Simply Strategy: The shortest route to the best strategy

Appendix One. Strategy and Its History

A Brief History of Strategy

The beginnings of business strategy can be traced back at least as far as Alfred Chandler, who was active and influential from the late 1950s. His 1962 book, Strategy and Structure, states that corporations should develop their strategy before deciding their (organizational) structure – form should follow purpose. Arguably, the roots of strategy go back much further, for example to Alfred Sloan’s reorganization of General Motors in 1921 (though this was documented only in My Years with General Motors, not published until 1963).

Some say that Peter Drucker set the ball rolling much earlier. His 1946 book, Concepts of the Corporation, looked at General Motors, as well as General Electric, ...