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What is Strategy?: Different Perspectives

Strategy

Authors, managers, employees, and general public feel, perceive, mean, understand and experience strategy differently through their own socio-cultural and political spectacles and life experiences. Hence, there is no single or universally accepted definition for ‘strategy’.

Defining strategy

Here we discuss one of the categorizations introduced by Mintzberg - Five Ps for Strategy;

• as a plan• as a ploy• as a pattern• as a position• as a perspective

Strategy as a plan

• a consciously intended course of action

• a guideline/s to deal with a situation

• Characteristics– Made in advance– Developed consciously or purposely – [May be documented or stated

explicitly]

Strategy as a ploy

•A plan can be a ploy too–The intention of the plan could

make it a ploy

•A specific maneuver to outwit an opponent

Strategy as a pattern

• A pattern in stream of actions– Consistency in behaviour whether or

not intended– Independent from plan

• Deliberate strategy and emergent strategy

Realized Strategy

Intended Strategy

Unrealiz

ed Strategy

Emergent Strategy

Deliberate and Emergent Strategy

Strategy as a position

• Locating organization in environment

– Match between internal & external context

– Choice of niche

• Collective strategy

Strategy as a perspective

• Ingrained way of perceiving the world

– Strategy is a concept (all strategies are abstractions)

– Similar to personality to an individual

• Shared perspective– Collective mind

Interrelating the Ps

• Conventional hierarchy – Conventional prescriptive view of

how strategies are supposed to get made

– Giving rise to plans•Ex- as position and/or patterns in an implicit hierarchy

•Strategy as a vision directed

Interrelating the Ps cont…

• Formalizing on emergent strategy within a perspective

– Pattern evoked•Develop intentions through actions


• Pattern (or position) producing perspective – Pattern/ position can give rise to

perspective•Developing ‘character’ through innate skills and natural propensities

– Plans and positions are dispensable, perspectives are immutable•Perspective to be seen in the consistency of behaviour than in the articulation of intentions


•Perspective constraining shift in position

– If perspective is immutable, then change in plan & position is difficult unless compatible with the existing perspective

Need for eclecticism in definition

• Definitions compete and complement and each adds important elements to our understanding of strategy

• As plans- deals with how leaders establish direction for organization– What is the intention of the strategy

• As ploy- deals with competition– How to reconcile the dynamic notion of

strategy as a ploy with static ones of strategy as a pattern and other forms of plans

Need for eclecticism in definition cont…

• As pattern- deals with action and consistency in behaviour– Direction of the organization

pushed by realized strategy (plan)– Strategies can also emerge

• As position- deals with competitive environment– Organization in ecological terms– How much choice do organizations

have

Need for eclecticism in definition cont…

• As perspective- deals with intention and behaviour in a collective context – How intentions defuse through a

group of people to become shared as norms and values

– How patterns of behaviour become deeply ingrained in group

The Purpose of Strategy

“(strategy is)…essential to superior performance, which, after all, is the primary goal of any enterprise.”

– Michael E. Porter, What is Strategy?

Strategy is about achieving competitive advantage – winning!

Two Schools of Strategy

“Deliberate” strategy

(Porter / Harvard)

Strategy is the conscious, analytical development of a distinct position in the environment

“Emergent” strategy

(Mintzberg / McGill)

Strategy is an intuitive process through which the organization evolves by adapting to its environment

Position School Process School

Intuition =immediate insight or understanding without conscious reasoning.

Organizational Goals

Competitive Advantage– “(strategy is)…

essential to superior performance, which, after all, is the primary goal of any enterprise”

Continued Existence– “(strategy is)…all

things necessary for the successful functioning of an organization as an adaptive mechanism.”


Relationship to Environment

• Determine, develop and defend an advantageous position in the environment

• Be disciplined about this choice

• Learn and evolve through ongoing experience within the environment

• Don’t be afraid to experiment


Organizational Capabilities

Build mutually-reinforcing “fit” among organizational activities in tightly focused support of chosen strategic position

Encourage experimentation and variety in activities, from which potential new strategies may emerge


Implications forStrategic Management

Leadership conceptualizes strategy based on analysis and mobilizes the organization in well-coordinated support of it.

Leadership nurtures a learning, flexible organization which is highly responsive and adaptable to the environment.
