The determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for those goals. (Chandler, 1962)
- 2 – 5 year roadmap… not a plan for next quarter (!)
- Alignment and commitment of stakeholders (Delivery, Sales, marketing, HR, Finance, etc.)
- Resource, capability and performance driven
- Agreement on short vs long term actions and ROI
Every business organization, every sub-unit, and even every individual (ought to) have a clearly defined set of purposes or goals which keeps it moving in a deliberately chosen direction and prevents it drifting in undesired directions. (Andrews, 1971)
- Clear direction and plan – which need to be continuously maintained and adjusted
- Clarity about what is and what is not desired (in and out of scope)
A process of analysis which is designed to achieve the competitive advantage of one organization over another in the long term. (Porter, 1985)
- Robust governance to keep momentum and alignment
- Clear rationale that can be challenged
- Focus on differentiation to outperform rivals
- Operational effectiveness includes but is not limited to efficiency: necessary but not sufficient
- Strategic positions can be based on customers’ needs, customers’ accessibility, or the variety of products or services
- Trade-offs are essential: the need for choice, fit and sustainability
To enable an organization to identify, build and deploy resources most effectively towards the attainment of its objectives. (Henderson and Mitchell, 1997)
- Capability to implement the strategy and effectively deploy the plan
- Availability of resources beyond current needs in order to invest in future potential
- Ongoing benchmark against competition and market… not a one-off, but an iterative process (!)
- Communication to the wider community about the direction and plan
To ‘operationalize’ the management of strategy into stages of formulation and implementation, it is necessary to analyse the strategy formulation in terms of deliberate strategies—realized as intended from emergent strategies. (Mintzberg, 2009)
- Strategy is contextual
- Strategy as a consequential effect of the trials and errors and an iterative process
What are your thoughts?
References
- Chandler A (1962) Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of
American Industrial Enterprise, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA - Andrews KR (1971) The concept of corporate strategy, Richard D. Irwin, Homewood
- Porter ME (1985) Competitive Advantage, New York, The Free Press
- Henderson R, Mitchell W (1997) The Interactions of Organizational and Competitive Influences on Strategy and Performance, Strategic Management Journal, 18:5-14
- Mintzberg H (1990) The Design School: reconsidering the basic premises ofstrategic management, Strategic Management Journal, 11(3): 171-195
This post was originally published on LinkedIn on 2 April 2015.
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