ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates the nature and extent of corporate strategic choice. It reviews the argument for a Realist approach to strategic choice, and examines its implications for the conceptions about how large enterprises act and is controlled in our society. The fundamental strategic difficulty raised by the business cycle is the problem of adjusting resources in line with first rapidly declining, then rapidly rising demand. The book identifies Exemplar and Homecraft furnitures as good performers during both the recession and recovery, with Exemplar showing the greater relative gain. It discuses that though Fenwood produced steady profits in appalling conditions, Barton excelled in combining both high profitability with substantial growth. The chapter describes how Jo Stone turned round Exemplar after years of long decline, installed his own youthful management team and instilled in them faith in his vision of a marketing-led British manufacturing company.
