The Winding Road of Corporate Strategy

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of Corporate Strategy aiming to answer four research questions: "what is Strategy about?", "who shapes the Strategy?", "what is new about Strategic Management?" and "what is wrong with Strategic Management?" To do so, the study was based on a systematic exploratory research and bibliographic review. For each question, a specific set of authors were selected, mainly based on books and papers published in relevant academic journals. A set of theoretical propositions is presented at the end of each analysis, in an attempt to summarize the main findings. Overall, the paper shows that corporate strategy is a complex and intricate issue, in constant evolution but, at the same time, with many problems still to be solved.

Strategic Management School of Thoughts: Synergistic Integration toward Strategy Implementation

“…The school's principles focus on capturing success by meeting the world's needs and wants, while strategic implementation is seen as a series of subactivities and a prime administrative routine (Learned et al, 1965;Rocha & Osorio, 2019;Witcher, 2019;Leiblein & Reuer, 2020;Drnevich et al, 2020). The Classical School of thought in Strategic Management suggests that organizations assess their external environment to identify threats and opportunities, and internally assess their strengths, weaknesses, and distinctive capabilities to identify opportunities and overcome threats (Makadok et al, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Leiblein & Reuer, 2020;Rabetino et al, 2021). Strategy development is the process of aligning potential outcomes with a firm's unique competencies and capabilities, focusing on business social responsibility and managerial core values to positively craft and implement a firm's strategy and implementation (Barney, 1986;Makadok et al, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Bindra et al, 2019;Rabetino et al, 2021).…”

“…The Classical School of thought in Strategic Management suggests that organizations assess their external environment to identify threats and opportunities, and internally assess their strengths, weaknesses, and distinctive capabilities to identify opportunities and overcome threats (Makadok et al, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Leiblein & Reuer, 2020;Rabetino et al, 2021). Strategy development is the process of aligning potential outcomes with a firm's unique competencies and capabilities, focusing on business social responsibility and managerial core values to positively craft and implement a firm's strategy and implementation (Barney, 1986;Makadok et al, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Bindra et al, 2019;Rabetino et al, 2021). The strategic management team manages strategy design, balancing strengths and weaknesses to maximize opportunities and build a robust defense against threats.…”

“…The classical school of thought suggests that strategy design is influenced by deep, mindful belief and expectation, rather than unthinkingly held beliefs (Andrews, 1981;Leiblein & Reuer, 2020). They advocate for formal procedures, training, and analysis using numbers, as per various studies (Mintzberg et al, 1998;Coffie & Blankson, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Bindra et al, 2019;Rabetino et al, 2021). Strategic management teams must work closely with department heads to design strategies, including training programs, awareness, and directing actions to improve organizational performance (Coffie & Blankson, 2018;Mendes, 2018).…”

“…They advocate for formal procedures, training, and analysis using numbers, as per various studies (Mintzberg et al, 1998;Coffie & Blankson, 2018;Mendes, 2018;Bindra et al, 2019;Rabetino et al, 2021). Strategic management teams must work closely with department heads to design strategies, including training programs, awareness, and directing actions to improve organizational performance (Coffie & Blankson, 2018;Mendes, 2018). The inability to anticipate threats highlights the powerlessness of planning during unprecedented circumstances and the urgent need to counter unexpected competitor attacks in a heterogeneous business environment (Mintzberg et al, 1998;Jelenc, 2009;Bindra et al, 2019;Rabetino et al, 2021).…”