Defining strategies

As stated in the previous step, a strategy can be defined as a plan of action leading to specific objectives/goals/aims.

The usage of these terms in business and academia is inconsistent – you need to keep this in mind when reading texts relating to management. Here we are focusing on the term ‘strategy’ itself, its definition and different types of strategies.

Michael Porter, one of the best-known academics in this area, categorised the strategies organisations use into a set of generic strategies that are the foundation of much of the current management and marketing theory.

Your tasks

Choose at least one of the following sources to read, then share, compare and discuss your insights with your fellow learners:

• Porter’s Generic Strategies: Choosing Your Route to Success
• ‘What Is Strategy?’ (Porter, 1996). We’ve provided the reference below but there are also a number of PDF copies available online.

Once you are familiar with the concepts, create a one-page document containing:

1. A definition of strategy
2. Brief descriptions of all key strategies
3. Examples of companies which follow these strategies

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References

_{Porter, M. E. (1996, November). What is strategy? Harvard Business Review, 74(6), 61–78. Website link}

_{Note: You will need to access the Harvard Business Review via Locate and then search the article title to access the full text.}