Strategy = a integrative set of choices that positions you to win
What is a Strategy
A strategy is:
- An integrative set of choices that positions you a on playing field of your choice in a way that you win
- Must be coherent and doable
- uncomfortable, because you cannot control them - ultimately the customer is the customer.
- concerned with the long-term, not this cycle
The essence of strategy:
choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do. -HBR
Strategies are what makes your plans cohesive. Strategy is Design, a Good Strategy will Make the Decision that Informs all Subsequent Decisions. It should be simple, and easy to contain in a short (no more than 1 page) Strategy Document, defining the problem, the Tradespace selections as a policy, and the synergistic/cohesive actions that carry out the policy.
An Alternative Definition:
From UCLA Anderson School of Management professor Richard P. Rumelt, by way of Jeff Zych:
Quote Strategy is Designing a way to deal with a challenge. A good strategy, therefore, must identify the challenge to be overcome, and design a way to overcome it. To do that, the kernel of a good strategy contains three elements: a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action.
Source
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- https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy
- https://jlzych.com/2018/06/27/notes-from-good-strategy-bad-strategy/