Im not replying to any particular message but to the thread
on Strategic or Tactical.
At the risk of elucidating the obvious, strategic and tactical
are not the same as strategy and tactics. Compounding matters,
there is considerable variation in the way all four terms are
used. This variation extends into the management literature,
which prompted Henry Mintzberg to take it all to task in his
book, "The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning." Here at ETS,
Ive found it useful to focus people on four different types
of strategy.
In everyday use, strategy, by itself, refers to how a given
end or goal will be achieved. Strategy and tactics together
bridge the gap between ends and means. (See B. H. Liddell-Harts
book, Strategy.)
The difference between strategy and tactics is the difference
between deploying and employing troops and other resources,
which is why strategy in the military sense so often refers
to arrangements made before the enemy is engaged and tactics
refers to actions taken once the enemy has been engaged.
Corporate strategy is a term that refers to decisions about
the markets in which a company will operate, the businesses
in which it will be, and the products and services it will
offer. (See Kenneth Andrews book, Corporate Strategy.)
Competitive strategy is a term that refers to the basis on
which a company will compete in a given industry, market or
business; for example, price, focus, product leadership,
customer intimacy, and so on. (See Michael Porters book,
Competitive Strategy, and Treacy & Wiersemas book, The
Value Disciplines of Market Leaders.)
Finally, there is Grand Strategy, which refers to the
overarching, all-encompassing game plan that accounts
for all moves and maneuvers.
One comment and a question are in order here.
First, if we dont have a common language for discussing
strategy and tactics (or, more important, for discussing
system dynamics), then were doomed to wallowing in endless
debate regarding the meaning of the terms or in endless
requests for people to define the terms theyre using.
Second, what does all this have to do with system dynamics?
Fred Nickols, Executive Director
Strategic Planning & Management Services
Educational Testing Service [01-D]
Princeton, NJ 08541
Tel = 609.734.5077 Fax = 609.734.5590
e-mail = fnickols@ets.org
Views expressed are the authors, not ETSs.