Overall Definition:

1. A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem. 2. The art and science of planning and marshalling resources for their most efficient and effective use. The term is derived from the Greek word for generalship or leading an army. See also tactics.

Johnson and Scholes (Exploring Corporate Strategy) define strategy as follows:

At each level, though, a simple definition of strategy can be: "Determining how we are going to win in the period ahead."
"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantagefor the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations". In other words, strategy is about: * Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction) * Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope) * How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage)? * What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)? * What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment)? * What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business? (stakeholders) Strategy at Different Levels of a Business Strategies exist at several levels in any organisation - ranging from the overall business (or group of businesses) through to individuals working in it.

Corporate Strategy - is concerned with the overall purpose and scope of the business to
meet stakeholder expectations. This is a crucial level since it is heavily influenced by investors in the business and acts to guide strategic decision-making throughout the business. Corporate strategy is often stated explicitly in a "mission statement".

Business Unit Strategy - is concerned more with how a business competes successfully in a
particular market. It concerns strategic decisions about choice of products, meeting needs of customers, gaining advantage over competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities etc.

Operational Strategy - is concerned with how each part of the business is organised to
deliver the corporate and business-unit level strategic direction. Operational strategy therefore focuses on issues of resources, processes, people etc. How Strategy is Managed - Strategic Management In its broadest sense, strategic management is about taking "strategic decisions" decisions that answer the questions above. In practice, a thorough strategic management process has three main components, shown in the figure below:

Strategic Analysis

This is all about the analysing the strength of businesses' position and understanding the important external factors that may influence that position. The process of Strategic Analysis can be assisted by a number of tools, including:

PEST Analysis - a technique for understanding the "environment" in which a business

operates

Scenario Planning - a technique that builds various plausible views of possible futures for a
business

Five Forces Analysis - a technique for identifying the forces which affect the level of
competition in an industry

Market Segmentation - a technique which seeks to identify similarities and differences

between groups of customers or users

Directional Policy Matrix - a technique which summarises the competitive strength of a

businesses operations in specific markets

Competitor Analysis - a wide range of techniques and analysis that seeks to summarise a
businesses' overall competitive position

Critical Success Factor Analysis - a technique to identify those areas in which a business
must outperform the competition in order to succeed

SWOT Analysis - a useful summary technique for summarising the key issues arising from
an assessment of a businesses "internal" position and "external" environmental influences. Strategic Choice This process involves understanding the nature of stakeholder expectations (the "ground rules"), identifying strategic options, and then evaluating and selecting strategic options. Strategy Implementation Often the hardest part. When a strategy has been analysed and selected, the task is then to translate it into organisational action.

Corporate Strategy
In business, corporate strategy refers to the overall strategy of an organization that is made up of multiple business units, operating in multiple markets. It determines how the corporation as a whole supports and enhances the value of the business units within it; and it answers the question, "How do we structure the overall business, so that all of its parts create more value together than they would individually?"

Corporations can do this by building strong internal competences, by sharing technologies and resources between business units, by raising capital cost-effectively, by developing and nurturing a strong corporate brand, and so on. So, at this level of strategy, we're concerned with thinking about how the business units within the corporation should fit together, and understanding how resources should be deployed to create the greatest possible value. Tools like Porter's Generic Strategies , the Boston Matrix , the ADL Matrix and VRIO Analysis will help with this type of high-level analysis and planning. The organization's design is another important strategic factor that needs to be considered at this level. How you structure your business, your people, and other resources all of these affect competitive advantage and can support your strategic goals.

Business Unit Strategy

Strategy at the business unit level is concerned with competing successfully in individual markets, and it addresses the question, "How do we win in this market?" However, this strategy needs to be linked to the objectives identified in the corporate level strategy. Competitive analysis, including gathering competitive intelligence , is a great starting point for developing a business unit strategy. As part of this, it's important to think about your core competencies , and how you can use these to meet your customers' needs in the best possible way. From there you can use USP Analysis to understand how to strengthen your competitive position. You will also want to explore your options for creating and exploiting new opportunities. Porter's Five Forces is a must-have tool for this process, while aSWOT Analysis will help you understand and address the opportunities and threats in your market. Note: For smaller businesses, corporate and business unit strategy may overlap or be the same thing. However, if an organization is competing in different markets, then each business unit needs to think about its own strategic direction. It's important, though, that each business unit's strategy is aligned with the overall strategy of the corporation, particularly where the corporation's brand is important. Your business unit strategy will likely be the most visible level of strategy within each business area. People working within each unit should be able to draw direct links between this strategy and the work that they're doing. When people understand how they can help their business unit "win," you have the basis for a highly productive and motivated workforce. As such, it's important to have a clear definition of the business unit's mission, vision and values .

Team Strategy
To execute your corporate and business unit strategies successfully, you need teams throughout your organization to work together. Each of these teams has a different contribution to make, meaning that each team needs to have its own team-level strategy, however simple. This team strategy must lead directly to the achievement of business unit and corporate strategies, meaning that all levels of strategy support and enhance each other to ensure that the organization is successful. This is where it's useful to define the team's purpose and boundaries using, for example, a team charter ; and to manage it using techniques such asManagement by Objectives and use of key performance indicators . You need to be working efficiently to achieve the strategic objectives that have been set at higher levels of the organization; so, an important element of your team strategy is to implement best practices to help your team to meet its objectives. Activities that optimize supplier management, quality, and operational excellenceare also important factors in creating and executing an effective team strategy.