Crafting Strategy
by Henry Mintzberg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Henry MintzbergEdition: Digital
Format: Download: PDF
Published: 1987-07-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 10
Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Book Reviews of Crafting Strategy
Book Review: Crafting Strategy
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Crafting Strategy", Mintzberg wrote an incisive article on his views on strategy. He methodically explores the traditional way people view strategy as something planned by the strategist (could be CEO or Strategic Planning department) to be implemented by others. He, however, explains that managers' feel for the way the organization should be going can result in a series of decisions from which a strategy can emerge. In other words, strategies are not just a plan for the future that are deliberate but can emerge over time as firms respond to pressures in the operating environment and are compelled to innovate.
Mintzberg uses the metaphor of a potter which demonstrates involvement by the craftsman where the potter uses his/her skills, experience and dedication and makes adjustments as necessary as he/she is working on the product, resulting in a creative article being produced. In this way, Mintzberg shows that formal strategic planning alone is not enough to explain how managers develop strategies but also the intuitive knowledge of the firm and feel for the company enables managers to come up with creative decisions from which an innovative strategy emerges.
From his metaphor of a potter working with clay, Mintzberg develops his argument for personal strategy of experimentation which leads to consensus strategy that follow the trend in the industry, which arise from organizational people learning from the market what customers want.
The author also discusses the concept of umbrella strategy where senior managers set broad guidelines and leave the specifics to others in the organization resulting in a deliberate-emergent strategy. He also discusses the Process Strategy where management controls the process of strategy formation whilst leaving the actual content to others down the organizational hierarchy. The author explains that these deliberate-emergent strategies are essential in businesses that require great expertise and innovation.
Mintzberg also dispels the conventional view that change must be continuous with the organization adapting all the time but explains that strategic change takes place in quantum leaps (strategic revolutions) followed by periods of stability where change is only marginal.
Mintzberg labels "adhocracy" organizations that produce individual, custom made products in an innovative way, on a project basis.
Although this article was written under two decades ago, it still sounds very innovative and thought provoking. I have read the article several times over the years and I enjoy it every time. However, the article is not for the beginner in strategy but for those pursuing the subject at an advanced level, being familiar with literature on the subject.
Summary of Crafting Strategy
Formal planning alone is not the best way for managers to develop strategy. Facts, figures, and forecasts are necessary; but managers also need an intuitive understanding of the organization, a feel for the business not unlike a potter's feel for the clay. Strategy is not just a plan for the future but also a pattern out of the past. Strategies are not always deliberate--they also emerge over time as organizations innovate and respond to their markets. By seeing patterns take shape in their environments, the best strategists find strategies as well as create them. McKinsey Award Winner.Formal planning alone is not the best way for managers to develop strategy. Facts, figures, and forecasts are necessary; but managers also need an intuitive understanding of the organization, a feel for the business not unlike a potter's feel for the clay. Strategy is not just a plan for the future but also a pattern out of the past. Strategies are not always deliberate--they also emerge over time as organizations innovate and respond to their markets. By seeing patterns take shape in their environments, the best strategists find strategies as well as create them. McKinsey Award Winner.
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