Strategy.html



A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Strategy is differentiated from tactics, or immediate actions, with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.

The word derives from the Greek word stratēgos, which derives from two words: stratos (army) and ago (ancient Greek for leading). Stratēgos referred to a 'military commander' during the age of Athenian Democracy.

Interpretation

Strategy should always be designed to provide competitive advantage. Military strategy is that contest of strategy between opposing military forces. Because of its ability to provide competitive advantage, strategy is differentiated from planning. Strategy can also be termed as direction that enables companies to achieve goals and objectives.

In the field of business administration, "strategic consistency" is when the actions of an organization are consistent with the expectations of management, and these in turn are consistent with the market and the context. (Arie de Geus, 2007)

Noted texts on strategy

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Classic texts such as Sun Tzu's The Art of War, written in China 2,500 years ago, the political strategy of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, written in 1513, or Carl von Clausewitz's On War, published in 1832, are still well known and highly influential. In the twentieth century, the subject of strategic management has been particularly applied to organisations, most typically to business firms and corporations.

The nature of historic texts differs greatly from area to area, and given the nature of strategy itself, there are some potential parallels between various forms of strategy (noting, for example, the popularity of the The Art of War as a business book). Each domain generally has its own foundational texts, as well as more recent contributions to new applications of strategy. Some of these are:

• Political strategy
  • The Prince, published in 1532 by Niccolò Machiavelli
  • Arthashastra, written in the 4th century BC by Chanakya
  • The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione
• Military strategy:
  • The Art of War, written in the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu
  • Strategikon, written in the 6th century AD by the Byzantine emperor Maurice
  • Taktikon, by the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise
  • On War, by Carl von Clausewitz (19th century)
  • Strategy, by Basil Liddell Hart
  • On Guerrilla Warfare, by Mao Zedong
  • The Influence of Sea Power upon History, by Alfred Thayer Mahan
  • The Air Campaign, by Colonel John A. Warden, III
  • Makers of Modern Strategy, edited by Peter Paret
  • Strategy, by Edward N. Luttwak
• Economic strategy
  • General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936 by John Maynard Keynes
• Business strategy
  • Competitive Strategy, by Michael Porter
  • Strategy Concept I: Five Ps for Strategy and Strategy Concept II: Another Look at Why Organizations Need Strategies, by Henry Mintzberg
  • Winning In FastTime by John A. Warden, III and Leland A. Russell, 2002.
• General strategy
  • Strategy Safari, by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel.
  • Political Strategy and Tactics by Laure Paquette
• Strategic Theory
  • Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd by Frans Osinga
  • Strategy generative by Jean-Paul Charnay
  • Strategy and Ethnic Conflict by Laure Paquette
• Others
  • Marcel Détienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, Les Ruses de l'intelligence, Paris: Flammarion, 1993 (on the role of the Greek Metis)

See also

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Look up strategy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• American football strategy
• Morphological analysis
• Nuclear strategy
• Plan
• Poker strategy
• Strategic planning
• Strategic bombing
• Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
• Strategy dynamics
• Strategy Pattern
• Strategy games
• Sustainable competitive advantage "Strategic advantage"
• Synergy

References

Author: de Geus, Arie (not Arieu as previously quoted) Source: Reflections: The SoL Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, February 2007 , pp. 28-35(8) Publisher: Society for Organizational Learning

External links

• Strategy Definition and Fundamentals