Aspects of Operation Strategy

There are three levels of strategy hierarchy illustrated in the following table:

Van der Heijden (1997) suggests that there are three schools of thought in strategy: 

1. Rationalists: those who search for an 'optimal strategy'. (e.g. Michael Porter, 1996) 

2. Evolutionists: those who believe that due to complexity, strategy emerges and is 'crafted' (eg Henry Mintzberg, 1994) 

3. Processualists: who fall in between the first two. 

He argues that the first two schools are extremes and most managers favour the former as it assigns power to them. The second is disliked because it disempowers management. The third school that is seen as a middle way emerges through communication. In times of change, fewer things can be predicted, hence the greater the need to concentrate on the process of strategy. An essential feature of strategy is constant of communication. It is often said that strategy is pushed out in favour of planned activities. The purpose of strategy must be to continually review the planned activities.