What is Strategy?:
Different Perspectives
Strategy
Authors, managers, employees, and
general public feel, perceive, mean,
understand and experience strategy
differently through their own sociocultural 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)
Strategy is the
conscious, analytical
development of a
distinct position in the
environment
Process School
“Emergent” strategy
(Mintzberg / McGill)
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
Position School
Competitive
Advantage
– “(strategy
is)…essential to
superior
performance,
which, after all, is
the primary goal of
any enterprise”
Process School
Continued
Existence
– “(strategy is)…all
things necessary
for the successful
functioning of an
organization as an
adaptive
mechanism.”
Relationship to Environment
Position School
Process School
• Determine, develop
and defend an
advantageous
position in the
environment
• Be disciplined about
this choice
• Learn and evolve
through ongoing
experience within
the environment
• Don’t be afraid to
experiment
Organizational Capabilities
Position School
Build mutuallyreinforcing “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 wellcoordinated support
of it.
Process School
Leadership
nurtures a learning,
flexible
organization which
is highly
responsive and
adaptable to the
environment.