Strategic Management of Organizations
De Wit, B. 2020 (7th edition). Strategy, an International Perspective.
Cengage Learning EMEA
APA: (De Wit, 2020)
,Week 1: Introduction, Strategy, Strategic Management, Strategizing
,Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. and Lampel, J. 1998. Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour
Through the Wilds of Strategic Management.
Schools of thought
Prescriptive in nature:
The Design School:
Strategy formation as a process of conception
The Planning School:
Strategy formation as formal process
The Positioning School:
Strategy formation as an analytical process
Describing:
The Entrepreneurial School:
Strategy formation as a visionary process
The Cognitive School:
Strategy formation as a mental process
The Learning School:
Strategy formation as an emergent process
The Power School:
Strategy formation as a process of negotiation
The Cultural School:
Strategy formation as a collective process
The Environmental School:
Strategy formation as a reactive process
Integration:
The Configuration School:
Strategy formation as a process of transformation `
Deliberate strategies: intentions that are fully realized.
Unrealized strategies: those that are not realized at all.
The planning school, for example, recognizes both, with an obvious preference for the former.
But there is a third case, which we call emergent strategy—where a pattern realized was not
expressly intended.
Strategies have to form as well as be formulated.
Definitions of strategy
1. Plan
2. Pattern
3. Perspective
4. Position
5. Ploy
, Chapter 1 Introduction
‘Tools-driven’ learning: understanding each tool comes first, while combining them to solve real
problems come later.
‘Problem-driven’ learning: understanding problems comes first, while searching for the appropriate
tools is based on the type of problem.
Strategizing: the cognitive processes of individual strategists
Missioning and visioning: purpose as the impetus for strategy activities
Dimensions of strategy:
The most fundamental distinction made in this book is between:
Strategy content: the combined decisions and choices that lead a company into the future. Stated in
terms of a question, strategy content is concerned with what of strategy: what is, and should be, the
strategy for the company and each of its constituent units?
Strategy process: the manner in which strategies come about. Stated in terms of a number of
questions, strategy process is concerned with the how, who and when of strategy: how is, and
should, strategy be made, analysed, dreamt-up, formulaed, implemented, changed and controlled;
who is involved; and when do the necessary activities take place?
Strategy context: the set of circumstances under which both the strategy content and the strategy
process are determined. Stated in terms of a question, strategy context is concerned with the where
of strategy: where (that is in which firm and which environment) are the strategy process and
strategy content embedded?
Levels:
Functional: questions regarding specific functional aspects of a company (operations strategy,
marketing strategy, financial strategy, etc.).
Business: requires the integration of functional level strategies for a distinct set of products and/or
services intended for a specific group of costumers.
Corporate: aligns the various business level strategies.
Network: firms often cluster together into groups of two or more collaborating organizations.
Strategy tensions
Either/or problems:
- Puzzle
- Dilemma
Both/and:
- Trade-offs
- Paradoxes
Dialectical enquiry
two diametrically opposed perspectives are confronted with one another, each emphasizing one
pole of the paradox. These two opposite positions are in fact the thesis and the antithesis of the
debate, challenging the reader to search for an appropriate option to manage the two tensions.
