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8 - Strategy formulation – business strategies and action plans

from Part II - Strategic management: Formulation and implementation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

David L. Rainey
David L. Rainey
Affiliation:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York
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Summary

Introduction

Crafting business strategies and action plans are among the most crucial aspects of the strategic management process. While the front end of strategic formulation requires incredible analyses, insights, and imagination, the harmonization of business strategies and action plans requires more than intellectual exercises and hard work. It involves a team effort to affirm the strategic analyses, understand the implications of the future, and know what is necessary to realize the desired future state. It is based on the intellectual capacity of strategic leaders and the organization to ascertain the best strategies in the context of both the theoretical possibilities and the practical realities.

The crescendo of strategic formulation necessitates that strategic leaders become fully engaged in deliberations over strategic options and business objectives, and in the selection of the best business strategies. It involves making difficult decisions that establish the strategic agenda for the future and determine the pathways to success. It also involves translating the strategies into action plans and initiatives so that the selected strategies can be validated in light of the capabilities and resources of the organization and the real world. Strategy formulation is not about either-or outcomes, but holistic perspectives about strategic decisions to create sustainable success.

Business strategies focus on the plans and actions of the business unit or those of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) to create value and achieve sustainable success. In a large company they are a subset of the overall corporate strategy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Enterprise-Wide Strategic Management
Achieving Sustainable Success through Leadership, Strategies, and Value Creation
 , pp. 358 - 427
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

Faulkner, David and Campbell, Andrew (2003) The Oxford Handbook of Strategy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Gerstner, Jr., Louis (2002) Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?New York: HarperCollinsGoogle Scholar
Guth, William D. (1985) Handbook of Business Strategy. Boston, MA: Warren, Gorham, & LamontGoogle Scholar
Meyer, Christopher (1993) Fast Cycle Time: How to Align Purpose, Strategy and Structure for Speed. New York, NY: Free PressGoogle Scholar
Henry, Mintzberg and Quinn, James Brian (1996) The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, and Cases, third edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice HallGoogle Scholar
Porter, Michael (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York, NY: Free PressGoogle Scholar
Rainey, David L. (2006) Sustainable Business Development: Inventing the Future through Strategy, Innovation and Leadership. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Michael, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors (New York, NY: Free Press, 1980, p. 35)Google Scholar
Rainey, David L., Sustainable Business Development: Inventing the Future through Strategy, Innovation and Leadership (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 170)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitt, Theodore, “Marketing Myopia,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 1960, pp. 45–56Google Scholar
Guth, William D., Handbook of Business Strategy (Boston, MA: Warren, Gorham, & Lamont, 1985, p. 65)Google Scholar
Mintzberg, Henry and Quinn, James Brian, The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, and Cases, third edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996, pp. 10–15)Google Scholar
Levitt, Theodore, “Marketing Myopia,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 1960, pp. 45 and 56Google Scholar
Gerstner, Jr. Louis, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 357)Google Scholar
Faulkner, David and Campbell, Andrew, The Oxford Handbook of Strategy (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 763–764)Google Scholar
Meyer, Christopher, Fast Cycle Time: How to Align Purpose, Strategy and Structure for Speed (New York, NY: Free Press, 1993, p. 9)Google Scholar

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