Management - Strategy Process - Essay Example

The word strategy was introduced by Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War though at that time he discussed about the military strategy (Tzu, 1971). The main concept behind using of word strategy was to gain advantage over something or someone and in business strategy has been defined as a comprehensive and integrated plan that has been devised to make sure that the main objective of the organization is achieved (Glueck, 1980). Strategy has been used by firms globally to identify what the organization would like to achieve and how it is going to achieve therefore the importance of strategy becomes very vital as proper strategic planning will influence the future of the organization and it will define whether the organization would be able to achieve success or not.

Strategic management in the last few years have become a field for the managers which helps them in managing STRATEGY PROCESS Devising strategy for the management has become an important task as it leads to the success or failure of the organization. . Plan 2. Ploy 3. Pattern 4. Position 5. Perspective 1. Strategy as a Plan Plan is defined as the first P of the 5Ps of Strategy as proposed by Mintzberg. Strategy is about planning in order to achieve something or in order to deal with certain situation.

Planning involves guidelines that have to be followed to achieve the main objective of the organization. So, this definition of strategy leads to two important characteristics of strategy which are: Planning or strategy has to be made in advance There is an objective or purpose behind formulation of strategies (Henry, Mintzberg, Quinn, & Cliff, 1992) Managers use different tools like SWOT and TWOS to plan their actions according to what they have and what they do not have along with the opportunities that exist in the market that they can exploit. 2. Strategy as Ploy Strategy can be described as a ploy as well with the aim to get the better of competitors.

According to Mintzberg (2002) with the ploy of outsmarting the competitors and disrupting or discouraging them, strategy can be considered as a ploy as well. Scenario analysis is one of the tools that have been used by managers to analyze the situation of the company against competitors. 3. Strategy as Pattern Strategy according to Mintzberg (1987) is also defined as a pattern as using the word strategy with plan only is not sufficient. Pattern means consistency in actions and consistency in the way things are managed and done.

It has been explained that patterns are realized strategy whereas plans are intended strategies. 4. Strategy as Position Strategy is also defined as position which refers to how the management decides to position the organization in the market. With this definition, the