Book Summary
Exploring Strategy – 12th edition
Chapters: 1-5; 7-13
Authors: Richard Whittington, Patrick Regnér, Duncan Angwin Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes
,Contents
Chapter 1: Introducing Strategy ................................................................................................. 3
Chapter 2: Macro-environment analysis.................................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Industry and sector analysis ..................................................................................... 7
Chapter 4: Resources and capabilities ..................................................................................... 10
Chapter 5: Stakeholders and governance ................................................................................ 14
Chapter 7: Business strategy and models ................................................................................ 18
Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy ................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 9: International Strategy ............................................................................................ 31
Chapter 10: Entrepreneurship and innovation ........................................................................ 34
Chapter 11: Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances .................................................................... 36
Chapter 12: Evaluating Strategies ............................................................................................ 41
Chapter 13: Strategy Development Processes ......................................................................... 46
Explanation of the highlights:
Yellow – definitions & key points
Green – additional definitions
Orange – summary
Disclaimer: Some figures are taken from the 11th edition
,Chapter 1: Introducing Strategy
Strategy is defined as: ‘the long-term direction of an organisation, formed by choices and
actions about its resources and scope, in order to create advantageous positions relative to
changing environment and stakeholder contexts’.
Strategic direction: coherent pattern set according to long-term objectives (maximizing
profits with researched objectives). It is concerned with organizations (internal/external
relationships) external boundaries.
The work of strategy is to define and express the purpose of an organisation through its
mission, vision, values, and objectives.
Mission: What business are we in? (central strategy)
Vision: What do we want to achieve in the future? (long-term)
Objectives: What do we want to achieve in the coming period? (short-term)
Ideally a strategy statement should include an organisation’s goals, scope of activities and
the advantages or capabilities it brings to these goals and activities.
Scope: Customers, location, internal activities
Advantage: How will it achieve the objectives?
Three main levels of strategies:
• Corporate-level strategy is concerned with an organisation’s overall scope and how
value is added to the organisational whole (strategic decisions: geographical scope,
diversity of products, acquisition of new businesses).
• Business-level strategy is concerned with how to compete (competitive strategy)
(invocation, scale, response to competitors move).
• Functional strategy is concerned with how corporate- and business-level strategies
are delivered (in terms of resources, processes and people)
Each level needs to be aligned with others
, The Exploring Strategy Framework has three major elements:
1. understanding the strategic position,
2. making strategic choices for the future
3. managing strategy in action.
Strategy work is done by managers throughout an organisation, as well as specialist
strategic planners and strategy consultants.
• Research on strategy context, content and process shows how the analytical
perspectives of economics, sociology and psychology can all provide practical insights
for approaching strategy issues.
Context: industry analysis, opportunities and threats, cultural analysis, resources (whether
the industry is attractive for the company)
Content: innovation strategies, internationalization (which strategies pay best under what
conditions)
Process: how strategies are formed and implemented (planning, choice, practice)
Strategic position: impact on strategy of the external environment, capability and
organizations goals and culture.
Environment – political, economic, social, and technological world
Capability – resources (machines, buildings) and competences (technical and managerial
skills) (strengths and weaknesses)
Purpose – vision, mission, and objectives
When evaluating which strategy fits the best: is it suitable, are they acceptable, are they
feasible?
Although the fundamentals of strategy may be similar, strategy varies by organisational
context, for example, small business, multinational or public sector.
Small businesses: vulnerable to change, positioning issue is strategic purpose, attention on
the environment is very important
Multinational: positioning is very important, strategic choices are dominated by geographical
location question
Public sector and non-profit: positioning issues of competitive advantage
Strategic issues can be viewed critically from a variety of perspectives, as exemplified by the
