Strategy-as-practice (S-a-P) is an approach to strategy concerned about what strategic actors actually do and the kinds of activities they do when they strategize (Jarzabkowski, 2003; Johnson, Melin & Whittington, 2003; Whittington, 1996, 2002). Strategy is complex, to illustrate the complexity of the concept of strategy table 1.1 is offered with selected definitions of strategy (Louw & Venter, 2013:9). According to Ehlers and Lazenby (2010:3), “A strategy can therefore be defined as an effort or deliberate action that an organisation implements to outperform its rivals” According to the history, the concept of strategy was in its origin associated with the military (Louw & Venter, 2013:11). “The word strategy has been handed down from the …show more content…
The notion of strategy developed by the strategy as practice approach depicts strategy as an activity: strategy is not only an attribute of organisations but also an activity undertaken by people. Strategy as practice is to enable both illumination of a significant phenomenon that has previously been unclear and enables the improvement of something in which people personally, and society overall, have a great deal at stake (Carter, Clegg & Kornberger, 2008:84). Research into, and the application of, the doing of strategy attributes to shaping strategy and supports investigations into the impact on organisational performance and its environment (Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009:76). This S-a-P approach focuses on examining the detailed processes and practices that contribute to sustained competitive advantage and their impact on strategic performance (Jarzabkowski & Whittington, 2002: C2). In the past, process researchers explored how organisations come first to recognise the need for strategic change and then how they actually achieve it however the practice approach draws on many insights of the process school, but returns to the managerial level, concerned with how strategists “strategize” (Whittington, 2002: C2). Strategy as practice (S-a-P) is an approach to strategy used by a community of researchers both in academics and in practice (Carter et al., 2008:85). Just as there are supporters of this approach to strategy, so too, are the critics. Strategy as practice has been criticised for: (i) displaying a high degree of ambiguity, (ii) for hindering the theoretical advancement of strategy and (iii) for failing to clearly define the concept of practice. It has been called a “naïve concept of strategy” that has left leading perspectives (Such as
‘Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through it’
There has been a large amount of research into what strategy is, since Michael Porter’s perennial work in the 1980s. Studies done on the execution of strategy have been far less numerous. However, there is one major understanding about the execution of strategy. The execution of strategy is a vital part of success in business. A summary of many myths surrounding various strategic executions will be outlined, along with their subsequent analyses.
Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).
A method by which the strategy development can be explained is the “strategic lenses”. This method views strategy development as design, experience, ideas and discourse. Strategy as design means that it emerged through rational processes, whereas the experience lens sees the strategy as the outcome of individual and collective experiences. The lens “discourse” sees strategy as the result of communication and concepts. The last lens, which is the idea lens, is about the development of strategy as a result of innovation (Johnson et al, 2008).
This paper begins with a summary view to develop the concept of strategy and why its implementation is difficult. The following sections then cover the core discussion of this paper to support the aforementioned
The reading comprehension strategy that I chose for this activity is the think-alouds strategy. The book discusses this strategy as “verbalizing their thoughts while reading orally” (Vacca, Vacca, Mraz. 2013). This strategy is wonderful in helping students better understand the content by using think-alouds. Think-alouds allow teachers to see how students minds are thinking with oral responses in a discussion about the meaning of specific text. The research that I found from Reading Rockets suggests that a few benefits of having think-alouds in the classroom is that it not only teaches students to reread sentences but also to slow down when reading to better comprehend the material. This method can be applied to not only one subject area such
In everything that we do, we have used some kind of strategy (plan). From driving to the store, which street to take to get there the fastest, to selecting that perfect item at the high tech store, the newest digital gadget. It is in our nature to formulate this kind of behavior when we are given a choice. In an organization it is much harder to accomplish that same behavior because there is more than one individual in the process, but still possible to do. Strategy is a guide by which an organization moves from a current state of affairs to a future desired state. In this paper I will explain the strategy implementation concept of the basic model of strategic management that we can use to make this happen. Strategy implementation is the process
An organisation’s strategy plays an important role of providing direction of where company wants to be and how best to allocate the company’s resources to meet its objectives. The formulation of business strategies has evolved over the years and has been made more difficult in recent by the uncertain operating environments and global financial crises.
Alfred Chandler(1963) defines strategy as ‘ the determination of the long-run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals’. And Michael porter(1996) sees it as ‘Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.
Strategy can be defined as being different from one’s competitors, finding the race to operate and accomplished it. According to Michael Porter (1996), while becoming better at what you do is desirable, it will not benefit you in the long run because it is something other competitors can also do. Strategies for organizations are originally developed by Michael E. Porter in 1979 by introducing the five forces model. A company can identify the industry profitability and attractiveness by analyzing the five forces of Porter (Johnson et al., 2008). And then a reasonable strategy can be set up in line with the strengths and the weakness of an organization is able to create a plan for a stronger position for the organization within its
‘Strategic Management’ is a very complex term as many eminent researchers and scholars have had different views and conclusions on strategy. According to White (2004), “Strategic Management involves both systematically developing an idea together with its implications and testing the empirical validity & usefulness of that idea against the real world.” Thus strategy is not only about planning for future but also about confirming the validity of the hypothesis considered and implementing it successfully. Strategy formation may take various forms such as implicit, explicit or emergent. Implicit strategy is a strategy formed by intuitions of an individual. As per implicit strategists, strategic management is about reading the environment
Johnson, Wittington, Scholes, Angwin and Regnér (2014, p. 3) defines strategy as ‘the long-term direction of an organisation’.
Organizations successful at strategy implementation effectively manage six key supporting factors : 1. Action Planning
A strategy, according to Robbins and Barnwell (2002, p. 139) is “the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary to achieve the organisation’s goals”.