Image via Wikipedia"As war is a game through its objective nature, so also is it through its subjective. -- Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Chapter 1.
While there are many definitions of "strategy" and "strategic decisions", for the purposes of this paper, a strategy is an idea or set of ideas about how to accomplish a goal and strategic decisions are ones that typically put at risk a substantial portion of an entity's disposable resources.
Defining strategy broadly is important. Far too often, strategy is only associated with terms such as "long-term" or "large" and strategic thinking is something accomplished only at corporate headquarters or by generals and kings.
Defining strategic decisions in the context of the resources risked by the entity (person or organization) making the decision puts the role of strategy into perspective. Under this definition, it is possible for the exact same decision to be strategic in one case and tactical (or even trivial) in another context.
For example, imagine an individual who owns a successful dry cleaning store. Deciding to open up another branch of the store in a different part of town is clearly a strategic decision for this owner. This owner will likely spend many of his disposable resources (time, money, personnel) getting the new branch set up and operating efficiently. Failure with this new branch would likely impact the old branch as well.
For example, imagine an individual who owns a successful dry cleaning store. Deciding to open up another branch of the store in a different part of town is clearly a strategic decision for this owner. This owner will likely spend many of his disposable resources (time, money, personnel) getting the new branch set up and operating efficiently. Failure with this new branch would likely impact the old branch as well.
The same decision, to open another branch in the same town by the owner of a chain of 10,000 dry cleaning stores
More importantly, defining strategy in terms of the resources at risk broadens the scope of what arguably constitutes strategic intelligence as well. Under this definition, strategy is not confined to large, powerful organizations. Small businesses, police units and even students can have strategies and, in turn, require strategic intelligence to support their decision-making processes.
Next:
What is intelligence and what is the role of intelligence in the formulation of strategy?
More importantly, defining strategy in terms of the resources at risk broadens the scope of what arguably constitutes strategic intelligence as well. Under this definition, strategy is not confined to large, powerful organizations. Small businesses, police units and even students can have strategies and, in turn, require strategic intelligence to support their decision-making processes.
Next:
What is intelligence and what is the role of intelligence in the formulation of strategy?
