Amity School of Business

Business Policy and Strategic Management

STRA 302
Introduc6on to Strategy and
Strategic Management
Ruchi Khandelwal
Course Instructor: Prof.

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What do we mean by Strategy?

Strategy consists of choices.
It is an integrated set of choices that posi=ons the
business in its industry so as to generate superior
financial returns over the long run.

The right set of choices is not easy or obvious
Made amid uncertainty.
Must be executed using finite resources.

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What do we mean by Strategy?

Compete
successfully
AIract and
Conduct
please
opera6ons
customers

Company’s strategy Achieve

Grow the (Compe66ve moves targeted levels
business and business of organiza6onal
approaches) performance

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How Strategy evolved?

•  Derived from the Greek word, ‘strategos’,
referring to military command.
•  In late 18th and early 19th century military
theorist Carl von Clausewitz dis=nguished
between tac=cs such as campaigns on the
baXlefield and the discipline of strategy.
•  Strategy demanded a broad perspec=ve;
tac=cs were merely means to an end.

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How Strategy evolved?

•  The academic founda=ons of business strategy developed in

parallel to the changes in the industrial economy.
•  The earliest business schools were instrumental in
emphasizing the importance of fiZng a firm’s strategy with its
environment.
•  In the 1960s, the common approach was the SWOT
framework, which matched a company’s “strengths” and
“weaknesses” with its “opportuni=es” and “threats.”
•  Subsequent work focused on defining a firm’s dis=nc=ve
competencies and the logic for transla=ng a SWOT analysis
into a credible strategy.
•  Even as the concepts of business strategy evolved, the
underlying premise of strategy remained unchanged. 8
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How Strategy evolved?

•  Strategy in this original sense should be interpreted as

compe&&ve strategy.
•  Every business must operate in an environment marked by
compe==on, structural forces, and uncertainty.
•  Every business must make choices that fit together in a
holis=c, consistent way in order to succeed in that
environment. Those choices are the essence of strategy.
•  Deploying robust technology, building a thriving culture, and
introducing innova=ons are all important, but they must not
be mistaken for strategy. CuZng costs and boos=ng
produc=vity are also important and may make an
organiza=on more effec=ve, but again, they are tac=cs—not
strategy itself.
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Characteris=cs of Strategy
Long-term
direction of an
organization
Values &
Competitive
expectations of
advantage
Stakeholders:

Building on Scope of
Characteristics
resources & Organization’s
of Strategy
competencies activities

Gaining
Strategy
advantage
development
over
by ‘stretch’
Strategic fit with competitors
the business
environment
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The leading edge of strategy: fit or stretch

ASPECT OF STRATEGY ENVIRONMENT-LED RESOURCE-LED
FIT STRETCH
Underlying basis of Strategic fit between Leverage of resources to
strategy market opportuni=es and improve value for money
organiza=on s resources
Compe66ve advantage Correct posi=oning Differen=a=on based on
through… Differen=a=on directed competences suited to or
by market need crea=ng market need
How small players Find and defend a niche Change the rules of the
survive… game
Risk-reduc6on through… Porfolio of products/ Porfolio of competences
businesses
Corporate centre invests Strategies of business Core competences
in… units or subsidiaries
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