Exclusive
PESTEL - what is it and how to apply it to your business strategy
Ensure your strategy takes into account the political, economic, societal, technological, environmental and legal context.
Exclusive
Resource Based View of the Firm
Do your internal resources give you a competitive advantage?
SWOT
Make the most of analysing your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Webinars
Strategic thinking for senior professionals
- Webinar
- 29 Sep 2020
Find out what the three core questions of strategy are and the common pitfalls to avoid in addressing them.
Statistics for business - How do I know if my trend is a mirage
- Webinar
- 29 Mar 2017
Nigel Marriott explains the principles of hypothesis testing to help you quantify the risks of incorrect decisions.
The ICAEW Library & Information Service provides full text access to a selection of key business and reference eBooks from leading publishers. eBooks are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our Help and support advice or contact library@icaew.com.
Exclusive
Exploring strategy
- 2017
- Gerry Johnson, Richard Whittington, Patrick Regnér, Kevan Scholes, and Duncan Angwin
- Pearson Education Limited
This book has long been the essential strategy text for managers of today and tomorrow. From entrepreneurial start-ups to multinationals, charities to government agencies, this book raises the big questions about organisations- how they grow, how they innovate and how they change.
Exclusive
Building a resilient organisation
- 2014
- James Crask, Charley Newnham, Jack Armstrong, Paul Robertson
- ICSA Publishing
How to build a prosperous and sustainable business.
Exclusive
Professional services marketing: how the best firms build premier brands, thriving lead generation engines, and cultures of business development success
- 2013
- Mike Schultz, John Doerr
- John Wiley and Sons
Guide to marketing from a US perspective.
Exclusive
Strategic cost analysis
- 2012
- Roger Hussey, Audra Ong
- Business Expert Press
Cost analysis for managers, from an American perspective.
Exclusive
Strategic marketing planning for the small to medium-sized business: writing a marketing plan
- 2012
- David Anderson
- Business Expert Press
A guide to marketing for SMEs.
Exclusive
Developing new products and services: learning, differentiation, and innovation
- 2012
- G. Lawrence Sanders
- Business Expert Press
A guide to producing competitive products by differentiation.
Terms of use
You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.
The Library provides access to leading business, finance and management journals. These journals are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use.
Exclusive
Inc. Best Workplaces 2023
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Bill Saporito
- Inc
Business magazine Inc.'s list of the best US companies to work for in 2023. Some of the most popular companies focus on employee wellness - particularly mental well-being and work-life balance. They have found ways to extend their culture without busting the budget; for example setting up a meditation room or offering a quarterly 'mental health day'.
Exclusive
How to create a stakeholder strategy
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Darrell Rigby, Zach First, Dunigan O'Keefe
- Harvard Business Review
Companies have recently come to recognize the limitations of the view that they must create value only for shareholders, with many CEOs pledging to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders. Discusses how firms can use data to help develop a clear description of their purpose, establish criteria for evaluating progress toward it, set priorities among stakeholders and start measuring value creation for each group.
Exclusive
Resiliency and strategic risk management: Protecting strategic value includes a mix of metrics, cybersecurity, reputational risk management, and more
- Article
- 01 May 2023
- Mark L.Frigo, Dennis H.Chookaszian
- Strategic Finance
The authors discuss how CFOs and boards can support strategic resiliency and risk management skills as core competencies for creating and protecting long-term value. In a conversation together, they look at tools for long-term value creation, cybersecurity and resiliency, strategic resiliency and risk assessment, reputation risk, skills for business leaders, strategic life-cycle analysis and lessons on resiliency from bank failures.
Exclusive
Developing an entrepreneurial small business strategic plan
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Hakan Butuner
- Industrial Management
Feature explaining how to use shortened Systematic Strategic Planning (SSP), a tool particularly suitable for developing strategic plans for SMEs. The article uses a case study of an entrepreneurial new business to demonstrate how the first four steps of a shortened SSP strategic plan can be applied.
Exclusive
How CFOs can better manage: Strategy execution
- Article
- 01 Feb 2023
- Seth Elliott
- Strategic Finance
Best practices in strategy execution can help CFOs balance their traditional role of oversight and control with their emerging role as a catalyst for growth. Seth Elliott discusses using the objectives and key results (OKR) framework to track progress and organize goals.
Exclusive
Expand your pricing strategy
- Article
- 01 Jan 2023
- Rafi Mohammed
- Harvard Business Review
Pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed recommends that companies should re-examine not just their prices but their pricing strategy - looking for different ways to charge customers. Looking at models used by other industries can offer inspiration for pricing innovations, such as offering to rent a product that's typically bought, or selling a service by the hour instead of by the day.
Articles and books in the ICAEW Library collection
The collection of the ICAEW Library & Information Service includes a range of articles, books and reports on corporate strategy and planning. Use the links below to see what we have available to request in our Library catalogue (Libcat).
Strategy: an international perspective
- Library book
- 2020
- B. De Wit
- Cengage Learning EMEA
This book covers the many perspectives in the field of corporate strategy, navigating readers through contrasting viewpoints to encourage discussion and debate.
Directors' checklists
- Library book
- 2020
- M.Wearden
- ICSA Publishing
An easy-to-use A-Z guide to the key tasks and responsibilities of a director. It is designed for quick reference, with each entry including an introduction and explanation, a checklist of points to consider, procedures to follow and cross-references to relevant legislation and regulation.
To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to borrowing books.
You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports through our document supply service.
External resources
Creating a valuable business
- Atom Content Marketing
A LawDonut guide to making strategic decisions that can help create and maintain a valuable business. Running a business often involves reacting to circumstances, making minor decisions that have a limited, short-term impact. In contrast, creating a valuable business is about taking strategic decisions that have a lasting effect.
Your sales strategy
- Atom Content Marketing
A MarketingDonut guide to creating a sales strategy. Your sales strategy identifies which customers your business is targeting, it specifies how you will reach them and it outlines how you will convince them to buy from you.
Get key business strategies right
- Atom Content Marketing
A Start-up Donut guide to mastering key business strategies. Business owners must remain focused on the key issues that ultimately determine success or failure. With dozens of different tasks competing for your time, you need to identify activities that will make a real difference to long-term success.
Terms of use
ICAEW accepts no responsibility for the content on any site to which a hypertext link from this site exists. The links are provided 'as is' with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. Please see the full copyright and disclaimer notice.
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