Critically Review Strategy Process, Context and Content in BUS3002

This essay critically reviews the importance of strategy process and strategy context in determining strategy content. It begins by defining strategy and its various levels, emphasizing the significance of both deliberate and emergent strategies, with examples like Apple and Samsung. The essay then delves into the strategy process, outlining its four key aspects (identifying, conceiving, diagnosing, and realizing) and highlighting the role of strategy context, including internal and external analyses (PESTEL, SWOT). It uses examples like Unilever and Nokia to illustrate how understanding the environment is crucial for strategic success. Finally, it discusses strategy content, emphasizing its role in engaging audiences and achieving organizational growth, using Coca-Cola as an example. The essay concludes by underscoring the interconnectedness of strategy process, context, and content, asserting that all three are crucial for effective strategic management.

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Debates in Strategic Management 1
“Importance of strategy process and strategy context in determining strategy content”
In the current environment, business process have started changing their face rapidly with an aim
to increase the productivity of the company and manage the competitive of business functions of
a regular basis. It is important for the business to invest time in monitoring the activities initiated
by the management in the external market. The purpose of the essay is to enlighten the reader
about the importance of strategy process and strategy context in determining strong strategy
content for an organization. These three characteristics are present in all the strategies defined by
the companies in the environment to deal with everyday problematic situation(Balogun, et. al.,
2014). This essay includes a critical evaluation of the three aspect mentioned and viewpoint of
different people on the process. Few examples are also being discussed in the case in order to
support the theories and given arguments. More details about the essay are discussed below:
Strategy is defined as the determination of regular long term objectives of the company and
implementation of various course of actions by allocation of resources present with the company.
Strategy is a distinctive action that is defined by the business to achieve particular objective in
the society. The end result of every strategy is completion of some work by the company.
Nowaday, there are many diversifies strategies defined by the company to achieve the objectives
in the market. These strategies vary on the basis of objective that the company wants to achieve.
Further, strategy is be regarded as a long term direction that is defined by the business process to
initiate the day to day business activities (Lasserre 2017). Strategy is followed at many levels in
the company to make sure that all the work is implemented according to the prescribed
requirement. A strategy is dispersed into various small scale actions and procedures that are
completed to activate the strategy initiated. Successful strategies help the companies to
successfully complete their targets in the environment.
Companies like, Tesco, Pepsi, Qantas, Tesla etc. have reached to such position in the market
using a strategy that is differential and helps them to win from the competitors. These strategies
only help the company to earn greater revenue from the market, and these strategies only make
the companies face failure in the target market. Strategies are further segregated into deliberate
and emergent on the basis of changing business environment. Further, the fact should be noted
that strategies can be changed suddenly on the basis of external environmental changes or
internal changes as well (Nisbet, and Shucksmith 2017). Introduction of Apple iPod in the year

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2001 over Sony’s Walkman is the biggest example of deliberate and emergent strategies. Win of
Samsung over Nokia can also be considered as the same case. There is an interesting fact to note,
that most of the business leaders believes that having a set of leadership strategies at the starting
point is far more better than having consistent development plan as a strategy. Some business
objectives require strategic implementation at the initial level only while other objectives need
strategies with the emergence of the organization with time. Companies like Coca-Cola do not
hold a strategic consistent plan for the business as they believe in going with the flow. These
companies only believe in focusing on innovation and executing them through their strategies.
So, they initiate strategies on the basis of demand of the customers and innovations present in the
environment (Elmes, and Barry 2017).
Further, strategy process is phase that examines the ways in which strategies are shaped and
applied. A strategy process is divided into four aspects that are, identifying, conceiving,
diagnosing and realising. From the viewpoint of a manager, strategy process helps in monitoring
and evaluating the whole process of the strategy. In 2010, Unilever a FMCG company launched
Sustainable Living Plan to help people improve their lives and grow sales by the end of 2020.
This strategy is spread across 190 countries worldwide where the employees of the company are
continually working to initiate the objective. In today’s society, strategy majorly includes set of
various decisions made by the management in an organization. Most of the successful companies
believe in taking care of the environmental values so as to operate the business effortlessly
internally as well as externally (Madsen, and Walker 2015).
Various set of circumstances are determined under strategy content and strategy process that are
called strategy context. Strategy context refers to functioning of both internal and external
process of organization. PESTEL, Porter’s five forces etc. are some of the strategic analysis that
helps the company to attain information about the external environment. SWOT is an internal
and external analysis that evaluates both internal and external information for the company.
Internal analysis evaluates culture, human resource management, compensation etc. details for
the company whereas external analysis evaluates the industry as well as environmental changes
(Mahadevan, and Scott, Cisco Technology Inc, 2017). Strategy process is the technique that
evaluate environment and initiate changes in the company. Strategy failure can be further
referred in two cases that do, not understand the current environment and incapacity to make

