Strategyaccording toHenry MintzbergBusiness StrategyBusiness & AdministrationThe University of Winnipeg

The Strategy Concept I:Five Ps for Strategy, California Management Review Vol. XXX, No.1, Fall 1987

Henry MintzbergMcGill University

Strategy can mean aPlanConscious, purposeful consideration in advance of future actions.

Strategy => future actions

Does that mean any plan is a strategy?

What makes a planstrategic

The time horizon it covers?

Its purpose?

The type of future actions it covers?

The type of choices it implies?

Strategy can mean aPloyShort-term specific plan designed to achieve a specific (usually competitive) result

For example, a negotiation strategy

Strategy can mean a Pattern!Consistency whether intended or not in a pattern of past actions!

Past actions => implicit strategy!

Strategies are both plans for the futureand patterns from the past- Henry Mintzberg, Crafting StrategyHarvard Business Review, July-August, 1987

Planning and RealizationStrategies as plans are not always realized

Realized strategies are not always the result of a plan!

Strategy can mean a PositionOrganizations relationship to its environment (markets and competitors)What an organization stands for, wants to become, or just is

Air Canada Canadas National AirlineAmazon.com the Internet-retailing portalWal-Mart the lowest price place to buy things

Strategy can be a PerspectiveAn organization-wide view of the organization itself and how the world around it works

For example:The University of Winnipeg is a liberal arts institution.Access and Excellence are compatible goals.

Interrelating the Five PsAn emerging Pattern can be recognized, and formalized into a Plan for the futureStrategy as Plan or Pattern can lead to a Strategy as Position and / or PerspectiveA sequence of Ploys can become a Pattern

Perspective can constrain all the others

The Strategy Concept II:Another look at why Organizations need Strategies California Management Review Vol. XXX, No.1, Fall 1987

Henry MintzbergMcGill University

Organizations need Strategiesto Set DirectionStrategy determines where an organization is going

but shouldnt become a straightjacket which precludes interesting side trips!

Organizations need Strategiesto Focus Effortand promote CoordinationStrategy helps to get everybody on the same page pulling together

but shouldnt preclude individuals from experimenting with new ideas!

Organizations need Strategiesto Define themselvesStrategy helps to make an organization comprehensible

but can something as complex as a (large) organization really be well understood, especially by those outside it?

Organizations need Strategiesto Define themselvesBCE Graphic

Organizations need Strategiesto Provide ConsistencyStrategy helps an organization to make sense of its environment, and protects it against distraction so that it can get on with what it has decided to do

which can be a bad thing if the environment changes!

In summary..Organizations need Strategies..To set directionTo focus effort and promote coordinationTo define themselvesTo provide consistency

but too much of strategys benefits can be a bad thing!

Strategy according toHenry MintzbergWhat seems to be the fundamental purpose of an organization in this approach to strategy?

Welcome and Introduce self hereIf Strategy is a plan, does that mean a plan is StrategicTalking to Gary about this seminar.

What is a good strategy for getting people talking to each other.Could use Heather Reismans testimony in front of Competition Board as an example from Globe & Mail, March 14.NEED A GOOD EXAMPLE OF STRATEGY AS PATTERN.