HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy

CHAPTER 5

The Different Approaches Firms Use to Set Strategy

by Kimberly Teti, Mu-Jeung Yang, Nicholas Bloom, Jan W. Rivkin, and Raffaella Sadun

What is your strategy? Most senior executives can confidently answer this question.

How has that strategy changed over time? This one usually gets a quick answer too.

How do you make decisions about changing that strategy? Now it gets much more difficult.

The fact is, many senior executives struggle to describe how they make strategic decisions. That’s a serious problem, since the process for making strategic decisions can shape the strategy itself. Making a strategy without knowing your process is like sailing without a compass. You are setting yourself up for a long, stressful journey. Even worse, ...