1. Session 1
Introducing Strategy

2. Overview Why strategy? The ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of having a strategy
The many faces of strategy
The evolution of strategy as a field

3. The strategy beast Areas of agreement
Strategy affects overall welfare of the organization.
Strategy concerns both organizations and their environments.
Strategy involves complex tradeoffs.
Strategy forms on different levels.
Strategy involves issues of both content and process.
Strategy is a “two-edged” sword.

4. Strategies for better ……………….and for worse
Chart a course
Create and maintain cohesion
Strategy
sets direction
Wrong direction

5. ……………….and for worse (Continued)
Strategies for better
……………….and for worse (Continued)
Promotes coordination
Reduces disorder
Strategy focuses effort
No peripheral vision
“Groupthink”

6. ……………….and for worse (Continued)
Strategies for better
……………….and for worse (Continued)
Captures essential meaning
Creates shared identity
Strategy defines
the organization
Loss of richness
stereotyping

7. ……………….and for worse (Continued)
Strategies for better
……………….and for worse (Continued)
Reduces ambiguity
Explains the world
Strategy provides
consistency
Can reduce creativity
Simplify to the point of distortion

8. The many faces of strategy
Intuitive Meaning
Plan
Pattern
Position
Perspective
Ploy
Deliberate
Emergent
Planned
Ideological
Process
Consensus
Entrepreneurial
Umbrella
Disconnected
Imposed

9. Intuitive meaning
The creation of a close relationship between actions and preferred outcomes

10. Specify future choices Made in advance of action
Calculated towards achieving objectives
Figure 1.1a Strategies ahead and behind

11. Without preconception Driven by actions; not design
Consistency in behavior (whether or not intended)
Figure 1.1b Strategies ahead and behind (Continued)

12. A match between organization and context
A unique place in the environment
Finding and sustaining rent creating situations
Figure 1.3a Strategies above and below

13. The “character” of an organization
Collective concept
A world view
Intensely shared
The “character” of an organization
Figure 1.3b Strategies above and below (Continued)

14. Figure 1.2 Strategies deliberate and emergent

15. Figure 1.4 Changing position and perspective

16. From the rather deliberate to the
mostly emergent
Planned
strategy
Ideological
strategy
Entrepreneurial
strategy
Process
strategy
Umbrella
strategy
Consensus
strategy
Disconnected
strategy
Imposed
strategy

17. Types of strategies Planned Entrepreneurial Ideological Umbrella
Process
Disconnected (Clandestine)
Consensus (Spontaneous)
Imposed

18. Planned strategy
Precise
Intentions
Surprise during implementation

19. Entrepreneurial strategy
Opportunistic emergence
Personal
Intentions
Vision
Deliberate actualization

20. Ideological strategy Collective vision Share values Intended to be
deliberate

21. Umbrella strategy Partly deliberate Targets and/or Limits
Leadership in
partial control
Deliberately
Emergent
Partly
emergent

22. Process strategy Process of decision making at the top Content of
decisions below
Deliberately
Emergent

23. Disconnected strategy
Subunit
Deliberate
Patterns
Convergence
for the whole
Collective
Patterns

24. Consensus strategy
Mutual
Adjustment
Emergence

25. Imposed strategy Adaptive Response Organizationally Emergent

26. The ten schools of strategy
1. Design: a process of conception
2. Planning: a formal process
3. Positioning: an analytical process
4. Entrepreneurial: a visionary process
5. Cognitive: a judgmental process
6. Learning: an emergent process
7. Political: a process of negotiation
8. Cultural: a collective process
9. Environmental: a reactive process
10. Configuration: a process of transformation

27. The ten schools one word definitions!
A DESIGN
A PLAN
A POSITION
A VISION
A PERCEPTION
A PATTERN
AN AGENDA
A BELIEF
A RESPONSE
A STAGE

28. Why ten schools? Organizations can vary widely.
Organizations can change greatly.
Theories of dynamic systems are often either too simple or too complex.
Understanding social systems requires understanding not only outcomes, but also intentions.
Contingency is crucial.

29. Prescriptive Descriptive Schools Schools Biology Economics Sociology
Psychology
Anthropology
Political Science

31. Evolution of Ten Schools (Continued)

32. Teaching plan The history of the school Basic assumptions
Contributions
Criticism