Strategy and Success

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Strategy and Success

• IDIS 424
• Spring 2004

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What Is Success?
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Examples Of Success

• Madonna
• General Giap and the North Vietnamese armed
  forces

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• Neither Madonna nor General Giap had superior
  resources.
• How did they achieve success?

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The Role Of Strategy In Success

• Goals that are simple, consistent, and long-term
• Profound understanding of the competitive
  environment
• Objective appraisal of resources
• Effective implementation

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Elements Of Success

• Goals
• Madonna Single-minded quest for
• stardom world-wide
• renown
• Giap Reunify Vietnam under
• communist rule

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Elements Of Success

• Understanding the Environment
• Madonna Detects emerging trends in
  popular culture.
• Giap Intimate knowledge of terrain.
  Recognized U.S. political weakness

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Elements Of Success

• Resource Appraisal
• Madonna Recognized limited raw
  talent. Relied on
• PR and networking.
• Giap Recognized economic
• military weaknesses.
  Aware of political
  strengths.

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Elements Of Success

• Implementation
• Madonna Committed to hard work.
  Attention to detail.
• Control.
• Giap Tight control. Long-term
  commitment. Effective
  propaganda. Inspirational
  leader.

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SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUALS SHARE THE FOLLOWING IN
PURSUIT OF THEIR ENDEAVORS
? They have clear, long-term career objectives ?
They know their environment ? They know
themselves well ? They pursue their careers with
commitment, consistency, and determination
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Development of Business Strategy
Antecedents based upon military strategies which
extend the principles of
Julius Caesar Alexander the
Great Sun Tsu
Von Clausewitz
Note differences between a strategy and a tactic
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Strategy -- An overall plan for
deploying resources Tactic -- A scheme
for a specific action
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Strategic Decisions

• ? Important
• Involve significant commitment or resources
• ? Not easily reversible

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Strategy Making Design or Process ?
Strategy as Design
Strategy as Process
Planning and Rational choice
Many decision makers responding to multitude
of external and internal forces
INTENDED STRATEGY
EMERGENT STRATEGY
REALIZED STRATEGY
Mintzbergs Critique of Formal Strategic
Planning ? The fallacy of prediction the
future is unknown ? The fallacy of detachment
impossible to divorce formulation from
implementation ? The fallacy of formalization
inhibits flexibility, spontaneity, intuition
and learning
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Common Elements in Successful Strategy
Successful Strategy
EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION
Long-term, simple and agreed objectives
Profound understanding of the competitive environm
ent
Objective appraisal of resources