The Winding Road of Corporate Strategy

Marcos Vinícius Isaias Mendes

doi:10.12712/rpca.v12i1.1124

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This paper addresses the issue of Corporate Strategy, aiming to answer four research questions: “what is Strategy about?”, “who shapes the Strategy?”, “what is new about Strategic Management?” and “what is wrong with Strategic Management?” METHOD: To do so, the study was based on a systematic exploratory research and bibliographic review. For each question, a specific set of authors were selected, mainly based on books and papers published in relevant academic journals. RESULTS: A set of theoretical propositions is presented at the end of each analysis, in an attempt to summarize the main findings of this literature review. FINDINGS: Overall, the paper shows that corporate strategy is a complex and intricate issue, in constant evolution but, at the same time, with many problems still to be solved.

Highlights

Corporate strategy is a relevant issue, discussed in Management courses, and in the day-today business
Because of the breadth and volume of these studies, it is difficult for students, practitioners and researchers to have an aggregate perspective about the theme
Two trade-offs were emphasized in the literature: automatic implementation versus adaptation, and needs of the company versus constraints of the environment

Summary

Introduction

Corporate strategy is a relevant issue, discussed in Management courses, and in the day-today business. Part of the bibliography and some aspects of the design of the paper were based on notes and materials produced by the author, while he was a student of the disciplines Strategy & Planning and Fundamentals of Strategic Thinking, offered, respectively, by the School of Applied Sciences of the State University of Campinas - Unicamp (in 2011) and by the Coppead Graduate School of Business of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ (in 2015) This approach was chosen because those disciplines covered the majority of classic authors in the field of Strategy, as well as important recent theories on the field. The theoretical relevance of the paper is threefold It brings a conjoint analysis of classic issues for Strategy, as proposed by Porter (1987), Mintzberg (1987) and Barney (1986), with the discussion of more recent issues, such as the approaches of scenario planning (Shoemaker, 1995) and acknowledged strategic management tools. Some concluding remarks are presented in order to close the discussion

What is Strategy about?

Who shapes the Strategy?

What is new about Strategic Management?

What is wrong with Strategic Management?

Conclusion