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Strategic Management Definition Through Ages

by KATIA SOVA | 2024, November 21

Back to ancient history, Sun Tzu stated that the strategy stemming from the military has dual origin, in art and science. Indeed, strategy, tactic, resources are terms that relate to war. History is rich with examples of creating a detailed plan of action ahead to win a battle (Kennedy, 2020, p.18). Ergo, strategic management is a mixture of battle techniques and science findings processing through art as it shown in Figure 1.

Later on, the 3rd industrial revolution implemented strategy development in order to optimize such parts of business as structure, process, and management. The Classical Management Theory took the start, comprising the approaches of Weber, Taylor, and Fayol. Figure 2 reflects on the essence of each work of the study:

Note: Based on the study of Kennedy (2020), 
Organizational Communication Channel (2017),
GreggU (2019), and EduNote (2018)

Such, Max Weber determines a vital role of settling clear rules in the organization. Frederick Taylor focused on the process optimization to reduce motion and time of the product production. Finally, Henry Fayol focused on management, emphasizing the importance of education to train managers

As the 4th industrial revolution shakes the market again, today an agile method is a key to success (Plex, n.d.). Also, remembering the speed-to-cost pattern of Moore’s law, the adaptive strategy is a clue to survive in the fast-changing environment (Thompson, n.d).

|  2/1 speed  |  2 years  |  1/2 cost |

Furthermore, innovation and ethics is about to become a package deal to complement one another. Besides, it is hoped, strategic management becomes a powerful tool in a meta-battle where a company sets a goal to outperform itself. 

Today, business focuses on a creative vibe that ensures a short implication period of emergent strategy (Kennedy, 2020, p.8). Such, the approach of creating a horizontal connection between colleagues is a beneficial approach that is applied in IT companies widely. The organizational structure guarantees that everyone’s idea is heard, thus expanding the chance to find a contemporary Holy Grail – sustainable competitive advantage that are difficult to repeat, replace, or reframe. 

In the nutshell, the purpose of strategic management started from the goal of winning a battle, then switched to outpacing competitors, and currently uses to keep up the pace.

References

EduNote. (2018, June 9). Bureaucratic Management Theory of Max Weber. [Video]. Youtube. 

GreggU. (2019, May 1). Administrative Management. [Video]. Youtube.

Kennedy, R. (2020). Strategic management. Virginia Tech Publishing.  

https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/99282

Organizational Communication Channel (2017, October 23). Classical Management Theory. [Video]. Youtube. 

https://youtu.be/d1jOwD-CTLI

Plex. (n.d.). What is Industry 4.0?

https://www.plex.com/knowledge-articles/mes/what-is-industry-4-0

Thompson, S. (n.d.). Moore’s Law and how It pertains to business. Chron.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/moores-law-pertains-business-75824.html

 

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