A view on defining Strategy

Title: “Human nature insists on a definition for every concept. However, the field of strategic
management cannot afford to rely on a single definition of strategy” Discuss merits and demerits
along with implications for managers.”
Table of Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................................iii
Background ..........................................................................................................................................1
History on Emergence of Strategy ...................................................................................................1
Definitions by different people with different viewpoint: .........................................................2
Review of Henry Mintzberg’s article...............................................................................................3
Strategy as Plan ...................................................................................................................................3
Strategy as Ploy ...................................................................................................................................3
Strategy as Pattern..............................................................................................................................4
Strategy as Position ............................................................................................................................4
Strategy as Perspective......................................................................................................................4
Analysis.................................................................................................................................................5
Review on Michael Porters view on Strategy ................................................................................6
Blue Ocean Strategy............................................................................................................................6
Merits and Demerits...........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion and Implications ............................................................................................................8
Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................9

Abstract
The one question which every business face must answer is what we need to win. Strategy has been
studied for years by business leaders and by business theorists. Yet, there is no definitive answer
about what strategy really is which is probably due to the reason that people think about strategy in
different ways. Therefore, definitions of strategy can be grouped into what might be called the
prescriptive view where theorists tell us about the content of the strategy and the descriptive view
which introduces us to where do these strategies come from. Developing a strategy not only takes to
analyze and understand the internal and external world but also mapping the best route to success.
This essay tries to summarize some insights based on literature available accessed carrying out
secondary research on history and background, following the view given by Mintzberg, Michael
Porter and other scholars, with some suitable examples, drawing an analysis from writer’s (my)
viewpoint. An understanding of the subject encouraged to draw some merits and demerits for not
having a single definitive answer for what is strategy and concluding with the implications that a
manager can have for having different views on strategy.
Keywords: Strategy, Mintzberg, Porter, Competitive Advantage, Blue Ocean
iii

Background
It is only comparatively recently that “strategic management” has been labelled, studied, and
privileged as a field of managerial practice and scholarly attention (Knights and Morgan 1991).
Strategy which roots from Greek word strategos, mean, objectives are prudently and systematically
pursued and obtained over time. The word strategy broken into "stratos" – meaning army and “ago”-to
lead. In its military aspect, the term had to do with stratagems by which a general attempt to defeat an
enemy, with plans designed in advanced and implemented to dispose the forces in war. In other
words, it is the Art of the "Conscious Mind"; the art of the general in the battlefield; therefore, it is "A
style of thinking; a conscious and deliberate process; an intensive implementation system; the art of
ensuring future success."
Analysis of military diplomatic strategies provides essential insights in to the basic dimensions for
designing effective formal strategies containing elements: defining objectives to be achieved, guiding
policies or limiting actions, action sequences undertaken to accomplish the objectives within the limits
set. Strategy deals not only with the unpredictability but also with the unknowable. The essence of
strategy be it military, diplomatic, business, political or sports is based on building a posture and being
potentially flexible in selective ways to achieve the objectives.
History on Emergence of Strategy
The beginning of strategy dates back to 500 BC, tracing the time of The Art of War by Sun Tzu. With
a history of 2,500-year strategy was recognized as one-dimensional. The past 50 years have spewed
out countless new ideas and solutions and as the strategies piled up so did the complexity, the chance
that any one overall strategy was the answer to ever expanding strategic freedom was trampled in the
competitive scramble. As a result in this early 2010s one of the interesting times, Strategy is on the
verge of reinventing itself. In the 1990s the debate between inside-out strategies and outside-in
strategies was never a real debate since both mattered equally. It was during this period strategy
became a proper discipline. “Strategy is the management of natural competition. That is how it
compresses time.
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Definitions by different people with different viewpoint:
From a dictionary the strategy is merely a scheme
A popular TV series “Suits” is a USA Network drama based around the story of law firm and the
tactics used by its lawyers to win the cases. It states schemes such as playing with emotions and
negotiations are also the different forms of strategies.
From a biologists view strategy requires the understanding and management of natural competition,
evolution determines who survives and who is crowded out in a jungle fitting the rule of survival of
the fittest alike in business.
An article by Accelare states, the word “strategy” means different things to different people, much of
which isn’t really strategy at all. But within the domain of strategy we can broadly define it as:
Business, Operational and Transformational.
 Business strategy: It is primarily concerned with how a company will approach the
marketplace - where to play and how to win. 

 Operational Strategy: It is primarily concerned with accurately translating the business strategy
into a cohesive and actionable implementation plan. 

 Transformational Strategy: It is seen less often as it represents the wholesale transformation of
an entire business or organization. 
Drucker’s view: Strategy is a purposeful action, "He describes strategy from a warrior's perspective of
"analytical thinking and commitment of resources to action." His view remarks: Strategy as a plan is
not forecasting, not dealing with future decisions, neither eliminating risks nor a bundle of tricks or
predefined guidelines. According to him strategy is not to eliminate risks, as risks are certain but to
take the ‘right risks’ is what strategy can assist. In other words, it is the science of making good
decisions about the future.
To James F. Moore: Design for action in essence,” conception preceding action” is another view of
strategic planning. This means that companies need to become proactive in developing symbiotic
relationships with customers, suppliers, and even competitors.
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Review of Henry Mintzberg’s article
In an article written by Henry Mintzberg “Human nature insists on a definition for every concept.
However, the field of strategic management cannot afford to rely on a single definition of strategy”
where he defines strategy in five Ps- Plan, Ploy, Pattern, Position and Perspective. Use of Strategy as
five Ps in a variety of fields instruct a host of definitions.
Strategy as Plan
According to Mintzberg’s article plan is some sort of consciously proposed or a set of pre-defined
guidelines to tackle a situation. Planning deals with situations in a controlled environment. The typical
process of planning includes drafting the guidelines, shaping the campaigns and deciding on the
individual engagements which deems suitable for a military perspective of defining strategy. In
corporate context, a company entering in to a new market will draft a set of guidelines for an internal
communication on what they intend to achieve from this new venture. Following this process would
be the consecutive events on how to achieve by looking at their available and best exploitation of
limited resources and capabilities. A plan may also include a view on marketing mix to be used by the
company. This is a proactive approach to achieve the targets and objectives. The definition provided
by Newman and Logan (1971): "Strategies are forward-looking plans that anticipate change and
initiate actions to take advantage of opportunities that are integrated into the concept or mission of the
company” (Hax et al., 1986).
Strategy as Ploy
Another P of defining strategy is in terms of Ploys. Strategic ploy is a specific move defined to
surmount the competitors. Thus, strategy as a ploy takes the player or a competitor in a corporate
context into the realm of direct competition. This involves the creativity and innovation of the
player/organization to gain success. The concepts of ‘strategy as ploy’ builds on the game theoretic
and military heritage of strategy, suggesting that under conditions of interdependence, decisions of
one actor need to take account of expected responses of others. Strategy, in this sense, can be about
deceptive and unpredictable manoeuvres that confuse and outflank competitors. Hence, this is a
reactive mode of action. ‘Strategy as ploy’ bears a number of critical implications: As a reactive
mode, it appears to be something external to an organization. It may sometime force a player to act
beyond its available capabilities and resources to compete and sustain. The concept implies a certain
crookedness that almost invites scrutiny of underlying goals and motives. It also suggests that social
contestation is more a matter of superior manoeuvring rather than ideological or coercive domination
(Abercrombie, Hill, and Turner 1980), presenting possibilities for effective challenges by subordinate
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groups. Strategy as a ploy opposes the planning exercise. It deals with competitive situation in an
uncontrolled environment. For example, MacDonald’s used strategy as a ploy and had given away 50
million free cups of coffee during 2010 for about two and a half years in an attempt to steal away
market from coffee chains. Alike the game of chess which specifies what choices the player can make
in every possible situation and hence popularly used in Game Theory.
Strategy as Pattern
A third way to view strategy is defining strategy as a pattern. In other words strategy is consistency in
behaviour. Viewing as a pattern of actions emerging from the past decisions the firm has undertaken,
strategy follows an emergent form. For example, Apple Inc., a consumer electronics company
perpetually market new products and styles to attract its customers. Apple coordinates all its outlets in
the entire world in a consistent pattern.
