What is strategy harvard business review

Porter thus traces the economic basis of competitive advantage down to the level of the specific activities a company performs. Using cases such as Ikea and Vanguard, he shows how making trade-offs among activities is critical to the sustainability of a strategy. While stressing the role of leadership in making and enforcing clear strategic choices, Porter also offers advice on how companies can reconnect with strategies that have become blurred over time. This article has benefited greatly from the assistance of many individuals and companies.

The author gives special thanks to Jan Rivkin, the coauthor of a related paper. You have 2 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. What Is Strategy? Read more on Strategy or related topics Competitive strategy , Innovation and Operations strategy. For HBR Subscribers.

Michael E. His latest paper is The Role of Business in Society. He is an academic advisor to the Leadership Now Project. This is a subscriber-only article. The living company. Harvard Business Review March-April : Fonvielle, W. Gaining strategic alignment: Making scorecards work. Management Accounting Quarterly Fall : Gadiesh, O. Transforming corner-office strategy into frontline action.

Harvard Business Review May : Gosselin, M. The effect of strategy and organizational structure on the adoption and implementation of activity-based costing. Accounting, Organizations and Society 22 2 : Iansiti, M. Strategy as ecology. Harvard Business Review March : Johnson, M. Christensen and H. Reinventing your business model. Harvard Business Review December : Kaplan, R. Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. Harvard Business Review January-February : Having trouble with your strategy?

Then map it. Harvard Business Review September-October : Transforming the balanced scorecard from performance measurement to strategic management: Part I. Accounting Horizons March : Transforming the balanced scorecard from performance measurement to strategic management: Part II. Accounting Horizons June : Measuring the strategic readiness of intangible assets.

Harvard Business Review February : Kim, W. Value innovation: The strategic logic of high growth. Creating new market space: A systematic approach to value innovation can help companies break free from the competitive pack. Charting your company's future. Harvard Business Review June : Blue ocean strategy. Harvard Business Review October : How strategy shapes structure.

Harvard Business Review September : Red ocean traps: The mental models that undermine market-creating strategies. Langfield-Smith, K. Management control systems and strategy: A critical review. Luehrman, T. Strategy as a portfolio of real options. Magretta, J. Why business models matter. Explains the difference between a business model and a competitive strategy. Malone, D. Change management: Risk, transition, and strategy. O'Clock, P. The role of strategy and culture in the performance evaluation of international strategic business units.

Management Accounting Quarterly Winter : O'Reilly, C. The ambidextrous organization. Harvard Business Review April : Porter, M. The Free Press. From competitive advantage to corporate strategy. Harvard Business Review May-June : A good competitive strategy is one that creates unique value for a particular set of customers. Strategy starts with thinking the right way about competition. Competing to be unique, on the other hand, is the basis of a sound business strategy that leads to a positive-sum competition with multiple winners.

Managers should also think about setting proper financial goals for the company. The fundamental goal of a company is superior long-term return on invested capital ROIC. Revenue growth is good only if superiority in ROIC is achieved and sustained. There are two fundamental levels of strategy: corporate level strategy and business unit strategy. Cor p orate strategy defines what set of businesses to compete in, while business unit strategy describes how to compete in each distinct business or industry.