Seven Volumes of Strategic Correspondence
A selective index of past issues. Complete archival access is extended to subscribers of record; the following is a representative listing covering the last two volumes of publication.
On the shelf
Volume VII is bound in the house livery — oxide red, charcoal spine stamp. Prior volumes revert to the standard charcoal.
The Quiet Return of the Five-Year Plan
The current issue. Lead feature on capital allocation doctrine, a rewritten operating-plan template, field notes from eleven boardrooms, and four case histories on generational transition in closely-held firms.
208 pp. · Bound 02 February.The Concentration Issue
On customer concentration, supplier concentration, and the concentration of authority in closely-held firms. Six features, two archival reprints (one from 1982, one from 1996), and a long correspondence on the ethics of disclosure in owner-operator environments.
192 pp.Working Capital, Reconsidered
A double issue on the arithmetic that quietly separates durable mid-market firms from their peers. Features from three operators, a sustained treatment of days-payable-outstanding as a governance signal, and an unusually candid exchange between a senior lender and a long-standing borrower.
224 pp.On Successors
The transition issue. Four case studies, a theoretical piece on governance continuity under a founder-to-professional transition, and an archival reprint of a 1974 lecture on the duties of the outgoing chief executive.
168 pp.The Plan That Survives Contact
An inquiry into why most annual plans fail in the first quarter, and what the surviving ones have in common. The opening feature of our most-requested issue, now in its third printing.
176 pp. · Third printing.Doctrine & Discretion
On the relationship between written investment policy and managerial judgment. Contributions from five operating partners, a short essay on the hurdle rate as a cultural artifact, and a notable dissent in the correspondence.
184 pp.The Middle Market
Who we mean when we say it, why it is underserved by the strategic literature, and what the next decade is likely to require of the firms within it. A definitional issue.
160 pp.The Inventory Question
On the strategic meaning of stock on hand. Three operators describe the moment their inventory policy ceased to be a finance decision and became a culture decision.
152 pp.Covenants, Written and Unwritten
The structure of senior credit agreements and the informal covenants that govern how firms actually operate. Includes an annotated facsimile of a 2009 term sheet.
172 pp.Prior volumes (I–V) are maintained in the subscriber archive. Requests for specific issues are considered through existing subscriber relationships. The editors note that Vol. III, No. 14 is out of print and is not available for reissue.