People with major contributions

• Alfred D Chandler (1962)

  Chandler analysed the dynamic relationships between business environment, organisations and strategy. While studying the organisational change in the US, Chandler defined strategy as: “The determination of the basic long term-goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of the courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals.”
• Kenneth Andrews (1965)

  is known for being a part of the group of professors who contributed in developing the subject of Business Policy. He defined strategy as: “The pattern of objectives, purpose, goals, and the major policies and plans for achieving these goals stated in such a way so as to define what business the company is in or is to be and the kind of company it is or is to be.”
• Igor Ansoff (1965)


  Ansoff explained corporate strategy as: “The common thread among the organisation’s activites and product-markets… that defines the essential nature of business that the organisation was or planned to be in future.”
• William F Glueck (1972)


  Glueck discussed strategy as “a unified, comprehensive and integrated plan designed to assure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved.” He emphasised on three terms namely unified, comprehensive and integrated to describe a plan. Where ‘Unified’ refers to connecting all the divisions of an enterprise with one another; ‘comprehensive’ means including all the critical aspects, and ‘integrated’ means making all components of the plan assimilate with one another.
• Igor Ansoff (1984)


  Ansoff, while contributing to the field of strategic management in 1984, again explained corporate strategy as: “a set of decision-making rules for the guidance of organisational behaviour.”
• Henry Mintzberg (1987) 


  Mintzberg opined that strategies not necessarily arise from logical planning but may also result from what is unplanned. He defines strategy as: “a pattern in a stream of decisions and actions.” He also distinguished between intended and emergent strategies where intended strategies referred to the plans that managers develop and emergent strategies relate to the activities that actually happen. Therefore, an organisation may begin with a planned and calculated design of strategy and result in another strategy that is in reality realised.
• Michael E Porter (1996)


  The contributions of Porter in the conceptualisation of strategy are valuable. He is known for his ideas on competitive advantage, five forces model, generic strategies and value chain. He discussed strategy as the locus of general management and describes it as “developing and communicating the company’s unique position, making trade-offs, and forging fit among activities.”