Chapter 1: Mastering Strategy: Art and Science
Conclusion
This chapter provides an overview of strategic management and strategy. Ideas about strategy span many centuries, and modern understanding of strategy borrows from ancient strategies as well as classic military strategies. You should now understand that there are numerous ways to conceptualize the idea of strategy, and that effective strategic management is needed to ensure the long-term success of firms. The study of strategic management provides tools to effectively manage organizations, but it also involves the art of knowing how and when to apply creative thinking. Knowledge of both the art and the science of strategic management is needed to help guide organizations as their strategies emerge and evolve over time. Such tools will also help you effectively chart a course for your career as well as to understand the effective strategic management of the organizations for which you will work.
Exercises
- Think about the best and worst companies you know. What is extraordinary (or extraordinarily bad) about these firms? Are their strategies clear and focused or difficult to define?
- If you were to write a “key takeaway” section for this chapter, what would you include as the material you found most interesting?
Attributions
Ramese II Statue in Luxor Temple by Clarence is used under a CC BY 2.0 Licence (first);
Samurai with sword by Britannica is in the Public Domain (second);
Trojan horse Çanakkale by Ross Burgess is used under CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence (third);
Tewkesbury Medieval Festival 2008 – Hail Sir Knight by Andy Dolman is used under CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence (fourth).
Figure 1.9:
Macchiavelli by JoJan is used under a CC BY 3.0 Licence (first);
George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1795-65 is in the Public Domain (second);
Portrait of Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries is in the Public Domain (third);
Major General George H. Thomas by dbking is used under a CC BY 2.0 Licence (fourth);
Mk XIX Supermarine Spitfire by David Merrett is used under CC BY 2.0 Licence,
IS-2 tank Monument at WWII Memorial in Shatki by Bestalex is used under CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence (fifth)
Figure 1.10:
Ford Model T at the White House by Don O’Brien is used under CC BY 2.0 Licence (top left);
Harvard by PDru2014 is used under CC BY 2.0 Licence (top right);
Frederick Winslow Taylor crop is in the Public Domain (top middle);
Sam Walton 1936 by Grey Wanderer is in the Public Domain (bottom middle);
Amazon Kindle 3 by NotFromUtrecht is used under CC BY-SA 2.0 Licence (bottom left);
The Blue Marble by NASA is in the Public Domain (bottom right)
.jpg){kind=link}
