Editing Strategy (section)

{{Short description|Plan to achieve goals in uncertainty}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Strategy}}
{{Planning sidebar}}
'''Strategy''' (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship"<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dstrathgi%2Fa στρατηγία], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref>) is a general [[plan]] to achieve one or more long-term or overall [[goal]]s under conditions of [[uncertainty]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=Osprey |year=1973 |page=251}}</ref> In the sense of the "[[Art (skill)|art]] of the general", which included several subsets of skills including [[military tactics]], [[siegecraft]], [[logistics]] etc., the term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in [[Eastern Roman]] terminology, and was translated into Western [[vernacular languages]] only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word "strategy" came to denote "a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills" in a [[military conflict]], in which both adversaries interact.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heuser |first=Beatrice |title=The evolution of strategy : thinking war from antiquity to the present |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=14 October 2010 |isbn=978-0-52-115524-3 |edition=Illustrated |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=27–28 |language=EN}}</ref>

Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve goals are usually limited. Strategy generally involves setting goals and priorities, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions.<ref name="LFreedman2013">{{cite book
| last = Freedman
| first = Lawrence
| year = 2013
| title = Strategy | publisher = Oxford University Press
| isbn = 978-0-19-932515-3}}</ref> A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Simeone |first1=Luca |title=Characterizing Strategic Design Processes in Relation to Definitions of Strategy from Military, Business and Management Studies |journal=The Design Journal |pages=515–534 |doi=10.1080/14606925.2020.1758472 |date=3 July 2020|volume=23 |issue=4 |s2cid=218922359 |url=https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/334327680/Characterizing_strategic_design_processes_Simeone.pdf }}</ref> Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes.<ref name="LFreedman2013"/> It involves activities such as [[strategic planning]] and [[strategic thinking]].<ref name="Mintzberg and Quinn 1996">{{cite book
| last = Mintzberg, Henry and
| first = Quinn, James Brian
| year = 1996
| title = The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, Cases | publisher = Prentice Hall
| isbn = 978-0-132-340304}}</ref>

[[Henry Mintzberg]] from [[McGill University]] defined strategy as a pattern in a stream of decisions to contrast with a view of strategy as planning,.<ref name=charlesw>{{cite journal|url=http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~charlesw/LongStrat2010/papers/class%2010/Patterns%20of%20Strategy%20Formulation.pdf |title=Patterns in Strategy Formation |author=Henry Mintzberg |journal=Management Science |volume=24 |number=9 |date=May 1978 |pages=934–48 |access-date=31 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019210811/http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~charlesw/LongStrat2010/papers/class%2010/Patterns%20of%20Strategy%20Formulation.pdf |archive-date=19 October 2013 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.24.9.934|s2cid=154086210 }}</ref> while [[Max McKeown]] (2011) argues that "strategy is about shaping the [[future]]" and is the human attempt to get to "desirable ends with available means". [[Vladimir Kvint]] defines strategy as "a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully."<ref>{{cite book|author=Kvint, Vladimir|url=https://archive.org/details/globalemergingma0000kvin |url-access=registration|quote=the global emerging market.|title=''The Global Emerging Market: Strategic Management and Economics'' |publisher=Routeledge |year=2009|isbn=9780203882917 }}</ref>