Mastering Strategy

Strategy Definition

• Strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal or set of goals.

Strategic Management Process

• The purpose of strategic management is to analyze the organization's internal and external environment to formulate and implement strategies to achieve its goals.

Analyzing Internal and External Factors

• SWOT analysis is used in strategic management to analyze a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Porter's Competitive Forces

• Porter's competitive forces framework analyzes the five forces that shape competition within an industry: threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, and rivalry among existing competitors.

Organizational Dimensions

• Managers use three organizational dimensions to execute strategy: corporate, business, and functional.

Corporate-Level Strategies

• Corporate-level strategies involve decisions about which businesses to operate in, how to allocate resources, and how to coordinate activities across business units.

Strategy Execution

• The purpose of the strategic management process is to formulate and implement strategies to achieve the organization's goals and objectives.

Note: These notes are designed to be concise, clear, and easy to understand. Each bullet point is an independent fact that summarizes a key concept related to strategy and strategic management.

Test your knowledge on strategy formulation and execution with this quiz! Learn about the components of strategic management, levels of strategy, the strategic management process, SWOT analysis, corporate-level strategies, the BCG matrix, portfolio and diversification approaches, Porter's competitive forces and strategies, and new trends in strategy.