p.49 Great generals think about the whole. They have a strategy; it has pieces, or elements, but they form a coherent
whole. Business generals... also have a strategy - a central, integrated, externally oriented concept of how the business
will achieve its objectives. Without a strategy, time and resources are easily wasted on piecemeal, disparate activities
p.50 Strategy: The central integrated, externally oriented concept of how we will achieve our objectives.
p.50 a strategy has five elements, providing answers to five questions:
- Areas: where will we be active?
- Vehicles: how will we get there?
- Differentiators: how will we win in the marketplace?
- Staging: what will be our speed and sequence of moves?
- Economic logic: how will we obtain our returns?
p.54 By this point, it should be clear why a strategy needs to encompass all five elements - arenas, vehicles, differentiators,
staging, and economic logic. First, all five are important enough to require intentionality... Second, the five elements call
not only for choice, but also for preparation and investment... Third, all five elements must align with and support each
other... Finally, it is only after the specification of all five strategic elements that the strategist is in the best position
to turn to designing all the other supporting activities... that are needed to reinforce the strategy.
p.54 a strategy is more than simply choices on these five fronts: it is an integrated, mutually reinforcing set of choices
- choices that form a coherent whole.
p.57 Our purpose in this article has been elemental - to identify what constitutes a strategy... We don't believe that
it is sufficient to simply make these five sets of choices. No - a business needs not just a strategy, but a sound
strategy.
p.58 a strategy need not be static: it can evolve and be adjusted on an ongoing basis... a strategy doesn't requires a
business to become rigid. Some of the best strategies for today's turbulent environment keep multiple options open and build
in flexibility... A strategy can help to intentionally build in many forms of flexibility - if that's what is called for...
strategy does not deal as much with preordaining the future as it does with assessing current conditions and future likelihoods,
than making the best decisions possible today.
