What is Strategy?

I recently had cause to re-read the Michael Porter classic ‘What is Strategy?’ [Harvard Business Review Nov-Dec 1996, pp. 61-78] – great of course on strategic positioning, which it contrasts with ‘operational effectiveness’, and while it describes OK the need for internal consistency in the ‘activity system’ that supports the strategy it says little about how that system actually works or how to steer its performance. … and I haven’t seen anything since that does address those issues.

Crafting strategy?

I was reminded by a recent conference of the one-time popularity of the idea that strategy is ‘crafted’ by leaders, rather than planned [we can thank Henry Mintzberg for that one]. But there’s a puzzle in all this. Henry and friends got this idea by watching and talking with management about how strategy actually develops. My problem is this – just because that is how strategy is done in practice, why on earth do they think that’s how it should best be done?

Latest from HBR

A few nice articles in the July-August edition of HBR [‘Honing Your Competitive Edge’] including Amy Edmonson on the Competitive Imperative of Learning, and Anita Elberse asking Should you Invest in the Long Tail? [the idea that modern markets and distribution can support very, very large numbers of low-volume products].

This last one is critically important, because it has long been recommended [correctly] that a product range should regularly be reviewed to cut out the slow-moving, unprofitable items. Whilst this principle is not being overturned, the long tail extends massively what can be viable.