When is the classical approach to strategy the right choice for your company?

In their book, Your Strategy Needs a Strategy, Martin Reeves and his co-authors,1 emphasized the importance of the classical approach to strategy for established and larger companies. A great summary of their work can be found in the Harvard Business Review2 or in the Boston Consulting Group publications.3

In today’s article I will share a brief introduction to the classical approach to strategy and show when you should deploy this strategy. 

Overview

  • What is a classical approach to strategy?
  • When should you use the classical approach to strategy?
  • How can you use this strategy successfully?
  • ⇒ Summary

What is the classical approach to strategy?

  • The classical approach to strategy focuses on the company´s sustainable competitive advantage.
  • Because the company cannot change their environment, they seek to position themselves optimally within this environment.
  • Such positioning can be based on superior size, differentiation, or capabilities.

When should you use the classical approach?

  • You should use this strategy when your company has an advantaged in attractive markets and wants to win by striving to position your company optimally.

Ask yourself:

  • Does your company has a sustainable competitive advantage? 
  • Is the environment stable and sustainable? 

If so, you should consider to use the classical approach to strategy.

How can you use the strategy successfully?

  • You start to analyze the attractiveness of the market and your company´s competitiveness in this market.
  • Then you construct a plan and you execute the plan rigorously until you win.
  • In short: Analyze – Plan – Execute

Summary

  • Key Point #1: Your company can win with a classical approach by striving to position themselves optimally in attractive markets.
  • Key Point #2: Advantage is based on superior scale, differentiation or superior capabilities.

Supporting you

I´m available to support you through this difficult time by re-imagine your business. We will determine if the the classical approach to strategy is the right strategy for your company. If not, we will explore what strategy from the strategy palette will help you to become more successful in your chosen market segment.

Contact me for a complimentary 30-minute strategy session:

https://nextlevelcoach.as.me/schedule.php

Coming up next month

In my next blog post, I´ll share how to use the adaptive strategy approach.

Stay tuned!

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  1. Martin Reeves, Knut Haanes, Janme Jaya Sinha, “Your strategy needs a strategy, how to choose and execute  the right approach”, Harvard Business Review, 2015.
  2. https://hbr.org/2015/06/navigating-the-dozens-of-different-strategy-options
  3. https://www.bcg.com/publications/collections/your-strategy-needs-strategy/classical

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