Difference between Strategy and Strategic Management

What is Strategy?

Strategy is specifically an action the managers of a company take to attain a specific goal. It can also be defined as a general direction set for the company and its various departments to attain a desired state in the future. To apply a strategy, a company must follow a strategic planning process.

• Strategy, in general, means integrating the organizational processes and using and allocating the scarce resources in the organizational environment so that the present objectives are met in a wholesome manner.

• While planning a strategy, it is required to consider the fact that decisions are not made without proper planning and that any action taken by a firm is likely to affect customers, competitors, employees, or suppliers.

Strategy can also be termed as the information and knowledge of the goals, and the uncertainty of events, and the want to consider the likelihood or behavior of others. Strategy is the set of decisions in an organization that shows the objectives and goals of the organization that reduces the key policies and plans for achieving the given goals, and those actions that define the business the company is to carry on, the type of human and economic organization it wants to be, and the reward it plans to create for its stakeholders.

Strategic Management

Strategic management is the plan through which the strategies are applied to the organization to achieve its goals. In other words, strategic management is the plan of action the managers employ to apply the given set of plans by the business owners to profit and remain competitive in the market.

Strategic management, according to Professor Henry Mintzberg, is to manage the five P's: Plan, Ploy, Pattern, Position, and Perspective.

• Plan− It refers to a carefully crafted set of steps an organization wants to follow to attain its goals. The plan is inseparable from strategic planning and is the first step on which the strategy is applied as a whole.

• Ploy− Ploy is a strategic move to outperform the competitors. An example of a ploy is Apple outperforming Blackberry. It is a very essential part of marketing that can offer an organization a strategic advantage.

• Pattern− It is the consistency of strategic actions employed by an organization. The pattern is especially important because, without it, strategy is of no use as it may divert from the track.

• Position− Position refers to an organization’s strategic place in the industry relative to its competitors. Good knowledge of position makes an organization aware of its strategic advantages.

• Perspective− Perspective refers to the image of a company and its executives. It is useful in determining the self-worth of a company.