Levitt, T. (1991). Thinking about Management. New York: The Free Press.

Levitt divided his book into three sections: Thinking, changing, and operating, which capsulizes the activities of management. This short book begins with what Levitt considered the basic questions any manager should ask: "why do we do it; why that way; what are the alternatives; how much does it cost; why are costs up; who does it cheaper and better; what's happening out there that's likely to hurt or help us" (p. 3). Levitt explains the purpose of these questions, to understand the future and not dwell on the past.

To understand the future, Levitt advocates for a streamline of stuff, data, and bureaucracy. The streamline of stuff mirrors the thinking of just-in-time inventory. The streamline in data, in the age of big data, requires formatting the data into useable information for decision making. The streamline of bureaucracy results in leadership teams that "think seriously and deeply for themselves about the purposes of the organizations they head or functions they perform, about the strategies, tactics, technologies, systems, and people necessary to attain these purposes, and about the important questions that need always to be asked" (p. 9). Levitt discusses the role of knowledge workers and the need for leaders who have a proclivity for decisiveness, with understanding of the people in the organization and the environment in which the organization functions. He integrates the concept of modern knowledge economy with innovation, marketing, and advertising.