This practical guide offers a realistic approach to strategic management, while borrowing from the most helpful and relevant business ideas, allows the public or nonprofit organization to achieve success without compromising its unique mission or constituency. Executives, managers, and policymakers will find key principles for everyday application, including how to: identify trends that will most affect programs and services; assess the organization's core strengths and competencies; select strategies that advance the mission while building operational success; explore opportunities for collaborations with other organizations; and encourage a culture of strategic thought and action.

Throughout this innovative guide, there are numerous illustrations and examples of how to apply the most appropriate technique to a particular need or goal. At last, public and nonprofit organizations have a real-world guide to finding lasting success.

KEVIN P. KEARNS is associate professor and director of the Master of Public Administration program at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), University of Pittsburgh. He is also the author of Managing for Accountability: Preserving the Public Trust in Public and Nonprofit Organizations (Jossey-Bass, 1996).