Tracking Strategies

There is a great deal of practice, discussion, and publication about strategy, but surprisingly little investigation of the processes by which strategies actually form in organizations. This book reports the results of Henry Mintzberg's investigation about this that he has conducted over several decades.

Defining realized strategy — the strategy an organization has actually pursued — as a pattern in a stream of actions, this investigation was able to track strategies in organizations over long periods of time, usually three or four decades, and in one case, a century and a half. This meant the patterns by which strategies form and change in organizations, the interplay of 'deliberate' with 'emergent' strategies, and the relationship between leadership, organization, and environment in the strategy formation process, could be revealed.

An introductory chapter considers the term strategy, and the various ways it has been and can be used, and then introduces the studies. These are reported in the next ten chapters, with descriptions of what the strategies were, how they formed over time, and how they combined to establish periods in the history of the organization.

These studies range across business (six studies), government (two studies), an architectural firm, and a university, as well as one professor in that university. They include U.S. strategy in Vietnam (1950-1973), Volkswagenwerk (1937-1972), and the National Film Board of Canada (1939-1975).

The final chapter, entitled 'Toward a General Theory of Strategy Formation', weaves these findings together in two themes. First is strategy formation in different forms of organization: Strategic Planning in the Machine Organization, Strategic Visioning in the Entrepreneurial Organization, Strategic Learning in the Adhocracy Organization, and Strategic Venturing in the Professional Organization. The second theme considers stages in the formation of strategies, from Initiation through Development to Renewal.

1. Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent
2. Patterns in Strategy Formation: Wolkswagenwerk, 1937-72 and US Strategy in Vietnam, 1950-73
   Henry Mintzberg
3. Tracking Strategies in an Entrepreneurial Firm: Steinberg Inc., 1917-75
   Henry Mintzberg and James A. Waters
4. Strategy Formation in an Adhocracy: National Film Board of Canada, 1939-75
   Henry Mintzberg and Alexandra McHugh
5. Into the Mind of the Strategist: Strategy Formation in Canadian Lady, 1939-75
   Henry Mintzberg and James A. Waters
6. Does Planning Impede Strategic Planning?: Tracking the Strategies of Air Canada, 1937-76
   Henry Mintzberg, J. Pierre Brunet, and James A. Waters
7. Tracking Strategies in the Birthplace of Canadian Tycoons: The Sherbrooke Record, 1946-76
   Henry Mintzberg, William D. Taylor, and James A. Waters
8. Mirroring Canadian Industrial Policy: Strategy Formation at Dominion Textile, 1873-1990
   Barbara Austin and Henry Mintzberg
9. Strategy of Design: A Study of 'Architects in Copartnership', 1953-78
   Henry Mintzberg, Suzanne Otis, Jamal Shamsie, and James A. Waters
10. Strategic Management Upside Down: Tracking Strategies at McGill University, 1829-1980
    Henry Mintzberg and Jan Rose
11. The Illusive Strategy: Tracking the Strategies of a Strategy Researcher, 1967-91
    Henry Mintzberg
12. Toward a General Theory of Strategy Formation

• Appendix: Steps in Research on Strategic Formation

If you are a Mintzberg fan, you'll love this!

If you're not, this is the driest, most boring book that you could probably lay your hands on.

I'm a Mintzberg fan, but even I have to admit that it is hard work getting through it, as it is from time to time mind-numbing boring. An interesting conclusion and a description of his way through it all, partly makes up for it, but this is not for your average reader/strategist.