Debates in Strategic Management 3
changes in the external environment and the internal environment of the company. Many
companies face failure if they do not understand the critical situation or unable to adapt (Luoma
2015). Like, Nokia failed in the current environment because they did not adopt new technology,
along with this, companies like eBay failed in UK because they were not aware of the Chinese
market and the competition present in the market as well. Whereas Unilever succeeded in China
because they already had experience of many low and medium income level countries. So, they
employed same strategy in China that turned out to be good for the company. Thus, it can be said
that Unilever employees the right type of strategy by studying the environment and adding the
China market conditions in the business strategy of the company (de Wit 2015).
Lastly, the final aspect is strategy content that was defined by De Wit & Meyer (2015) as a set of
various combined decisions and choices that help the company to grow in future. The main aim
of strategy content is to create content and then organize it and engage the audience so that get
attracted towards the company. Content strategy is developed using information about the
competitor, customers and the company. This content helps in creating strategy in the
environment (Hansen, and Jacobsen 2016). Companies in the current environment analyse the
environment and then initiate strategies accordingly, like Coca-Cola developed the content about
environment degradation and obesity issues with people. Using such information, the company
then developed strategies that helped them to grow in the market. Further, it is also important for
the companies to deliver right type of content at the right time in order to grow (Hodgkinson, and
Hughes 2014). Content strategy is about the process of delivering of the correct information,
item or process to the intended people of interest in present in the environment about the each
phase of the purchasing procedure. For instance, use of easy and understandable content in
creating a website for the users makes the employees as well as website visitor’s life easy as they
do not face issues in misinterpretation the complex information. Many aircrafts organizations
like, EasyJet, Qantas or Ryanair, provides many picks when booking the flight through their
website: reservations at hotels, vehicle on rent, transport or administrations for parking. It is
nearer to close by saying that advertising is a part of strategy content as it positively as well as
negatively affects the sales margin and productivity of the organization and helps the
management to increase the attention of customer on a daily basis (Coursaris, et. al., 2014).

Debates in Strategic Management 4
Thus, the fact should be noted that strategy context and strategy process are very important for
the business to initiate successfully strategy content. Strategy content is developed using various
information present in the environment. Strategy process and context helps the business in
attaining knowledge about the internal strategy as well as external procedures that further helps
in creating successful strategy content (Mirzaei, and Winroth 2016). Strategy is something that
attracts the customers to purchase the products from the company. Strategy content is developed
on the basis of strategies process and context only. No strategy is efficient if the process and
context do not relate to the internal as well as external business process. Thus, in the limelight of
above mentioned events, the fact should be noted that there is significant relationship between all
the three aspects as they entirely depend on each other.

Debates in Strategic Management 5
References
Balogun, J., Jacobs, C., Jarzabkowski, P., Mantere, S. and Vaara, E., 2014. Placing strategy
discourse in context: Sociomateriality, sensemaking, and power. Journal of Management
Studies, 51(2), pp.175-201.
Coursaris, C.K., van Osch, W., Balogh, B.A. and Quilliam, E.T., 2014. Social media marketing:
Investigating empirical links between purchase involvement, strategy, content, and media type.
In American Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online) (p. 131). American
Academy of Advertising.
de Wit, B., 2015. Strategy Content. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, pp.1-2.
Elmes, M. and Barry, D., 2017. Strategy retold: Toward a narrative view of strategic discourse.
In The Aesthetic Turn in Management (pp. 39-62). Routledge.
Hansen, J.R. and Jacobsen, C.B., 2016. Changing strategy processes and strategy content in
public sector organizations? A longitudinal case study of npm reforms’ influence on strategic
management. British Journal of Management, 27(2), pp.373-389.
Hodgkinson, I. and Hughes, P., 2014. Strategy content and public service provider performance
in the UK: an alternative approach. Public Administration, 92(3), pp.707-726.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Luoma, M.A., 2015. Revisiting the strategy-performance linkage: An application of an
empirically derived typology of strategy content areas. Management Decision, 53(5), pp.1083-
1106.
Madsen, T.L. and Walker, G., 2015. Modern competitive strategy. McGraw Hill.
Mahadevan, P. and Scott, G.C., Cisco Technology Inc, 2017. Reputation-based strategy for
forwarding and responding to interests over a content centric network. U.S. Patent 9,729,616.
Mirzaei, N.E. and Winroth, M., 2016. Strategic consensus on manufacturing strategy
content. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 36(4), pp.429-466.

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Nisbet, J. and Shucksmith, J., 2017. Learning strategies. UK: Routledge.