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

Deliberate and Emergent Strategy Realized 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

Interrelating the Ps cont…

• 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

Interrelating the Ps cont…

• 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

Position School “Deliberate” strategy (Porter / Harvard) Process School “Emergent” strategy (Mintzberg / McGill) Strategy is the conscious, analytical development of a distinct position in the environment Strategy is an intuitive process through which the organization evolves by adapting to its environment

Intuition =immediate insight or understanding without conscious reasoning.

Organizational Goals

Process School Position School 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

Position School

• •

Determine, develop and defend an advantageous position in the environment Be disciplined about this choice Process School

• •

Learn and evolve through ongoing experience within the environment Don’t be afraid to experiment

Organizational Capabilities

Position School Build mutually reinforcing “fit” among organizational activities in tightly focused support of chosen strategic position Process School Encourage experimentation and variety in activities, from which potential new strategies may emerge

Implications for Strategic Management

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

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