Strategic Management

Introduction

Placing strategy
in a historical context

Military antecedents ( strategy v/s

tactics )
Traced back to ancient Greeks
Business context and applications
had to wait till the second industrial
revolution

Placing strategy
in a historical context

World War II, stimulus to strategic

thinking in both military & business
context

New OR Techniques (Linear programing)

Theory of Games
Concept of Learning Curve

Navy and Distinctive Competence

Some early contributors

Chester Barnard (strategic limiting factor)

Joseph Schumpeter (role of innovations)

Edith Penrose (resources under control of

the firm)

Kenneth Andrew ( SWOT )

Theodore Levitt (Willingness to gamble)

Ansoff ( product / mission matrix )

Academic Origins

Industrial economics
Organisational sociology
Institutional economics

Learnings from

Exemplary companies
Business history

Defining Strategy

Determination of long term

goals/objective of an enterprise and
adoption of course of action /
allocation of resources to achieve
these goals.
Theory of how to gain competitive
advantage.

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Design School
Planning School
Positioning School
Entrepreneurial School
Learning School
Power / Culture School
Configuration School

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Design school Strategy as a

process of conception

(Chandler, Andrews, Christensen)

SWOT
Fit between external environment &
internal capabilities

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Planning school Strategy as a formal

process

Igor Ansoff, Peter Lorange

Emphasis on decomposition (distinct steps) &
formalisation (techniques & check-lists)
Objective setting, External & Internal audit,
evaluation, operationalization, scheduling
Scenario building as a tool

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Positioning school strategy as an

analytical process

Michael Porter
Five forces model
Generic strategies

Borrows from military writings

Consulting imperative

Five Forces Model

Thinking strategies & schools

Entrepreneurial School Strategy

as a visionary process

Schumpeter, Pinchot
Focused on a leader stressing
intuition, judgement, wisdom,
experience, insight
Vision an inspiration and a guiding
idea

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Learning school Strategy

formulation as an emergent process

Lindblom, Brian Quinn

Strategy emerges as people/
organisations learn
Logical incrementalism
Knowledge management & learning
organisations

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Power school A process of

Negotiations

Political games,
Stakeholder Analysis &
Strategic alliances

Cultural school A collective

process

Andrew Pettigrew
Shared values, decision making styles,
resistance to change

Thinking Strategies & Schools

Configuration school Strategy as a

process of transformation

Long periods of stability, interrupted

by periods of transformation
Change management,
Transformational leadership
Turnaround management

The strategy beast

Areas of agreement

Concerns both organisation &

environment
The substance of strategy is complex
Affects the overall welfare of organisation
Involves both content & proces.
Are not purely deliberate
Exist at different levels
Involves various thought processes