What is Strategy?

∆ Strategy it was first used in terms of Military Science to mean what a manager does to offset actual or potential Actions of competitors. The word strategy is has been derived from the Greek word “Strategos”, which means generalship.

The word strategy therefore, means the art of the general. Compare to the Military, the word Strategy differs meaning in the management. In Management the Strategy is taken more broadly. In this form various experts do not agree about the precise scope of Strategy.

First of all we need to look at the different views and opinions expressed by leading thinkers in the field of business Strategy

Tomorrow always arrives. It is always arrives. And even the Mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the Future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run. -Peter Drucker

If you don’t invest of the long term, there is no short term. -George David

If we know where we are and something about how we got there, we might see where we are treading and if the outcomes which lie naturally in our course are unacceptable, to make timely change. -Abraham Lincoln

Without a strategy, a company is like a ship without a rudder, going around in circles. It’s like a tramp; it has no place to go. -Hoel Ross & Michael Kami

Those are the example of leading thinkers in the field of business Strategy. We saw that a strategy is one of the important keys if you want to have a long-term profitability business.

There are Features of Strategy

• The Strategy relate the firm to its environment, particularly the external environment in all actions whether objective setting

• Strategy is the right combination of factors both external and internal. In relating an organization to its environment, the management must also consider the internal factors too, particularly its strengths and weaknesses, to take various particularly its strengths and weaknesses, to take various courses of action.

• Strategy is relative combination of actions. The combination is to meet a particular condition, to solve certain problems, or to attain a desirable objective. It may take any form; for every situation varies and, therefore, requires a somewhat different approach.

• Strategy may even involve contradictory action. Since strategic action depends on environmental variables, a manager may take an action today and revise or reverse his steps tomorrow depending on the situations.

• Strategy is forward looking. It has orientation towards the future. Strategic action is required in a new situation. Nothing-new requiring solutions can exist in the past, and so strategy is relevant only to the fructuousness of action.

These are the features of Strategy that I very vital in the field of business industries.

Business Strategy and Strategic Management

In my thinking a business Strategy is very important because no business can do everything. Even if it has the money and people. It has to set priorities, objectives and visions. And how they execute that it is through their strategies. The strategies of a business will be the key to its future success

Strategic Management is a set of rules aimed at taking decisions for sustenance and growth of an organization in a given environment.

The strategic management or strategic planning encompasses long-range plans, new venture management, planning, programming, budgeting, business policy, etc. with greater emphasis on environmental scanning and forecasting and taking into account external and internal factors in formulating and implementing the plans.

It is understood as a process of formulating objectives of an organization and developing methods to achieve them.

It is a process of designing a path and selecting one path, after due evaluation of various alternatives for reaching a goal. The objective can be in the form of a mission statement or may be clearly defined in the form of postulates.

It’s also a science of choosing the alternatives from the designed and available courses. The managers have to decide on a process that will be most suitable to their conditions and that would enable them to achieve a desired position for their organization.

Thus, strategic management can be defined as follows:

The process of systematically analyzing various opportunities and threats vis-à-vis organizational strengths and weaknesses, formulating, and arriving at strategic choices through critical evaluation of alternatives and implementing them to meet the set objectives of the organization.

Policy, Strategy & Tactic

∆ The term policy has more precise definition as compared to strategy. It has been derived from the Greek word ‘politeia’ meaning citizen and latin word ‘politis’ mean-ing polished, that is, to say clear.

According to New Webster Dictionary, policy means “the art of manner of governing a nation, the line of conduct which rulers of a nation adopt on a particular question especially with regard to foreign countries, the principle on which any measure or course of action is based”. While these descriptions of policy relate to any field, policy in management context.

Is defined by Weihrich and Koontz as follows:

“Policies are general statements or understandings which guide or channel think-ing in decision making”.

Kotler has defined policy more elaborately as follows:

“Policies define how the company will deal with stakeholders, employees, customers, suppliers, distributors, and other important groups. Policies narrow the range of individual discretion so that employees act consistently on important issues”

A Policy is the statement or general understanding which provides guidance in decision making to members of an organization in respect to any course of action.

On the other hand, Strategy and Tactics is beneficial to make distinction between strategy and tactics so that managers can concentrate themselves on strategic functions rather than engaging in tactical functions. Organizational decisions range across a spectrum, having a broad master strategy at one end and minute tactics at the other.

The major difference between strategy and tactics is that strategy determines what major plans are to be undertaken and allocates resources to them, while tactics, in contrast, is means by which previously determined plans are executed. Beyond this Major difference, there may be some other differences, which can be understood better by analyzing military use of strategy and Tactics.