Dynamics

of Strategy
What is Strategy?
 Strategy
From the Greek strategos:

"stratos" – meaning army.

"ago" – meaning
leading/guiding/moving
 Strategy
The science and art of military
command exercised to meet the
enemy in combat under
advantageous conditions.

Webster's New World Dictionary

Strategies are means to ends.

Thompson and Martin (2001)

Strategy is doing the right things
right for the right reason.
Thompson and Martin (2001)
A company without a
strategy is like a ship
operating without a
rudder.
 "All men can see these tactics
whereby I conquer, but what none
can see is the strategy out of
which victory is evolved."
Sun Tzu (6th century BC), The Art of War.
 Strategic
Management
 The field of strategic management
deals with the major prescriptive and
emergent initiatives taken by general
managers on behalf of owners,
involving utilization of resources, to
enhance the performance of firms in
their external environments.5
Lynch. R. (2009) Strategic Management, Fifth Ed. Pearson Education Limited.
Strategic Management

Corporate Level Strategy

Business Level Strategy

PUB
PRV
NFP
 Corporate Level Strategy
Strategic management is the pattern of major
objectives, purposes or goals and essential
policies or plans for achieving those goals,
stated in such a way as to define what
business the company is in or is to be in and
the kind of company it is or is to be.
(Lynch, 2009)
 Corporate Level Strategy

What is our vision and mission?

Setting the strategic direction

Setting plans and policies

Setting objectives

Raising finance

Allocation of resources to SBUs

 Business Level Strategy
The strategy of the firm is the match between
its internal capabilities and its external
relationships. It describes how it responds to its
suppliers, its customers, its competitors and
the social and economic environment within it
operates.
(Lynch, 2009)
Business Level Strategy
Manage strategy in three areas:

External environment

Internal resources

The ability to add value

Concentric model
 Prescriptive Perspective

Strategic management can be

described as the identification of the
purpose of the organization and the
plans and actions to achieve that
purpose.
(Lynch, 2009)

ARE
TO GO
HOW
 Emergent Perspective

Strategic management can be described

as finding market opportunities,
experimenting and developing
competitive advantage over time.8
(Lynch, 2009)

CHANGE ENV
 Competitive Advantage

When a firm sustains profits that exceed

the average for its industry, the firm is
said to possess a competitive advantage
over its rivals.
(Porter, 1980)
Competitive Advantage

Sources
|
Value creation
|
Positions
|
Performance outcomes
(Day and Wensley, 1988)
 Five Elements of Strategic Decisions

1. Sustainable decisions

2. Develop processes to deliver the strategy

3. Offer competitive advantage (innovation)

4. Exploit linkages between the organization

and its environment

5. Vision
(Lynch, 2009)
Strategic Management

Three Core Areas:

Strategic Analysis

Strategy Development

Strategy Implementation
 Strategic Analysis

Environment

Resources

Vision, mission, objectives

 Strategic Development

Options

Rational selection

Finding strategic route forward

Considering strategy structure and style.

 Strategic Implementation

Managing strategic change

Implementing a customer-driven strategy

Program management

Leadership
 The Three Core Areas
Prescriptive Perspective

Objectives has been defined in advance and

main elements have been developed before
the strategy commences.

The three core areas are linked sequentially.

Strategy evaluation and development -

suggested as more prescriptive.

Leader as planner.
 The Three Core Areas
Emergent Perspective

Final objectives are unclear and whose

elements are developed during the course of
its life as the strategy proceeds.

Evaluation is distinct while development and

implementation are interrelated (experimental
process that involves trial and error).

Leader as learner.
 Strategic Perspectives

Both approaches can make valuable

contributions to strategic management
models and are not mutually exclusive.

Left brain = prescriptive approach

Right brain = emergent approach

(exercise)
 Next Strategy Class:

Assignment
Read Chapters 1 – 7 in Lynch text.

Examine case studies

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