Chapter 1

Question 1

1.1: Clarify the relationship between knowledge, capability and strategy

Answer 1

Clegg, Schweitzer, Whittle & Pitelis (2017) suggest that:

Knowledge + Capability = Strategy

Knowledge is required to enable a human being to be able to imagine a future state of affairs together with the ability to
visualise how one might obtain that future state.

Capability is the power and ability to get things done, to be able to implement ideas, visions and plans.

Strategy is the long-term vision for the direction of an organisation requiring the knowledge to imagine a structure that is
different from ‘today’, and the capability to do something about it.

Question 2

1.2: Suggest three significant differences between the strategic dimensions of ‘today’ and ‘future’.

Answer 2

1. ‘Today’ is a fixed and known point in time.
   ‘Future’ is imprecise and unknown, being anything beyond the ‘today’ point.
2. ‘Today’ exists because of the decisions that have already been made.
   ‘Future’ will be a result of ‘today’ + future decisions (as yet unknown).
3. We can analyse a wide range of aspects of ‘today’.
   We can only ever imagine an analysis of the ‘future’, although we can use our strategic vision to analyse how we
   might like it to look.

Question 3

1.3: Why is it important to establish benchmarks as part of the development of strategy?

Answer 3

As we plan and develop strategy, we anticipate that boundaries, parameters and routes may need to change to enable the realisation of our objectives. We need to benchmark our anticipation of the required changes by plotting the changes
on a graph, producing a numeric projection, or creating a description.

The importance of benchmarking in the development of strategy is to enable an understanding of why reality is almost always different from anticipation. This is often referred to as gap analysis or exception analysis.

Question 4

1.4: Write a short sentence about each of Mintzberg’s five aspects of strategy (the 5Ps)

Answer 4

• Plan – The plan gives a direction or course of action, attempting to define a route to get from here to there.
• Pattern – The pattern describes a manner of behaving across a period of time, recognising that human beings
  generally like to work and behave in a comfortable and familiar way.
• Position – The position within strategic planning suggests that there is a right time and right place.
• Perspective – The perspective recognises that strategy does not just happen by chance and that the people
  charged with the development of strategy must be able to look at the organisation and its strategy from one or more
  perspectives.
• Ploy – The ploy suggests that strategy may often be a deliberate and intended move to thwart the competition and
  maintain a competitive edge.