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Ten Schools of Strategy

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Ten Schools of Strategy
Strategic Analysis
Individual Assignment
Ten Schools of Strategy

The word strategy has been used in different sense for a long time. Initially, it sprung from the need for people to defeat their enemies (Horwath, 2006). The word strategy itself evolved from the military jargon, before it was used to describe corporates.
The word strategy as used today has also been defined in a number of ways. Wright and his associates described Strategy as top management’s plans to attain outcomes consistent with the organization and goals (Wright, Pringle, & Kroll, 1992). This definition concentrates on the fact that a strategy is a plan, which a corporation uses to achieve its goals.
Along with the plan view that has been described here, Minzberg and his associates have described 3 different viewpoints for defining ‘strategy’ (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 2002).
Strategy as a Pattern:
The authors argue that the strategy is not always planned but sometimes it just happens. They cite an example of the restaurant, which started purchasing locations in urban areas. Later it became the restaurant’s strategy to open urban restaurants. This was because of the preceding pattern. Thus it can be easily argues that strategy in fact is nothing but a pattern that the organization has been acting in.
Strategy as a Position:
The third way Mintzberg describes strategy is as a position. This position is in fact in the minds of the customers and the strategy is to create this position of advantage in their minds. The authors here cite the example of McDonalds fast-food restaurants chain, which introduced egg sandwich to entice customers to eat breakfast in their restaurants. The strategy here was positioning the Egg McMuffin in the breakfast market.
Strategy as a perspective:
Strategy normally is looking inside out but sometimes it helps to look inside the company or organization creating a product which in fact plays on the strengths of the organization.
Strategy as



Bibliography: Horwath, R. (2006). The Origin of Strategy. Retrieved 7 14, 2010, from Strategy Skills: http://www.strategyskills.com/Articles/Documents/origin_strategy.pdf Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., & Lampel, J. (2002). Strategy Safary. FT Prentice Hall. Wright, P., Pringle, O., & Kroll, M. (1992). Strategic Management and Cases. Allyn and Bacon.

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