Definition of Strategy

Definition of Strategy

The word “strategy” is derived from the Greek word “stratçgos”; stratus (meaning army) and “ago” (meaning leading/moving). The chainess strategist Sun Jgu has first mentioned or utilized the word in the text book.

Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. Strategy can also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic planning process”.

A strategy means managerial choices among alternatives and signals organizational commitment to specific objectives. 

According to Charles W. L. Hill & Gareth R. Jones, “A strategy is a set of related actions that managers take to increase their company’s performance.”

According to Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, “A strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage.” 

From this definition we can said, for most, if not all, companies, achieving superior performance relative to rivals is the ultimate challenge. If a company’s strategies result in superior performance, it is said to have a competitive advantage. So, strategy is the action taken to attain superior performance.

So, from the discussion, Strategy is the blueprint of decisions in an organization that shows its objectives and goals, reduces the key policies, and plans for achieving these goals, and defines the business the company is to carry on, the type of economic and human organization it wants to be, and the contribution it plans to make to its shareholders, customers and society at large.