The Best Practices Enterprise

The Best Practices Enterprise: A Guide to Achieving Sustainable World-Class Performance by James M. Kerr is special because it presents an innovative management philosophy that can and should be applied universally within every enterprise seeking a coherent business strategy.

At its core the book demystifies seven essential business programs (or, best practices) needed for improving performance and delivering lasting results within today's competitive backdrop. Each practice, including strategic planning, IT architecture strategy, portfolio-based project management, diversity and inclusion, business process redesign, communications and continuous employee improvement is described in detail and key deliverables, management support, staffing resources and the related interdependencies required for successful implementation are clearly defined and fully discussed.

To help crystallize understanding, Kerr provides over 50 mini-case study sidebars throughout the text. These industry cases illustrate, from a real-world perspective, how the ideas and concepts presented in each chapter are being applied in today's business world.

Excerpts from actual Strategic Planning, IT Architecture, Business Process Redesign and Continuous Employee Improvement projects are presented in chapter appendices. Stripped of specific company references, these demonstrate how various multi-national organizations have gone about the institutionalization of the Best Practices covered in the book.

To sum, Kerr should be commended for creating a sharp, easy to read, practical guide to business strategy that provides an important alternative to literally dozens of other volumes dedicated to each of the management topics collected in this volume.

Readers who may be unable to dedicate the time required to gather similar information and perspective will appreciate the fact that all that they need for understanding can be found in this one text.

Reviewed by Baird Kaake