Developing a Strategy

Strategic Planning, Strategic Leadership, Planned and Emergent Strategies

Planned,
Deliberate,
Emergent
and Realized
Strategies
Source: Adapted from H.
Mintzberg and A. McGugh,
Administrative Science
Quarterly, Vol. 30. No. 2,
June 1985.
Intended and Emergent
Strategies
• Intended or Planned Strategies
• Strategies an organization plans to put into action
• Typically, the result of a formal planning process
• Unrealized strategies are the result of unprecedented
changes and unplanned events after the formal planning
is completed

• Emergent Strategies
• Unplanned responses to unforeseen circumstances
• Serendipitous discoveries and events may emerge that
can open up new unplanned opportunities
• Must assess whether the emergent strategy fits the
company’s needs and capabilities

• Realized Strategies
• The product of whatever intended strategies are
actually put into action and of any emergent strategies
that evolve
 Strategic Planning in Practice
Recent studies suggest that formal planning does have a positive impact
on company performance – and should include the current and future
competitive environments.

• Scenario Planning
• Recognizes that the future is inherently unpredictable
• Develops strategies for possible future scenarios
• Decentralized Planning
• Involves the functional managers
• Avoids the ivory tower approach
• Perceives procedural justice in the decision making
• Strategic Intent
• Avoids the strategic fit model, which focuses too much on the current state
• Sets ambitious vision and goals that stretch a company and then finds ways to build to
attain those goals
Strategic Decision Making
In spite of systematic planning, companies may adopt poor strategies
if groupthink or individual cognitive biases are allowed to intrude
into the decision-making process:
• Cognitive biases:
Rules of thumb or heuristics resulting in systematic errors
• Prior hypothesis bias
• Escalating commitment
• Reasoning by analogy
• Representativeness
• Illusion of control
• Groupthink:
Decisionmakers embark on a course of action without
questioning the underlying assumptions
• Group coalesces around a person or policy
• Decisions based on an emotional rather than an objective
assessment of the correct course of action
Processes for Improving Decision Making

To bring out all the Reveals problems with

reasons that might definitions, assumptions,
make the proposal & recommended courses
unacceptable of action
 • Vision, eloquence, and consistency
• Commitment
• Being well informed
Strategic • Willingness to delegate and
Leadership empower
• The astute use of power
Good leaders of the
strategy-making process
• Emotional intelligence have a number of key
• Self-awareness attributes
• Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social skills