A Company’s Strategy Emerges Incrementally and Then Evolves Over Time

A Company’s Strategy Emerges Incrementally and Then Evolves Over Time

A company’s strategy should always be viewed as a work in progress.

On occasion, fine-tuning the existing strategy is not enough and major strategy shifts are called for:

a.   When a strategy is clearly failing and the company is facing a financial crisis

b.   When market conditions or buyer preferences change significantly and new opportunities arise

c.   When competitors do something unexpected

d.   When important technological breakthroughs occur

Some industries are more volatile than others.

Industry environments characterized by high-velocity change require rapid strategy adaptation.

Regardless of whether a company’s strategy changes gradually or swiftly, the important point is that a company’s strategy is temporary and on trial, pending new ideas for improvement from management, changing competitive conditions, and any other changes in the company’s situation

Changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the strategy cause a company’s strategy to emerge and evolve over time — a condition that makes the task of crafting a strategy a work in progress, not a one-time event.

A company’s strategy is driven partly by management analysis and choice and partly by the necessity of adapting and learning by doing.