Strategy as Position
Strategy is a position - specifically a means of locating an organization or a player in an
"environment" i.e. between the internal and external context. This include competition between two or
more number of players and even go beyond competition in niche markets. A recent example from
Coca-Cola the beverage giant which is preparing a nationwide launch of a high-end milk, called
Fairlife, This is a strategic move to position themselves in a healthy drink market in an external
environment view where consumers are becoming more conscious about healthy living.
Strategy as Perspective
Strategy is a perspective - its content consisting not just of a chosen position, but of an ingrained way
of perceiving the world. This includes an organization’s culture and values being shared by the
members of an organization. For example Google, a multinational technology company is known for
innovation imbibed in their working culture as perceived inside and outside the organization.
Strategy should be cognizant of the past heritage of the firm, but at the same time, forward looking. At
one end of this continuum falls the purely deliberate strategy, with the purely emergent at the other
end. Between these two extremes fall strategies which would combine various states of the
dimensions we have discussed before: the degree of explicitness, openness, participativeness,
centralized involvement, consensus management, formalization vs. power behaviour drives, and
continuity vs. future change. Also, the type of strategy will be affected by the nature of the
environment the firm is dealing with, particularly whether it is more or less benign, controllable, and
predictable.
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Analysis
My analysis to defining strategy after reviewing Mintzberg’s five P’s context is: A strategy is a
solution to move from where you are now to where you want to be as an individual in career or an
organization in a competing world to achieve the desired objectives. Off course future is
unforeseeable, and we live in a world that deals with uncertainty and the possibility that opposing
forces will always be a part as defined by Porters five forces. So, what best possible way we choice
being either proactive by formulating plans in advance or being reactive by playing tactics to a
competition move. As a manager, if I plan in advance for every single possible move which my
competitor me take I may end up using a lots of resources which may challenge the finances. The
dynamics of business world is changing, innovation and globalization is breeding giving new
boundaries to play and survive. Hence, survival of the fittest demands a move or a decision which is
effective and efficient. This depends on the flexibility of the mover emerging from the top level to the
bottom level management. Drafting a set of guidelines by top level management, imparting trainings
by experts and implementing those learnings in the real world by field players representing the bottom
level of an organization. Richard Branson at the top level as a leader can shape the mission with a
vision but the company men bear the equal responsibility to imbibe the core values to achieve the
same. What is achieve is strategy and how to achieve constitutes plan and this is viewed as a process
to position in a competitive environment with a consistent conduct to sustain the purpose of the
business. For a strategist, the chief purpose of any process is to drive out uncertainties that do not need
to be there within a plan. The case of Honda is an example of emergent strategy from bottom to top
management on the contrary, the success of Virgin airlines mainly comes from top-bottom level. No
view is good or bad all it depends on the specific context, it’s a matter of judgement. In conclusion,
strategy cannot afford to rely on a single definition in interdependence of the five P’s defines the
emergent view of strategy.
In addition to this there is another framework which places politics in game or strategy frame. The
framing of politics as a strategic game is marked by features such as winning and losing as the central
concern and a focus on how candidates or parties are doing in opinion polls. In Out of Order,
Patterson (1993) showed how American campaign news has shifted away from its traditional
descriptive and issue oriented mode to a more interpretive and game-oriented approach. Patterson
(1993) and Fallows (1997) link the rise of the strategic game frame to changes in the political system
and the news business. Modern styles of campaigning rely on increasingly sophisticated strategies to
manage their political platforms and images. Patterson talks about a ‘game schema’ of political
reporting, structured around the notion that politics is a strategic game in which candidates compete
for advantage. A few years later Cappella and Jamieson (1997) call it a ‘strategy frame’ that
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emphasizes who is ahead and behind and the strategies and tactics of campaigning necessary to
position a candidate to get ahead or stay ahead. Although scholars used somewhat different terms such
as ‘strategy schema’, ‘game schema’ and ‘strategy frame’ however, these are used as interchangeable
(Aalberg et al., 2012).
