What Readers Say

You need this on your credenza. In a single, comprehensive, and highly-readable text, Mr. Klass has provided an important tool that will enable businesses to organize and integrate their business activity and behavior around a comprehensive strategic plan. In so doing, firms will become self-streamlining, efficient, and ultimately competitive in whatever marketplace(s) in which they choose to compete. From the "Mahogany Rows" of the global corporation...to the (heretofore) "seat of the pants" small business entrepreneur, readers will benefit from this soup-to-nuts explication of the strategic plan. Klass draws from a rich personal background in the corporate world as well as the consultant world to bring his readers this valuable tool. So readers COULD go back to business school, spend a couple of years, at a cost of maybe fifty grand...OR they can spend $50, and a month or so reading, re-reading, highlighting, and dog-earing the pages of the Klass text... achieving pretty much the same result. As a former denizen of the "corporate wars" myself, I wish the hell I had this tool when I was younger. It would have been sitting on my credenza behind my desk, dog-eared and highlighted, and within instant reach. Moreover, I would have bought multiple copies and made them required reading for my lieutenants, my peers, and yes...the people who managed me. And if, for some strange reason, you DON'T believe in the necessity of the strategic plan, you still need to read the Klass book...for this is how your competitors are thinking, and planning, about how they will be attacking YOU.”

After reading Strategic Planning in the Real World, please give us your feedback!

Many Examples

“I really enjoyed reading Richard’s book. He did a great job explaining strategic planning in the real world. I loved the many examples he used as well. If you want to know more about strategic planning and how to get senior management on the same page and to believe in the strategic planning process, I highly suggest reading this book.”

Engaging

Many Examples

“Engaging, highly accessible, invaluable guidance to strategic planners: At its core, strategic planning is the process of understanding where an organization is in its current environment, where it wants to be, and outlining the steps needed to get there. In reading Strategic Planning in the Real World (SPRW), it is clear that Richard Klass is aware of all the key stakeholders involved in strategic planning and that those taking the lead in strategic planning initiatives are much more likely to succeed—and advance their careers-- when they engage all of the key stakeholders and become adept at managing expectations and anticipating resistance to change. SPRW offers not just a broad-based, high-level discussion of strategic planning, but also takes the reader through a step-by-step, practical, hands-on journey on how to get the job done, including when and how to engage outside consultants."

Many Tools

Many Examples

Many Tools

"Among the many tools that effective strategic planners will need, Mr. Klass discusses how market research and data analytics can help drive informed decision-making. In doing so, Richard doesn’t just spout off a list of research methods and analytical tools; rather he provides in-depth, detailed examples such that strategic planners not only understand how these tools are applied but how they can be used in their own strategic planning. Mr. Klass takes seemingly daunting research methods and analytical tools such as quadrant analysis and correspondence analysis (brand mapping) and brings them to life with clear, easy to understand examples that leave the reader believing that these tools can help them achieve their goals. In the end, Mr. Klass has written a highly accessible, readable, and most important of all—practical—guide to strategic planning that any of the stakeholders in the process, from product managers to IT to finance to market researchers, will find useful in initiating a strategic planning process and seeing it through to the end.”