The business environment can change at any given time and organisations need to be ready to respond if they want to survive. Strategic management is an important and ongoing process of formulating and implementing strategies that help an organisation position itself optimally and so maintain a competitive advantage that results in profit. It creates harmony between any organisation, big or small, and its environment. The strategic management process: a South African perspective explains strategy in such a way that every reader will understand not only how vital the strategic management process is to any organisation but also exactly what it entails.

The strategic management process: a South African perspective follows an understandable and practical approach, making use of numerous figures and “strategy in action” case studies to support the theory.

Contents are divided into the following four parts:

• Strategic direction and environmental analysis
• Strategy formulation
• Strategy implementation
• Strategy control and evaluation

The strategic management process: a South African perspective is aimed at students in strategic management as well as at organisations, from corporate and public companies with management training programmes to small business ventures that are trying to gain a competitive advantage in a cut-throat environment.

Kobus Lazenby was an associate professor in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State, specialising in strategic management and project management. He has been retired since April 2017. The other contributors lecture in strategic management at various South African universities.