A company's strategy is management's game plan to stake out a market position, conduct its operations, attract and please customers, compete successfully, and achieve organizational objectives.
The central thrust of a company's strategy is undertaking moves to build and strengthen the company's long-term competitive position and financial performance. Ideally, this results in a competitive advantage over rivals that then becomes the company's ticket to above-average profitability.
A company's strategy typically evolves over time, arising from a blend of (1) proactive and deliberate actions on the part of company managers and (2) as-needed emergent reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh market conditions.
Closely related to the concept of strategy is the concept of a company's business model. A business model is management's storyline for how the company's strategy will generate a revenue stream sufficient to cover its cost structure and produce attractive earnings and return on investment.
A winning strategy fits the circumstances of a company's external situation and its internal resource strengths and competitive capabilities, builds competitive advantage, and boosts company performance.
