The revised and updated fifth edition of this classic text introduces strategic thinking and planning strategies to advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as practitioners in the field of health care. Demonstrates how strategic managers may become strategic thinkers Shows how to develop and document a plan of action through strategic planning Teaches managers to evaluate strategic plans, learn more about what works, and incorporate new strategic thinking into future planning, strategy formulation, or situation analysis. Provides strategic momentum "maps" and other tools for evaluating the changing environment, analyzing data, and developing new strategic directions Consists of ten revised chapters that contain new or updated Introductory Incidents and Perspectives Appendix A has been revised to match new strategic thinking and implement the strategic momentum model Contains 8 new cases plus 4 completely updated classics. A designated textsite featuring an Instructor's Manual, downloadable exhibits from the text, and sample chapters is also available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/swayne.

Linda E. Swayne is Professor and Chair, Department of Marketing in the Belk College of Business Administration and Co-Director of the Physicians’ Management Institute at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She was Executive Director of the Carolinas’ Task Force on Health Care Policy, 1991–1993.

W. Jack Duncan is Professor and University Scholar in Management in the Graduate School of Management, and Professor of Health Care Organization and Policy and a Senior Scholar in the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Peter M. Ginter is Professor of Management in the Graduate School of Management and Professor of Health Care Organization, and Policy and a Senior Scholar in the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.