Transcript BUS 4301 Strategic Management
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.