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GEC Business Review

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Should Corporate Strategy Be Redefined?

GEC Business ReviewBy Kelvin Wong

March 31, 2011

The corporate strategy – is supposed to be the meaning by which

an organization achieves and sustains success. However, it rarely

rises to that level, despite an abundance of corporate strategy

theories and significant researches done over the past few decades.

What explains the relative failure of most organizations to create

effective strategy? Part of the problem is that corporations and

their managers face difficulties clearly and consistently in defining

what corporate strategy is; probably much of that struggle can be

traced to their interpretation of the word “strategy” by itself.

The original meaning of the word strategy derives from the Geekstrategia, which is used in the military terms and represents the

ability to employ available resources to win a war.

This interpretation has generated problems when such concept is used in today’s business context as it

implies the existence, even the necessity, of opponents. As a result, most managers would believe that a

corporate strategy implies a strong focus on competition knowingly competition occurs almost at the all

levels, most organizations concentrate their strategic efforts on constantly improving the goods and

services.

In war, for instance, objectives can often be clearly defined, and so strategy is thought of as a means to a

specific end. This view has persisted in the corporate world where strategies are conceived as plans toaccomplish certain goals. Although corporate strategy can be very goal-oriented, especially in the early

stages of an organization’s development, the very nature of goals implies temporary success. In contrast,

sustainable success is not, and cannot be an end unto itself or a goal to achieve. Therefore, goal

orientation becomes arguably inappropriate when success has to be indefinitely sustained.

Despite this, an overwhelming number of top executives and researchers make extensive use of 

objectives in their quest of lasting corporate success. Certainly, a number of factors contribute to this:

the need of leaders with limited tenure to point to achievements, the tyranny of meeting the

expectations of the financial markets and most management teams extensively rely on forecasting and

planning.

Still, the idea held by most managers that strategy itself is all about goal achievement only exacerbates

the situation. Therefore, it is important for strategists to remember that the more specific an objective,

the further away it may potentially lead the organization from its optimal big picture.

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GEC Business Review

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So how strategy should be redefined? Clearly it cannot rely too strongly on objectives nor can it focus

too heavily on competition. A more fundamental concept is needed to guide an organization in seeing

its big picture, and such concept should be customer. To create sustainable, long-term success, an

organization must fundamentally understand and relate to its customers. It is an ongoing

encouragement of this understanding, based on neither specific competitors nor temporal objectives,

which must be at the heart of any real strategy. And it is that from which all objectives should naturally

cascade.

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