Strategic Analysis Terminology

Strategy:

(source: RM Grant, 2010)

1. The means by which individuals or organizations achieve their objectives.
2. The determination of the long run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. -AC
3. A plan, method or series of actions designed to achieve a specific goal or effect.
4. A pattern of objectives, purposes or goals and the major policies and plans for achieving these goals, stated in such a way as to define what business the company is in or is to be in and the kind of company it is or aspires to be.
5. Plan of attack.
6. The essence of strategy is making choices: (ME Porter)
1. Where to compete?
2. How to compete?
7. Business Strategy: how a business competes within a particular industry or market. This is based on the attainment of a competitive advantage. aka: Competitive Strategy. Responsibility of "divisional management".
8. Corporate Strategy: defines the scope of the firm in terms of the industries and markets in which it competes. Issues include diversification, vertical integration, acquisitions and new ventures, and the allocation of resources among various business segments.
9. Emergent Strategy: Term defined by Minzberg. Adapt to changing circumstances. "The notion that strategy is something that should happen way up there, far removed from the details of running an organization on a daily basis, is one of the great fallacies of conventional strategic management." (H. Mintzberg, "The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning" HBR 1994 Jan-Feb)
10. Realized Strategy: the actual strategy that is implemented. Only partly related to intended strategy. Mintzberg estimates that only 10-30% [I wonder how he estimates this...] is intended. Strategy is constantly adapted as a response to internal and external stimuli.
11. Strategic Fit: For a strategy to be successful, it must be consistent with the firm's external environment.
12. Strategic Principles: "pithy, memorable distillations of strategy that guide and empower employees"

Value:

1. monetary worth or a product or asset.
2. Value added: revenue - cost of inputs.
3. Value Creation: occurs by production or commerce.

Key Success Factors: Those variables that management can influence through its decisions and that can affect significantly the overall competitive positions of the firms in an industry. (C Hofer, D Schendel, Strategy Formulation: Analytical Concepts).

Value Chain Analysis

1. primary activities
2. support activities