Strategy is a general, undetailed plan of action,
encompassing a long period of time, to achieve a complicated goal. Strategy, as
a way of action, becomes necessary in a situation when, for the direct
achievement of the main goal, the available resources are not enough. The task
of strategy is an efficient use of the available resources for the achievement
of the main goal. Tactics is the tool to implement strategy, and is
subordinated to the main goal of strategy.
Detailing it further, strategy is all about gaining a
position of advantage over adversaries or best exploiting emerging
possibilities. As there is always an element of uncertainty about the future,
strategy is more about a set of options than a fixed plan. Henry Mintzberg from
McGill University defined strategy as "a pattern in a stream of
decisions" to contrast with a view of strategy as planning while Max
Mckeown argues that "strategy is about shaping the future" and is the
human attempt to get to "desirable ends with available means".
