Encyclopedia of Leadership

3.1

THE LEADER AS STRATEGIST

Inspired by Joseph and Jimmie Boyett, Michael Porter, Gary Hamel, C. K. Prahalad, Lee Perry et al., and many others.

With the business environment changing so rapidly in this dot-com age of sound bites and

e-commerce, leaders need to look well beyond the routine and day-to-day operational tactics

in order to be successful. Thus, every leader, and ideally every employee, needs to think and

act strategically. Yet this is no simple matter. That’s why few leadership topics have stirred as

much debate as has strategy. This tool summarizes and compares the most prominent per-

spectives on strategy of the past 20 years. It will help you sharpen your thinking and skills as

a leader and an organizational strategist.

PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY, 1980–2000

SECTION 3 TOOLS FORSTRATEGICTHINKING 69

Defined three core concepts of strategy:

1. the basic competitive forces (new entrants, new substitute products or services, rivalry among
   competitors, increased bargaining power of suppliers and buyers);


2. the generic competitive strategies (cost leadership, differentiation of products or services, mar-
   ket segmentation focus);


3. the value chain (from raw material supply to operations, marketing, distribution, and after-
   sales service).
   Outlined a Growth/Share Matrix in which an organization defined its products and services as:
   ➠Stars—high market share and high growth;
   ➠Cash Cows—high market share and low growth;
   ➠Question Marks—low market share with potential high growth; and
   ➠Dogs—low market share and low growth.
   Argued that competitive advantage starts with customers and intellectual leadership.
   ➠Think beyond the technology of your products and services per se, to their use (i.e., think
   beyond “cell phone,” to the ability to communicate with others from anywhere on earth).
   ➠Think beyond your business units and people, to core competencies—knowledge, skills, and
   technologies that benefit designated customers.
   Mintzberg sees strategy as impermanent and evolving, and notes that “strategy is the organiza-
   tion’s ‘conception’ of how to deal with its environment for a time.” As such, Mintzberg views
   strategic planning as onerous, slow, overly analytical, and too formalized for today’s fast-moving,
   knowledge-based organizations. Rather, he stresses strategic thinking: a more experimental,
   organic, discontinuous, and evolving process of clarifying and adapting strategy in real time.
   Like Mintzberg, Perry, Stott, and Smallwood see strategy as ubiquitous and evolving. They
   emphasize:
   ➠making strategic assumptions explicit;
   ➠strategic improvising in small offensive thrusts, and by everyone;
   ➠understanding competitive advantage and disadvantage, and matching capabilities with
   opportunities;
   ➠performance measurement, and reducing human energy loss through strategic alignment.

Michael Porter

The Boston

Consulting

Group

Gary Hamel

and C. K.

Prahalad

Henry

Mintzberg

Lee Perry,

Randy Stott,

and Norm

Smallwood

Strategy guru Contributions or concepts