Strategy Notes
Defining Strategy
Strategy ≠ Strategic Planning
Strategy - often misunderstood and often lumped with Strategic Planning. They’re not the same. Strategic planning is at the end of the day, just planning - made to look impressive by putting the word strategic in it. Strategy and planning are some of the most commonly combined concepts in business. Firms tend to be good at planning, okay at execution, but very poor at understanding strategy and how to build one.
Strategy, at its heart, is a set of choices used to solve a problem - to address the gaps in a business. If there are no gaps, there is no need to change strategy.
Companies that win - that produce great results play to win, not just play to compete. The real difference between firms that perform well and those that don’t comes down to having a strategy that truly differentiates - that produces winning results.
(for further information, see Roger Martin’s HBR video: A Plan is Not a Strategy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuYlGRnC7J8 )