Strategic Management: Strategy (Definitions)

"Strategy can be defined as the determination of the long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals." (Alfred D. Chandler Jr., "Strategy and Structure", 1962)

"Strategy is the pattern of objectives, purposes or goals and major policies and plans for achieving these goals, stated in such a way as to define what businesses the company is in or is to be in and the kind of company it is or is to be." (Edmund P Learned et al, "Business Policy: Text and Cases", 1965)

"Strategies are forward-looking plans that anticipate change and initiate actions to take advantage of opportunities that are integrated into the concept or mission of the company." (William A Newman & J. P Logan, "Strategy, Policy, and Central Management", 1971) 

"Strategy is the basic goals and objectives of the organization, the major programs of action chosen to reach these goals and objectives, and the major pattern of resource allocation used to relate the organization to its environment." (Dan E Schendel & K J Hatten, "Business Policy or Strategic Management: A View for an Emerging Discipline", 1972)

"Strategy is a unified, comprehensive, and integrative plan designed to assure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved." (William F Glueck, "Business Policy, Strategy Formation, and Management Action", 1976) 

"Strategy is the forging of company missions, setting objectives for the organization in light of external and internal forces, formulating specific policies and strategies to achieve objectives, and ensuring their proper implementation so that the basic purposes and objectives of the organization will be achieved." (George A  Steiner & John B. Miner,"Management Policy and Strategy", 1977)

"Strategy is a mediating force between the organization and its environment: consistent patterns of streams of organizational decisions to deal with the environment." (Henry Mintzberg, "The Structuring of Organizations", 1979)

"Strategy is defined as orienting 'metaphases' or frames of reference that allow the organization and its environment to be understood by organizational stakeholders. On this basis, stakeholders are motivated to believe and to act in ways that are expected to produce favorable results for the organization." (Ellen E Chaffee, "Three Models of Strategy," Academy of Management Review Vol. 10 (1), 1985) 

"Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities. [...] Strategy is creating fit among a company’s activities." (Michael E Porter, "What is Strategy?", Harvard Business Review, 1996)

"General direction set for the organization and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future, resulting from the detailed strategic planning process." (Alan Wa Steiss, "Strategic Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations", 2003)

"An organization's overall plan of development, describing the effective use of resources in support of the organization in its future activities. It involves setting objectives and proposing initiatives for action." (ISO/IEC 38500:2008, 2008)

"An organized set of initiation programs and projects undertaken in order to achieve the organization ’ s vision." (Terry Schimidt, "Strategic Management Made Simple", 2009)

"This is a plan of action stating how an organisation will achieve its long-term objectives." (Bernard Burnes, "Managing change : a strategic approach to organisational dynamics" 5th Ed., 2009)

"The essential course of action attempted to achieve an enterprise’s end - particularly goals. Moreover, a strategy must be to carry out exactly one mission. In general, strategies address goals, and tactics address objectives." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"A broad-based formula for how a business is going to accomplish its mission, what its goals should be, and what plans and policies will be needed to carry out those goals."  (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"denotes, by an extension of military language, the development of a policy by the enterprise (its objectives, structure, and operation), defined on one hand on the basis of its strengths and weaknesses and, on the other hand, taking into account threats and opportunities identified in its environment." (Humbert Lesca & Nicolas Lesca, "Weak Signals for Strategic Intelligence", 2011)

"A comprehensive plan that states how a corporation will achieve its mission and objectives." (Thomas L Wheelen & J David Hunger., "Strategic management and business policy: toward global sustainability" 13th Ed., 2012)

"The proposed direction an organization will achieve over the long term, through the configuration of resources in a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations." (Paul C Dinsmore et al, "Enterprise Project Governance", 2012)

"A strategy is a comprehensive plan guiding resource allocation to achieve long-term organization goals." (John R Schermerhorn Jr, "Management" 12th Ed., 2012)

"The definition of the model’s goals, the high-level approach to achieve these goals, and the decision making mechanisms to execute this approach." (Panos Alexopoulos, "Semantic Modeling for Data", 2020)

"Strategy is a style of thinking, a conscious and deliberate process, an intensive implementation system, the science of insuring future success." (Pete Johnson)

"Strategy is the way an organization seeks to achieve its vision and mission. It is a forward-looking statement about an organization’s planned use of resources and deployment capabilities. Strategy becomes real when it is associated with: 1) a concrete set of goals and objectives; and 2) a method involving people, resources and processes." (Intrafocus)