The essence of business strategies

Firms or companies today face a broad array of risks, problems and issues internal to them and
external factors relative to increased international competition due to globalisation. Thus,
strategic management is an activity necessary to be undertaken by firms who want to sustain
their existence in todays highly competitive environment. Firms need to develop strategies as
they are managements game plan for growing the business, staking out a market position,
attracting and pleasing customers, competing successfully, conducting operations, and achieving
targeted objectives. Strategic management is the set of managerial decisions and actions that
determines the long-run performance of a firm. The question however arises as to whether
strategic management is an art or a science or that it is simply a mixture of luck and good
judgement.
Firms or companies today face a broad array of risks, problems and issues, be they strategic,
operational, financial, customer, vendor, competitor, to name a few. Moreover, concerns about
increased international competition brought about by the rapid globalisation phenomenon abound
not only in the US but also in Europe with the further expansion of the European Union and in
Asia and Latin America due to increased economic integration in these regions. Management
experts therefore have argued time and again that firms or companies should respond to
environmental changes, such as increased competition, by engaging in more systematic planning
to anticipate and respond to changing and unforeseen events. The reason for this argument is
because formal strategic planning has been seen to enhance a firms performance.
Renowned experts explain that a firms strategy is its management game plan for growing the
business, staking out a market position, attracting and pleasing customers, competing
successfully, conducting operations, and achieving targeted objectives. Thus, a firms strategy
indicates the choices its managers have made about the specific actions it is taking and plans to
take in order to move the company in the intended direction and achieve the targeted outcomes.
In one way or another, a firms strategy is partly the result of trial-and-error organisational
learning about what worked in the past and what did not. It is also partly the product of
managerial analysis and strategic thinking about what actions need to be taken in the light of all
the circumstances surrounding the firms situation.
This essay explores the idea that a business strategy is a mixture of luck and judgement,
opportunism and design or whether it is more of an art than a science. In particular it examines
the roles of strategic management in planning an organisations future development buy
developing knowledge and practice in the application of strategic management concepts and
techniques.
Many economists define strategic management as that set of managerial decisions and actions
that determines the long-run performance of a corporation or firm. Accordingly, it includes

environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or longrange planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. In short, strategic
management emphasises the monitoring and evaluation of external threats and opportunities in
light of a firms internal strengths and weaknesses. To put it in simple terms, strategic
management seeks to align the firms activities with its external environment.
A firms first step in the strategic management process is to analyse its external and internal
environments to determine its resources, capabilities and core competencies. These, they say, are
the sources of its strategic inputs. With this information, the firm develops its vision and
mission and formulates its strategy. To implement the strategy, the firm takes actions towards
achieving strategic competitiveness and high returns. The sequence of the strategic management
process can therefore be summarised as follows: effective strategic actions that take place in the
context of carefully integrated strategy formulation and implementation actions result in desired
strategic outcomes.
Experts observe that one key to successful strategic management is the ability to achieve fit or
coherence among a set of competitive factors, both internal and extent, to the firm, in a manner
that facilitates high performance. In such a case, firms must not simply react to their
environments but should dynamically interact with them via the strategic actions of top
managers. Achieving strategic fit therefore requires alignment of the firms resources,
capabilities and competencies with environmental opportunities and threats.
Thus we can see that the more in depth we get ourselves into this topic, the more we realize that
business strategies arent a joke and that for their success they need sound judgement on the part
of senior managers, some fairly good intuitive powers and a little bit of Lady Luck. Hence it
seems to me atleast that that its more of an art than a science primarily because its something
that includes your gut feeling and science usually doesnt heavily rely on gut feelings.
Once a firm is clear what to look for, the task of identifying a firms strategy is mainly one of
researching information about the firms actions in the marketplace and its business approaches.
In this case the formulation of a strategy should be scientific (rather mathematical as here
statistics are evaluated, studied and inferences drawn) as it looks into data and information that
are relevant to the firm. Strategy, is about the future and thus requires certain assumptions about
upcoming product, market, technological, governmental, and competitive trends. Such
assumptions are worthless, and maybe even deadly, unless they are tested and validated. While
formulating assumptions is a legitimate task for the top team, its members rarely posses the firsthand knowledge needed to confirm or deny the validity of those assumptions. Using this
approach makes strategy formulation scientific.
On the other hand, many emphasise that a firms strategy is typically a blend of proactive actions
on the part of managers to improve the firms position and financial performance and as needed

reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh market conditions. Accordingly, the biggest
portion of a firms current strategy flows from previously initiated actions and business
approaches that are working well enough to merit continuation and new launched managerial
initiatives to strengthen the firms overall position and performance. This part of managements
game plan is deliberate and proactive, standing as the product of managements analysis and
strategic thinking about firms situation and its conclusions about how to position the company
in the marketplace and compete for buyer patronage.
It should be remembered however that a firms strategy should always be viewed as a work in
progress. In such a case, regardless of whether a firms strategy changes gradually or swiftly, the
important point is that a firms present strategy is always temporary and on trial pending new
ideas for improvement from management, changes in industry conditions, and any other new
developments that management believes warrant strategic adjustments. Therefore, a firms
strategy at any given point is fluid, representing the temporary outcome of an ongoing process
that, on the one hand, involves reasons and intuitive management efforts to craft an effective
strategy, and on the other hand, involves ongoing responses to market change and constant
experimentation and tinkering. Adapting to new conditions and constantly learning what is well
enough to continue and what needs to be improved is consequently a normal part of the strategymaking process and results in an evolving strategy.
Given the concepts discussed regarding strategic management, finally we might be in a position
to answer the question now is: Is strategic management an art or a science or is it a mixture of
luck and judgement or a combination of everything? ( Finally, right???) Based on the discussion
of the literatures and studies that I have reviewed, firstly, it can be said that strategic
managements is a combination of both an art and a science. It is an art because during the
implementation phase of the plans made, managers are given the flexibility of implementation
considering the fact that there are conditions during this phase that may intervene and thus
require modification of the plans in the course of their execution. Moreover, the implementation
of plans usually depends upon the character traits and style of the manager. This is because each
manager has his own style and character of executing plans. (The same gut feeling that I had
talked about earlier ).The objective here is to carry out the plans and it does not matter how a
manager will properly execute them. Because of this different managers perform differently from
each other since they are unique individuals with different traits.
Managers obviously need to improve strategy implementation activities, but the pace of these
activities and the implementation itself has many problems along the way. In some instances,
primary objectives are somewhat forgotten as the strategy moves into implementation, and the
initial momentum is lost before the firm realises the expected benefits. Traditional strategy
implementation concepts overemphasise structural aspects, reducing the whole effort to an
organisation exercise.

Strategic management, on the other hand, can also be considered a science since during the
formulation phase, all aspects (external and internal) are examined which require both
quantitative and qualitative data and extensive analysis. During the formulation process various
assumptions are formulated and tested and alternatives are formulated to see the various
outcomes based on the factors considered. What is more crucial here is that it requires scientific
method of studying the data and information before management decides on what is the best
strategy to undertake given the assumptions formulated. Accordingly, successful strategies are
based on a good understanding of the markets in which firms compete. This understanding
requires that they have accurate, timely information and means to analyse and communicate this
information to relevant decision makers.
Although the research process is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive activity, this does
not mean that firms must remain ignorant and isolated about the world around it. It should be
remembered that there are simplified approaches to obtain data and information. In such a case,
therefore, relevant strategic inputs derived from analyses of the internal and external
environments are necessary for effective strategy formulation and implementation. In turn,
effective strategic actions are a pre-requisite to achieving the desired outcomes of strategic
competitiveness and above-average returns.
Just like an excellent tasting food however strategic management can be said to be actually a
fusion of several ingredients, which when appropriately mixed together by management, will
achieve the objectives of the firm. In other words, strategic managements is a blending of right
plans as a result of scientific research, positive attitude of managers to execute the plans
including their excellent knowledge and skills of management; excellent judgement on the part
of managers which is always carried out at the right-time and at the right place; flexibility of the
plans for adjustment when crucial because of changing economic environment along the way
during their execution; and luck or fate.
Decision-flow process, however, are the vehicles firms use to integrate results into coherent
patters for developing, implementing, and controlling decision making (Raps June 2004).
Moreover, without understanding the greater course of strategy, employees cannot contribute to
an effective implementation. What is necessary to help reach this goal is a higher degree of
transparency in the decision-making process.
In conclusion I would like to say that strategic management process sets the long-run
performance by undertaking environmental scanning, strategy implementation, and evaluation
and control. The process of strategic management is a mixture of several ingredients. It is a
science because it requires scientific research when formulating plans for the firm. On the other
hand, it can be stated that it is an art considering that when plans are implemented it varies
relative to the characteristics and style of managers. However, to be more effective in achieving
the goals of the firm, other ingredients are necessary like excellent judgement of the manager,

flexibility of the plans, and even luck. Business strategy therefore is not merely a result of one
factor but a mixture of interrelated factors and that when mixed well by management can bring
the firm to greater growth.