Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times

Acknowledgements

IN PRODUCING THIS BOOK, we have been helped by a number of individuals and organisations that require acknowledgement.

First and foremost, we would like to acknowledge PA Consulting Group (PA), which undertook in collaboration with the authors a survey of 205 international businesses in spring 2011. The results of this survey provided us with statistical evidence on which to base our conclusions and contact with the majority of the senior executives whom we interviewed for the book.

In particular, we are grateful for the support and encouragement of Mark Thomas, a business strategy expert at PA, instigator of the survey and a published author in his own right on the topic of strategic determination in an age of uncertainty; Jackie Howell, senior global marketing manager; and Melanie Albury, a PA consultant, who oversaw the survey design and analysis.

We would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of other “thought leaders” on this topic, most notably Donald Sull, a professor at London Business School, and Eric Beinhocker, a senior fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, who contributed their thoughts and insights to this book.

We would also like to thank the many senior executives who allowed us to interview them for the book. Their names appear throughout the text but the organisations they represent span Ashridge, Balfour Beatty, Capital One Bank, Ceridian, Ford, GlaxoSmithKline, Honda Europe, London Business School, IMI, Marsh, McKinsey, Random ...