Summary 1

Henry Mintzberg skillfully and competently equates the process of strategy making
to the process of making pottery. The strategist is similar to a craftsman, or potter in
this case. Mintzberg says, the crafting image better captures the process by which
efective strategies come to be. When compared to the planning process of strategy
making, I am much more inclined to agree with Mintzberg and the image he creates.
There are several key ideas that Mintzberg parallels to the potter and her craft. First,
the potter may create a product that follows in the tradition of her past work, but
she may also create a work that breaks away from tradition in a new direction.
Similarly, stragies are patterns that are put into action over time; but strategies
may emerge in a different direction than tradition has previously held. Second,
strategy making must be a deliberate process-thought must precede action. But
strategies can form as well as be formulated. Third, strategists do not necessarily
have to be top management running an organization but removed from the innerworkings of that organization. Instead, like the potter is intimately connected with
her work, strategists may be those most intimately connected with the company
and those products/services it sells. Strategists may be those on the front lines, so
to speak. Fourth, the potter may fail to make one piece, but the lump that remains
may be formed into something completely different. In the same way, strategies
can emerge any time and at any place; errros themselves may become chances for
opportunity. The image of a craftsman is someone who is dedicated, passionate,
intimately involved with the materials, has a personal touch, has mastered the
detail of their art, and is experienced. The strategist must also be someone who is
involved and connected with their industry and who is personally involved with the
industrial processes. Finally, just as a craftsman may see things that other people
miss, the strategist must be able to see emerging patterns and guide them into
place as strategies.

Summary 2
Crafting strategy is an article that better captures the process by which effective strategies come
to be . Mintzberg uses the analogy of a manager being a craftsman and strategy being their clay.
Managers bring together knowledge from the past of corporate capabilities and a future of
market opportunities. Strategies are not just the plans for the future but are also formed around
the patterns from the past. The key to crafting strategy is the intimate connection between
thought and action. When managers usually approach strategy they form a plan, but Mintzbergh
proposed that strategy can also emerge without a plan. Wherever people have the capability and
resources, strategy will take place.
Like craftsman, it is important that organizations put the ideas to practice. Organizations cannot
separate the work of minds without losing important feedback. Strategy is the responsibility of
everyone in the organization, not just the people in leadership positions.
When a manager is managing strategy they do so by managing the stability of the organization. It
is key that a manager knows when to promote change. An important element of managing
strategy is recognizing patterns and helping them develop.
The article is written with clarity, but uses examples for many things. You must understand the
examples to understand the point the author is trying to make. There are headings and
subheadings throughout it to help aid in easy reading. There are images to help visual learners
comprehend the message the author is trying to portray. Mintzberg uses logical arguments when
comparing the potter to the manager. The article discusses the content of strategy, but also
touches on some of the processes that must take place. Mintzberg uses this article to directly
build on some of the other models, but accomplishes this by using a new analogy, the craftsman
and the manager. The article is both a conceptual/theoretical and a practical article it uses the
concept of the craftsman, and the practical applications pertaining to strategy formation.
Mintzberg uses many companies for examples throughout the article including McGill
University, Volkswagenwerk, AirCanada, General motors, National Film Board of Canada,
Honda, and Steinberg Inc. through this article we discovered that the crafting strategy required
synthesis of the future, present, and past. The author stated, It is those (managers of strategy)
with a kind of peripheral vision who are best able to detect and take advantage of events as they
unfold. Mintzberg made 3 very valuable points, Managers and craftsman go through some
similar processes to get to their final product. Crafting image better captures the process by
which effective strategies come to be. And strategies can form or be formulated. This article
relates to other articles written by Mintzberg, this is not the only one he wrote on crafting
strategy. These ideas could be used in conjunction with many other articles on strategy. This
article is very applicable to management today. Additionally, this article would be great for any
company looking to further understand strategy in a way that is simple and easy to understand.

This article would be great for companies who have had a strategy form and are trying to decide
what to do with it.
As a group we pondered a couple questions about this article, are strategies that form usually
strong enough to be completely implemented? and, how do companies best receive feedback
from everyone to form an ultimate strategy? Overall, this article gave our group a new way to
view strategy and a new understanding of strategy. Because we have only read the first two
schools, we are not completely sure how this article fits, but we can see how the examples used
could help one better understand strategy.
Summary 3
In "Crafting Strategy", Mintzberg wrote an incisive article on his views on strategy.
He methodically explores the traditional way people view strategy as something
planned by the strategist (could be CEO or Strategic Planning department) to be
implemented by others. He, however, explains that managers' feel for the way the
organization should be going can result in a series of decisions from which a
strategy can emerge. In other words, strategies are not just a plan for the future
that are deliberate but can emerge over time as firms respond to pressures in the
operating environment and are compelled to innovate.
Mintzberg uses the metaphor of a potter which demonstrates involvement by the
craftsman where the potter uses his/her skills, experience and dedication and
makes adjustments as necessary as he/she is working on the product, resulting in a
creative article being produced. In this way, Mintzberg shows that formal strategic
planning alone is not enough to explain how managers develop strategies but also
the intuitive knowledge of the firm and feel for the company enables managers to
come up with creative decisions from which an innovative strategy emerges.
From his metaphor of a potter working with clay, Mintzberg develops his argument
for personal strategy of experimentation which leads to consensus strategy that
follow the trend in the industry, which arise from organizational people learning
from the market what customers want.
The author also discusses the concept of umbrella strategy where senior managers
set broad guidelines and leave the specifics to others in the organization resulting in
a deliberate-emergent strategy. He also discusses the Process Strategy where
management controls the process of strategy formation whilst leaving the actual
content to others down the organizational hierarchy. The author explains that these
deliberate-emergent strategies are essential in businesses that require great
expertise and innovation.
Mintzberg also dispels the conventional view that change must be continuous with
the organization adapting all the time but explains that strategic change takes place

in quantum leaps (strategic revolutions) followed by periods of stability where

change is only marginal.
Mintzberg labels "adhocracy" organizations that produce individual, custom made
products in an innovative way, on a project basis.
Although this article was written under two decades ago, it still sounds very
innovative and thought provoking. I have read the article several times over the
years and I enjoy it every time. However, the article is not for the beginner in
strategy but for those pursuing the subject at an advanced level, being familiar with
literature on the subject.