four strategy lenses of
1. Design – the logical process of analysis an evaluation (logical and systematic?)
2. Experience – outcome of people’s way of doing things (future strategy based
on manager experience and intereses)
3. Variety – new ideas from people in/outside of the organization (importance
of diversity to seed new ideas)
4. Discourse – language importance (way of communication and strategy
explanation, objective views to gain power)
Exploring Strategy – 12th edition
Chapters: 1-5; 7-13
Authors: Richard Whittington, Patrick Regnér, Duncan Angwin Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes
,Contents
Chapter 1: Introducing Strategy ................................................................................................. 3
Chapter 2: Macro-environment analysis.................................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Industry and sector analysis ..................................................................................... 7
Chapter 4: Resources and capabilities ..................................................................................... 10
Chapter 5: Stakeholders and governance ................................................................................ 14
Chapter 7: Business strategy and models ................................................................................ 18
Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy ................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 9: International Strategy ............................................................................................ 31
Chapter 10: Entrepreneurship and innovation ........................................................................ 34
Chapter 11: Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances .................................................................... 36
Chapter 12: Evaluating Strategies ............................................................................................ 41
Chapter 13: Strategy Development Processes ......................................................................... 46
Explanation of the highlights:
Yellow – definitions & key points
Green – additional definitions
Orange – summary
Disclaimer: Some figures are taken from the 11th edition
,Chapter 1: Introducing Strategy
Strategy is defined as: ‘the long-term direction of an organisation, formed by choices and
actions about its resources and scope, in order to create advantageous positions relative to
changing environment and stakeholder contexts’.
Strategic direction: coherent pattern set according to long-term objectives (maximizing
profits with researched objectives). It is concerned with organizations (internal/external
relationships) external boundaries.
The work of strategy is to define and express the purpose of an organisation through its
mission, vision, values, and objectives.
Mission: What business are we in? (central strategy)
Vision: What do we want to achieve in the future? (long-term)
Objectives: What do we want to achieve in the coming period? (short-term)
Ideally a strategy statement should include an organisation’s goals, scope of activities and
the advantages or capabilities it brings to these goals and activities.
Scope: Customers, location, internal activities
Advantage: How will it achieve the objectives?
Three main levels of strategies:
• Corporate-level strategy is concerned with an organisation’s overall scope and how
value is added to the organisational whole (strategic decisions: geographical scope,
diversity of products, acquisition of new businesses).
• Business-level strategy is concerned with how to compete (competitive strategy)
(invocation, scale, response to competitors move).
• Functional strategy is concerned with how corporate- and business-level strategies
are delivered (in terms of resources, processes and people)
Each level needs to be aligned with others
, The Exploring Strategy Framework has three major elements:
1. understanding the strategic position,
2. making strategic choices for the future
3. managing strategy in action.
Strategy work is done by managers throughout an organisation, as well as specialist
strategic planners and strategy consultants.
• Research on strategy context, content and process shows how the analytical
perspectives of economics, sociology and psychology can all provide practical insights
for approaching strategy issues.
Context: industry analysis, opportunities and threats, cultural analysis, resources (whether
the industry is attractive for the company)
Content: innovation strategies, internationalization (which strategies pay best under what
conditions)
Process: how strategies are formed and implemented (planning, choice, practice)
Strategic position: impact on strategy of the external environment, capability and
organizations goals and culture.
Environment – political, economic, social, and technological world
Capability – resources (machines, buildings) and competences (technical and managerial
skills) (strengths and weaknesses)
Purpose – vision, mission, and objectives
When evaluating which strategy fits the best: is it suitable, are they acceptable, are they
feasible?
Although the fundamentals of strategy may be similar, strategy varies by organisational
context, for example, small business, multinational or public sector.
Small businesses: vulnerable to change, positioning issue is strategic purpose, attention on
the environment is very important
Multinational: positioning is very important, strategic choices are dominated by geographical
location question
Public sector and non-profit: positioning issues of competitive advantage
Strategic issues can be viewed critically from a variety of perspectives, as exemplified by the
four strategy lenses of
1. Design – the logical process of analysis an evaluation (logical and systematic?)
2. Experience – outcome of people’s way of doing things (future strategy based
on manager experience and intereses)
3. Variety – new ideas from people in/outside of the organization (importance
of diversity to seed new ideas)
4. Discourse – language importance (way of communication and strategy
explanation, objective views to gain power)
