In this Kaplan MBA Fundamentals guide, two Columbia professors who have consulted with Fortune 500 companies make strategic planning easy to understand and implement. With real-world examples and guidance on the tools and techniques of strategy development, planning, implementation, and measurement, this is the only guide you’ll need to put your department or business on the right track for growth.
About the Author : Thomas Ference
Ference is also the founder and past director (1976-1993) of the Columbia Business School Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. He has consulted with numerous prominent not-for-profit and public sector institutions in the criminal justice, human services, health and hospital, education, and philanthropic sectors among others. His clients have included national and local agencies, all levels of government, and non-US NGOs. He also serves on several not-for-profit boards.
Paul W. Thurman, a Columbia MBA valedictorian, service award winner, and multiple teaching-award recipient, has extensive management consulting and line management experience helping a variety of start-ups and Fortune 500 companies realize value from innovative and coordinated business, operations, and technology strategies.
Spanning a broad range of for- and not-for-profit entities, Thurman’s clients include several global mass-market and luxury retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, and financial services and multi-line insurance concerns. He has also consulted to the US Government (Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services). He is also on several not-for-profit boards and has advised several educational and public health institutions. Thurman has also served as an expert witness in support of business valuation, statistical modeling, and financial analysis claims.
Thurman currently teaches strategic management and data analysis courses at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and at its Mailman School of Public Health. In addition to his full-time faculty appointments, Thurman serves as a clinical professor and affiliated researcher at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health. He is also a visiting professor at several international business schools including the Hellenic American University in Greece, and the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management in Russia.
Thurman is also the author of Kaplan’s MBA Fundamentals Statistics. He lives in Scarsdale, New York, and is pursing a doctorate in public health.
Paul W. Thurman, a Columbia MBA valedictorian, service award winner, and multiple teaching-award recipient, has extensive management consulting and line management experience helping a variety of start-ups and Fortune 500 companies realize value from innovative and coordinated business, operations, and technology strategies. Paul currently teaches strategic management and data analysis courses at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and at its Mailman School of Public Health. In addition to his full-time faculty appointments, Paul serves as a clinical professor and affiliated researcher at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health. Paul received his BS in mathematics from Stanford University and his MBA from Columbia University (with highest honors). He lives in Scarsdale, New York.