Strategy versus the Plan

We use the term "strategy" very loosely.

- Ambi Parameswaran

There is corporate strategy, marketing strategy, sales strategy, promotion strategy, finance strategy—and more. Often managers tend to use the "S" word when in reality they should have used the "P" word: Replace Strategy with Plan. So what is strategy?

In his highly quoted article "What is Strategy," published almost two decades ago (Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1996), Professor Michael Porter had laid out the contours of what should be called "strategy." He clarified that strategy is not a placeholder for what could be called operational excellence. Strategy called for clear choices to be made. It starts with choosing a unique position that is grounded in clear activities that are difficult for competition to imitate. Strategy also calls for trade-offs, dropping some things and focusing on a few things. And good strategy always calls for friction and is never a simple, clean line.

Given this grounding, it was with great expectation that I picked up Why Your Strategy Sucks by Sandeep Das. The author is an MBA with over 15 years of experience in both the corporate world and consultancies. His previous book was a look at business storytelling.