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2.2 Conceptualization of Strategy
The term strategy has been defined in a variety of ways, but almost always
with a common theme, viewing it as a deliberate conscious set of guidelines
that determines decisions into the future (Mintzberg, 1987). Besides,
Mintzberg (1987) argues that virtually everything that has been written
about strategy making depicts it as a deliberate process and as a result, we
think, then we act, then we formulate and implement.
On the other hand, Matin (2013) argues that business strategy is a rational
decision-making process by which the firm‘s resources are matched with
opportunities arising from the competitive environment. Still other scholars
such as Uggla (2015) regard strategy as the bridge which balances between
the organization and the environment. The above views of strategy enables
us to simply describe that strategy is perceived not only as a deliberate
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process but also as an iterative process of thinking and acting as a
precedence of formulation and implementations and as an outcome. And
Mintzber and Waters, (1985) argue that because strategy has almost
inevitably been conceived in terms of what the leaders of an
organization plan to do in the future, strategy formation has, not
surprisingly, tended to be treated as an analytic process for
establishing long-range goals and action plans for an organization;
that is, as one of formulation followed by implementation (Porter,
2000).
Besides, Porter (2000) claims that the essence of strategy is choosing to
perform activities differently than rivals do. In this context, strategies
enable organizations to perform uniquely implying that different
organizations are supposed to have different strategies. Besides, Strategies
are both plans of the future and patterns from the past (Mintzberg, 1987).
Strategies, therefore, guide organizations to achieve their goals both in the
short run and in the long run. In this regard, strategy is understood as plan
(Corey, 2003). However not all strategies lead to accomplish objectives and
hence the mere existence of strategies doesn‘t guarantee success. In
connection this, Tapscott and Williams (2006) argue that managers these
days should think differently than they used to think some decades back
regarding the way they perceived strategy. This is because; today‘s strategy
formulation should consider the underlying phenomena of dynamism and
consumers‘ sophistication to remain relevant in businesses.
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Strategies may differ from one organization to another depending on the
purpose the organizations seek to achieve. Furthermore, organizations
which have the same purpose may also differ in their strategies even to
achieve similar objectives. Similarly, Ulwick (1999) argues that such
variation comes from the fact that each organization approaches strategy in
different ways while there is only one solution from the universe of possible
solutions that will best meet the objectives called the optimal solution. In
this context, finding the best solution is a challenge that all organizations
face as they attempt to formulate their strategies.
In addition to this, a strategy should be left open to allow for changes in
market conditions since formulating a perfect strategy which will remain in
the future, is virtually impossible given the current business environment.
However, the degree of openness to entertain the inevitable changes is
dependent on the relationship between leadership plans and intentions
and what the organizations actually did (Mintzberg, 1987). Hence, we
can find two labels of strategies called intended strategy which signifies the
strategy formulation and the other called realized strategy which is attained
after experiencing the uncertainties of the environment.
Comparing intended strategy with realized strategy, as shown in the
figure 2, has allowed us to distinguish deliberate strategies-realized as
intended-from emergent strategies- patterns or consistencies realized
despite, or in the absence of, intentions. According to Mintzber and
Waters (1985), these two concepts, and especially their interplay, have
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become the central themes in this research in a sense that strategies
though are deliberate plans in the beginning, it is also possible to realize the
emergent strategies which might emerge along the course of action. Figure 2
shows the types of strategies.
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