Review on Michael Porters view on Strategy
Michael Porter defines strategy as what unique position an organization is able to achieve rather than
the series of steps it takes to achieve. The five competitive forces defined by Porter shapes the strategy
for every industry. Understanding of the competitive environment is critical ingredient of a successful
strategy. The competitive environment can be understood by doing an industry analysis which is
relevant to both corporate-level and business-level strategy. The former is concerned in deciding
which industries the firm should be engaged in and how best to allocate the resources and utilize their
capabilities whereas the latter is concerned with establishing competitive advantage. To formulate
strategies on gaining competitive advantage a firm requires analysing its industry environment to best
position itself. To gain competitive advantage a firm positions itself by leveraging its strengths, which
according to Porter falls into two headings: Cost advantage and differentiation. Cost leadership
strategy: this generic strategy calls for being the lowest producer in an industry for a given level of
quality. This allows the firm to either sell their product at an average industry price to have
competitive advantage on rivals or below the average industry price to gain a larger market share.
Some of the ways through which firms can acquire cost advantage are by improving process
efficiencies, optimal outsourcing and vertical integration decisions etc. Also, by creating barriers of
entry enables a firm to have a greater control over the price to make profits. Differentiation Strategy
calls for the development of a product or service perceived as unique by the customers and which can
make the customers less price sensitive to have that product or service. Choosing one of the two above
mentioned generic strategies as stated by Porter defines a third strategy called focus strategy. To gain
competitive advantage a company must analyse its resources and capabilities to exploit its strength
and manage its weakness.
Blue Ocean Strategy
In the pursuit of differentiation and low cost to gain competitive advantage firms tend to create
uncontested market space called Blue Ocean Strategy. In 2007, Zynga, a social game developer
company positioned themselves in an uncontested market where no competition existed. In thought of
a gaming market, traditional players such as Ubisoft, Activision, and Microsoft were producing games
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for hard core gamers that required highly complex graphical content supported by high specification
of hardware to support these games. Instead Zynga created social gaming experience by reducing the
complexity and need of high spec hardware and thus focused their marketing efforts on casual gamers.
Therefore, we can see that they created, eliminated, reduced parameters of the industry to form its
own defined market in highly competitive gaming industry.
Merits and Demerits
Merits:
1. It includes different viewpoints on achieving an objective
2. It gives an advantage for a deliberate or a specific action
3. Planning prepares for a proactive approach whereas ploying prepares for a reactive approach
4. It gives a flexible approach to answer the challenges
5. It combines both past patterns and future behavior
6. This takes in to account the formulation, execution and implementation view together
7. Sense of control with risk analysis management
Demerits:
1. Motivated by fear-driven rather than growth driven
2. Pre-defining the guidelines may prove to be irrelevant and expensive in case of economic
downturn
3. It may obstruct the flexibility and block the view to see the other opportunities of expansion
coming in
4. 90% plans fail in implementation due to changes in environmental conditions which may be
macro or micro
5. Planning for one company may prove ploy for another resulting in different actions which may
not gel for organizations
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Conclusion and Implications
In a challenging and competing world where competition exists at both internal and external level, a
significant strategy plays a critical role. We can say what strategy is, but we cannot propose a
universal formula to this subjective matter which is applicable to any conceivable firm facing any kind
of environment that would have a general validity. Therefore, based on the merits and demerits for
having different directions on this subjects following implications may arise for the manager in an
organization:
1. Extrapolating present tendencies into the future
2. May sometimes limit the intuitive ability of the managers, especially plan
3. Under uncertainty strategic planning can be downright dangerous
4. Deliberate strategy provides a sense of purposeful direction to the organization. While
emergent strategy based on the experience in the real field implies "learning what works -
taking one action at a time in search for that viable pattern or consistency.
5. It is practical in approach as it has delicacies of shared beliefs in an organization
6. Use of different tools such as Porter’s generic strategies etc. gives a broader aspect to analyze
and view strategy
7. Sets the direction and scope for long-term objectives for an organization
8. Choice of adopting the best practices depending on the specific context
Therefore, theories say what strategy is, but there is no universal formula applicable to any
conceivable firm facing any kind of environment that would have a general validity. However, this
lack of a universal recipe for the development of a successful strategy should not be viewed as
implying that any strategy or any process to reach it can be equally effective. In my view a manager
based on his/her past experience should take a judgment call in defining out a clear direction or
precisely called “Strategy” by involving people from different divisions and hierarchy, and by
adopting a flexible approach to be ready to change ways if need be.
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strategy
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