Publications

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June 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Background Note

Processes of Strategy Definition and Implementation, The

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Jeremy Dann

Strategy definition is not a short, discrete process. Rather, outside influences (market, political, technological, etc.) and the company's own resource allocation process continually reshape an organization's strategy. View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Strategic Planning; Situation or Environment; Strategy

April 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Module Note

Crafting Strategy

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Ashish Nanda and Jan Rivkin

This note provides an introduction to crafting strategy following an options-led approach. It provides an overview of scenario planning, and it prepares students to describe firm strategy with succinct strategy statements. The note also briefly outlines other... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Formulation; Options; Scenario Planning; Scenarios; Strategy Definition; Strategy; Strategic Planning

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Technical Note

Strategy and Strategic Thinking

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note gives managers a concrete perspective on what ‘a strategy’ really is, what makes a decision ‘strategic,’ and what ‘strategic thinking’ means. It also gives them practical frameworks to assess whether some set of decisions is really a strategy and how to... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Alignment; Strategy Definition; Strategy And Execution; Strategy Test; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Decision Making

October 2018
Article

Strategy and the Strategist: How it Matters Who Develops the Strategy

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper addresses primarily two questions. First, when (and why) should a company’s strategy be developed by its CEO versus by some outside analyst or other insider? Second, how does strategy interact with vision (in the sense of a strong belief about the right... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Strategy And Execution; Strategy; Leadership

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June 2012 (Revised December 2017)
Technical Note

Strategy and Strategic Decisions

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note introduces a framework for formulating strategy that helps a manager identify which decisions are strategic—and thus which decisions to focus on (both when developing strategy and when executing it)—and that provides a practical test for whether a particular... View Details

Keywords: Formulating Strategy; Strategic Theory; Strategy Test; Strategic Analysis; Strategy; Theory; Strategic Planning

August 2017
Article

A Formal Theory of Strategy

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

What makes a decision strategic? When is strategy most important? This paper formally studies these questions, starting from a (functional) definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices.” The paper shows that this... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Development; Strategy; Decisions

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October 1978 (Revised March 1987)
Background Note

Note on Market Definition and Segmentation

Outlines the problems involved in defining "markets" for purposes of 1) developing competitive strategies, 2) measuring market share, and 3) evaluating the extent of competition. The primary focus is on strategic planning--specifically, the questions of delimiting the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Markets; Segmentation

July 1989 (Revised November 1992)
Background Note

Marketing Strategy Formulation

Identifies the elements of marketing strategy and introduces frameworks for strategic marketing decisions. The frameworks deal with market definition and selection, positioning and differentiation, and market entry/exit decisions. Other topics discussed include... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

January 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Background Note

Strategy and Positioning in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case provides a definition of strategy, distinguishes between corporate and practice strategy, and discusses how and why developing and implementing strategy for professional service firms is different from developing and implementing strategy for commercial... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Service Industry

2013
Working Paper

Applying Random Coefficient Models to Strategy Research: Testing for Firm Heterogeneity, Predicting Firm-Specific Coefficients, and Estimating Strategy Trade-Offs

By: Juan Alcacer, Wilbur Chung, Ashton Hawk and Goncalo Pacheco-de-Almeida

Although Strategy research aims to understand how firm actions have differential effects on performance, most empirical research estimates the average effects of these actions across firms. This paper promotes Random Coefficients Models (RCMs) as an ideal empirical... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Mathematical Methods

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26 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

The Office of Strategy Management

"Why is there such a persistent gap between ambition and performance?" ask Robert Kaplan and David P. Norton in "The Office of Strategy Management" in the October 2005 Harvard Business Review. "The gap arises, we... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

"Michael Porter didn't get to be a giant in the field of competition and strategy by hunting small game." Joan Magretta begins her new book on Harvard Business School's Michael Porter's work by noting that, from the start of his... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

01 Mar 2010
News

Lords of Strategy

strategy revolution was a way of systematically putting together all the elements that determined their corporate fate, in particular, the three Cs central to any good strategy: the company’s costs, especially costs relative to other... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

11 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies

strategies that managers can take into consideration when setting the course for their own firms. A Q&A with Llanes follows. Julia Hanna: How did you come to be interested in this particular area of research? Gaston Llanes: We started... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Web Services

2015
Working Paper

Competitiveness and Clusters: Implications for a New European Growth Strategy

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

This paper develops policy recommendations on the use of cluster-based economic policies and the adoption of a new concept of competitiveness in the context of the new growth path that WWWforEurope aims to outline.
A first section discusses and derives an... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Clusters; Economic Policy; European Union; Competition; Industry Clusters; Policy; Economic Growth; European Union