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Samenvatting Strategie
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Brede samenvatting Strategie en Besluitvorming (2019)
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Summary strategy
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By: anniekgeertruida • 4 year ago
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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTIONIdentifying the strategy issues
Tools-driven: understanding each tool comes first, while combining them to solve real
problems comes later.
Problem-driven: understanding problems comes first, while searching for the appropriate
tools is based on the type of problem.
Making strategy is not an end in itself, but a means for reaching particular objectives.
Organizations exist to fulfil a purpose and strategies are employed to ensure that the
organisational mission and vision are realized.
There are three dimensions of strategy that can be recognized in every real-life strategic
problem situation:
- Strategy content. The combined decisions and choices that lead a company into
the future. It is concerned with the ‘what’ of strategy: what is, and should be, the
strategy for the company?
- Strategy process. The manner in which strategies come about. It is concerned
with the ‘how’, ‘who’, and ‘when’ of strategy: how is, and should, strategy be
made; who is involved; and when do necessary activities take place?
- Strategy context. The set of circumstances under which both the strategy content
and the strategy process are determined. Is concerned with the ‘where’ of
strategy: where (in which firm and which environment) are the strategy content
and strategy process embedded?
Figure: Dimensions of strategy and the organizational purpose
Strategy content: business, corporate and network levels
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,Figure: levels of strategy
Strategy process: forming, changing and innovating
The division of the strategy process into a number of sequential phases (analysis,
formulation and implementation) has drawn heavy criticism from authors who believe
that no such stages exist. They think strategies are usually formed incrementally, as
organizations think and act in small iterative steps, letting strategies emerge as they go
along.
Further, many authors have pointed out that it is unrealistic to suppose that a company
can be boldly redesigned. It is virtually impossible to get various aspects of an
organization all lined up to go through a change at the same time, certainly if radical
change is intended. Moreover, the rate and direction of change will be seriously limited
by the cultural, political and cognitive inheritance of the firm.
- Strategic change is usually more gradual and fragmented than radical and
coordinated.
- Strategy formation, strategic change and strategic innovation are different
aspects of the strategy process, which are strongly linked and partially
overlapping.
Strategy context: industry, organizational and international
It is usually wise for managers to strive for a fit between the strategy process, strategy
content and the specific circumstances prevalent in the strategy context.
- The strategy context can be determined, instead of letting it determine.
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,Figure: Aspects of the strategy context
Structuring the strategy debates
At the heart of every set of strategic issues, a fundamental tension between apparent
opposites can be identified. Each pair of opposites creates a tension as they seem to be
inconsistent, or even incompatible, with one another; it seems as if both elements cannot
be fully true at the same time.
- Although these opposites confront strategizing managers with conflicting
pressures, somehow, they must be dealt with simultaneously.
Identifying strategy perspectives
Table: Strategy topics, tensions/paradoxes and perspectives
Section Strategy topics Strategy Strategy perspectives
tensions/paradoxes
Strateg Introduction
y Strategizing Logic vs. Intuition Analytic vs. Holistic
reasoning
Missioning and Profitability vs. Shareholder vs. Stakeholder
visioning Responsibility value
Strateg Business level Markets vs. Resources Outside-in vs. Inside-out
y strategy
content Corporate level Responsiveness vs. Portfolio vs. Integrated
strategy Synergy organization
Network level Competition vs. Discrete vs. Embedded
strategy Cooperation organization
Strateg Strategy formation Deliberateness vs. Strategic planning vs.
y Emergence Strategic incrementalism
Process Strategic change Revolution vs. Evolution Discontinuous vs.
Continuous renewal
Strategic innovation Exploitation vs. Strategic improvement vs.
Exploration Radical rejuvenation
Strateg Industry context Compliance vs. Choice Industry dynamics vs.
y Industry leadership
context Organizational Control vs. Chaos Organizational leadership
context vs. Organizational dynamics
International Globalization vs. Global convergence vs.
context Localization International diversity
Strategy tensions as both/and problems
In general, there are two fundamentally different kinds of problems: ‘either/or problems’
and ‘both/and problems’. Each should be handled differently.
- Either/or problems can be solved by analysing and choosing.
o Puzzles: challenging problem with an optimal solution.
o Dilemmas: vexing problem with two possible solutions, neither of which is
logically the best.
- Both/and problems can only be managed.
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, o Trade-offs: a problem situation in which there are many possible solutions,
each striking a different balance between two conflicting pressures. None
of the many solutions is inherently superior to the others.
o Paradoxes: a situation in which two seemingly contradictory, or even
mutually exclusive, factors appear to be true at the same time.
Taking a dialectical approach
Throughout this book, the strategy tensions will be treated as paradoxes (two
diametrically opposed perspectives are confronted with one another, each emphasizing
one pole of the paradox). The two opposite positions are the thesis and antithesis of the
debate (‘dialectical enquiry’). By using two opposite viewpoints, the problem-solver
attempts to arrive at a better understanding of the issue and a ‘higher level resolution’
that integrates elements of both the thesis and antithesis. This approach has a number
of advantages:
- Range of ideas: readers can quickly acquire an understanding of the full range of
ideas on the issue (book-end function).
- Points of contention: by presenting the two opposite poles in each debate, readers
can rapidly gain insight into critical points they diverge on (contrast function).
- Stimulus for bridging: because both opposite viewpoints contain advantages, they
stimulate readers to seek a way of getting the best of both worlds (integrative
function).
- Stimulus for creativity: by presenting the two opposite poles of each debate,
which both make a realistic claim to being valid, readers are challenged to
creatively deal with this paradoxical situation (generative function).
Dealing with paradoxes
Not every solution will do – a common misunderstanding when there is no single solution
– and there is no fixed number of options. Several options can be considered in some
strategy issues, while other possibilities may be thought of in other situations.
- The attractiveness of an option is related to the specific company context.
Options:
- Navigating: focusing on one contrary demand at a time. In this case the paradox
is managed over time by a series of contrary initiatives, which leads to a
development path comparable with tracking a sailing boat.
- Parallel processing: separating the contrary demands in different internal or
external organizational units. Often, the differentiated demands are then
integrated at a different – usually higher – organizational level.
- Balancing (or: dynamic equilibrium): managing opposite demands by trading off
elements of the opposing demands and blending the most appropriate balance.
The strategist chooses constituting elements of each demand to create a
company-specific balance that can change based on circumstances.
- Juxtaposing: simultaneously manage opposite demands on a permanent (daily or
project) basis. the conflict between the two opposites is accepted, and the
strategist will accommodate both factors at the same time.
- Resolving: to arrive at a higher equilibrium by developing a new synthesis
between competing demands or by exploiting the tension. Developing a new
synthesis creates a new balance between contrary elements that will sustain for
some time, but will eventually be replaced by a new one.
- Embracing: to embrace and actively use the tension as a source of creativity and
opportunity. The conflict between two opposites is not only accepted, but actually
exploited to benefit from the innovative power of tensions.
Developing an international perspective
Despite all the attention paid to the international competitive arena, internationalizing
companies, cross-border strategies and global products, few authors in the strategy field
explicitly question whether their own theories can be globally standardized. Most fail to
wonder whether their theories are equally applicable in a variety of national settings.
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