Business Strategy

Andrews, K., 2010. The Concept of Corporate Strategy, 3rd Edition. Financial Times Prentice Hall. [Accessed 13 April 2014]

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).

The basis of a firms ability to successfully execute any strategy lie in it’s resources and capabilities.The greatest plan in the world means nothing without the means to carry it out. Resources, defined in the text Modern Competitive Strategy are: “relatively observable, tradable asset[s] that contributes to a firm’s market position by improving customer value, lowering cost, or both.”

Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).

Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1),

Trying to anticipate and deduce the opponent’s business strategy is always present in the business field. Three of the most used concepts for understanding and efficiently applying strategies are Prisoner’s Dilemma game, Dominant Strategy and Nash Equilibrium. Where three influences are important in Game Theory. They must have players (Phillips Morris and R.J. Reynolds), strategies (Advertise or Not advertise), and outcomes (High profits or low Profits).

In the book The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs by Cynthia A. Montgomery discusses the topic of being an elusive and a rigorously effective strategist. The purpose of the author is to give us a new understanding of what a strategy really is and the components needed to be a strategist. The author through all her pages help us to understand some of the most fundamental questions that the manager must ask themselves when it comes to strategy such as what is strategy, why it is important, and what you have to do in order to effectively execute them. The final and most fundamental

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.

The case study primarily discusses five main perspectives with regard to strategy. They, in essence, shed focus on aspects that are crucial to the determination of a solid platform for strategy definition. The different strategies discussed mainly evolve around the mentioned concepts.

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

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.

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”.