Strategic Management: The theory and practice of strategy ...

1 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

2 Downloaded from on: May 17, 2022 Strategic management : The theory and practice of strategy in (business) , SergioPublication date:2011 Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink back to DTU OrbitCitation (APA):Jofre, S. (2011). Strategic management : The theory and practice of strategy in (business) organizations. DTUM anagement. DTU management 2011 No. 1 Sergio JofreJanuary 2011 Report management EngineeringStrategic management The theory and practice of strategy in (Business) OrganizationsTable of contents Foreword CHAPTER ONE: Defining strategy 1.

3 strategy as a natural and human activity (1) 2. The different meanings of strategy (2) The common analogies: warfare and competition 3. A working definition (5) The genesis of strategies The lack of strategy CHAPTER TWO: strategy in Organizations 4. Defining and classifying organizations (9) The organization as a rational system The Organization as a Natural System The organization as an open system 5. Levels of organization (13) 6. Organizational environments (13) 7. Modern organizational perspectives (13) Natural open systems Natural & Rational-open systems Rational-open systems 8.

4 strategy in the perspective of organizational theory (18) The evolution of corporate organizations The Strategic need to align specialization, coordination and cooperation Hierarchy: The basic organizational design Alternative organizational forms management systems for coordination and control 9. Fundamental characteristics of industrial dynamics (26) The source of industrial dynamics The five sources of competition The source of competitive advantage Types of competitive advantage The resource-based view of the firm: The Strategic role of resources and capabilities 10.

5 strategy and the performance of corporations: The Corporate and Business strategy (32) Strategic levels according to performance Communicating strategies: Vision, mission, business model and Strategic plan The diversification of strategies CHAPTER THREE: strategy as a Process 11. Defining a generic process (36) Stage one: Environmental appraisal Stage two: strategy formulation Formulation at corporate level Formulation at business Level Formulation at the functional level Choosing among potential strategies Stage three: strategy Implementation strategy Implementation and high organizational performance The role of adaptation and search in a robust implementation Summary CHAPTER FOUR: strategy as a Field of theory and practice 12.

6 Defining Strategic management (49) 13. Strategic thinking: The soft side of Strategic management (50) 14. Strategic management in a basic taxonomy (52) 15. Schools of Strategic management (52) The Design School: strategy as a process of conception The planning School: strategy formation as a formal process The positioning school: strategy formation as an analytical process The entrepreneurial school: strategy formation as a visionary process The cognitive School: the 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.

7 strategy formation as a collective process The Environmental School: strategy formation as a reactive process The configuration school: strategy formation as a process of transformation 17. Recommended Reading (86) 18. References (86) Strategic management : The theory and practice of strategy in (Business) Organizations S. Jofre Foreword The present report is the result of an ongoing study on the patterns and trends on both the theory and practice in the field of Strategic management . The report focuses on three relevant issues regarding the current diversification and fragmentation in the field: (1) The lack of a universally accepted definition of what strategy is, (2) The multi-disciplinary nature of the field, and (3) The development and evolution of our knowledge on human cognition and organizations behaviour These issues are addressed from the perspective of influential scholars and practitioners of different disciplines.

8 The contents of this report in addition to case study samples have been edited as the main reading material for the current MSc course Introduction to Strategic management , dictated at the Department of management Engineering. The course targets students from different engineering specializations. Author: Sergio Jofre, PhD Researcher/Assistant Professor Section of Innovation Systems and Foresight Department of Engineering management Technical University of Denmark Contact information: Produktionstorvet Building 426 Entrance A 2800 Kgs. Lyngby Denmark Phone: +45 4525 4534 Email: Strategic management : The theory and practice of strategy in (Business) Organizations S.

9 Jofre Page | 1 CHAPTER ONE Defining strategy 1. strategy as a natural and human activity We have heard and used the word strategy countless times. Indeed, we have developed and implemented strategies since the moment we were born. Overtime, anybody is capable to analyze and react to others Strategic moves. We do experience strategy every day. Certainly, a person can be an accomplished strategist even without to know what strategy is or means, simply because strategy is not an exact science nor a defined tool or skill for itself, but a very abstract attribute of the intricate human cognition that let us to position ourselves in life according to our personal goals.

10 As such, strategy is driven by our individual and characteristic way to do (or being) or in other words, it is driven by our personality and what determines it. However, strategy is not an exclusive attribute of the human condition. In nature, strategy regards the traits (characteristics) of individuals and populations to deal with the primordial objective of surviving. From this perspective, strategies to survive do emerge and evolve endlessly. We can illustrate such dynamics through the lenses of the natural selection theory for example.