Mintzberg's 5 Ps
Mintzberg 's 5 Ps of Strategy
Developing a Better Strategy
What 's your approach to developing strategy?
Many of us brainstorm opportunities, and then plan how we 'll take advantage of them. Unfortunately, while this type of approach is important, we need to think about much more than this if we want to be successful.
After all, there 's no point in developing a strategy that ignores competitors ' reactions, or doesn 't consider the culture and capabilities of your organization. And it would be wasteful not to make full use of your company 's strengths - whether these are obvious or not.
Management expert, Henry Mintzberg, argued that it 's really hard to get strategy right. To help us think about it in more depth, he developed his 5 Ps of Strategy – five different definitions of (or approaches to) developing strategy.
About the 5 Ps
Mintzberg first wrote about the 5 Ps of Strategy in 1987. Each of the 5 Ps is a different approach to strategy. They are: 1. Plan. 2. Ploy. 3. Pattern. 4. Position. 5. Perspective.
By understanding each P, you can develop a robust business strategy that takes full advantage of your organization 's strengths and capabilities.
In this article, we 'll explore the 5 Ps in more detail, and we 'll look at tools that you can use in each area.
1. Strategy as a Plan
Planning is something that many managers are happy with, and it 's something that comes naturally to us. As such, this is the default, automatic approach that we adopt – brainstorming options and planning how to deliver them.
This is fine, and planning is an essential part of the strategy formulation process.
Our articles on PEST Analysis, SWOT Analysis and Brainstorming help you think about and identify opportunities; the article on practical business planning looks at the planning process in more detail; and our sections on change management andproject management teach the skills you need to deliver the strategic plan in detail.
The problem with
Developing a Better Strategy
What 's your approach to developing strategy?
Many of us brainstorm opportunities, and then plan how we 'll take advantage of them. Unfortunately, while this type of approach is important, we need to think about much more than this if we want to be successful.
After all, there 's no point in developing a strategy that ignores competitors ' reactions, or doesn 't consider the culture and capabilities of your organization. And it would be wasteful not to make full use of your company 's strengths - whether these are obvious or not.
Management expert, Henry Mintzberg, argued that it 's really hard to get strategy right. To help us think about it in more depth, he developed his 5 Ps of Strategy – five different definitions of (or approaches to) developing strategy.
About the 5 Ps
Mintzberg first wrote about the 5 Ps of Strategy in 1987. Each of the 5 Ps is a different approach to strategy. They are: 1. Plan. 2. Ploy. 3. Pattern. 4. Position. 5. Perspective.
By understanding each P, you can develop a robust business strategy that takes full advantage of your organization 's strengths and capabilities.
In this article, we 'll explore the 5 Ps in more detail, and we 'll look at tools that you can use in each area.
1. Strategy as a Plan
Planning is something that many managers are happy with, and it 's something that comes naturally to us. As such, this is the default, automatic approach that we adopt – brainstorming options and planning how to deliver them.
This is fine, and planning is an essential part of the strategy formulation process.
Our articles on PEST Analysis, SWOT Analysis and Brainstorming help you think about and identify opportunities; the article on practical business planning looks at the planning process in more detail; and our sections on change management andproject management teach the skills you need to deliver the strategic plan in detail.
The problem with