Strategy

A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning". Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.

The word derives from the Greek word stratēgos, which derives from two words: stratos (army) and ago (ancient Greek for leading). Stratēgos referred to a 'military commander' during the age of Athenian Democracy.

Interpretation

Strategy is adaptable by nature rather than a rigid set of instructions. The simplest explanation of this is the analogy of a sports scenario. If a football team were to organize a plan in which the ball is passed in a particular sequence between specifically positioned players, their success is dependent on each of those players both being present at the exact location, and remembering exactly when, from whom and to whom the ball is to be passed; moreover that no interruption to the sequence occurs. By comparison, if the team were to simplify this plan to a strategy where the ball is passed in the pattern alone, between any of the team, and at any area on the field, then their vulnerability to variables is greatly reduced, and the opportunity to operate in that manner occurs far more often. This manner is a strategy.

Strategy may be practiced by the strong or by the weak. But the practice of strategy by the weak or the underdog was excluded from philosophical discourse by Aristotle, who dismissed it as 'the way of thinking of women and the vanquished.'

Application

Originally confined to military matters, the word has become commonly used in many disparate fields, such as:

Strategic management (or Business Strategy)
Economic strategy
Geostrategy
- Grand strategy
- Military strategy
Marketing strategies
Trading strategy
Technology strategy
Digital strategy
Political strategy
Game theoretical strategy
- Chess strategy

Noted Texts On Strategy

The nature of historic texts differs greatly from area to area, and given the nature of strategy itself, there are some potential parallels between various forms of strategy (noting, for example, the popularity of the Art of War as a business book). Each domain generally has its own foundational texts, as well as more recent contributions to new applications of strategy. Some of these are: