STRATEGY INTENT

Strategy Intent

Strategy Intent

Executive Summary

This study is a review paper of the article Strategic Intent Written by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad. This paper discusses the process of strategy in a wider sense, theoretical underpinnings and the main strengths and weakness of the article.

Review of the Article

In this paper, we propose a reorientation in the discussion regarding strategic intent in organizations. Strategic intent, defined by Hamel and Prahalad (1989) as “a (sustained) obsession with winning at all levels of the organization”, was originally created as a concept for a managerial audience (Hamel Prahalad, 1989) but the concept has been taken up in academic discourse of organizational strategy (Burgelman, 1996; Lovas & Ghoshal, 2000; Noda & Bower, 1996). The managerial role of strategic intent is to go beyond environment sensitive strategic planning to represent objectives “for which one cannot plan” (Hamel & Prahalad, 1989). As such, strategic intent represents a proactive mode in strategizing, a symbol of the organization's will about the future, which energizes all organizational levels for a collective purpose. Strategic intent reflects the 'corporate context' in which bottomed business ideas are weighed. It directs the accumulation of necessary competencies (Hamel & Prahalad, 1989), giving the intra-organizational evolution processes a common target, “something to 'aim' for”.

This article also discusses the difference between substitute and rival competitors by innovating, apposed to imitating, products or services in existing large company markets. Likewise, new companies attempting to enter a market are faced with the competitor's multiple layers of advantages, expansions across related product segments, and developments of global brand positions. Moreover, the suppliers of a new business should be the existing direct competition. These suppliers have much more bargaining power over the newcomers; however, when the company expands, the partnership will move from the rival to the rival's competitors.

Hamel and Prahalad suggest that strategies, such as Porter's, limit the amount of strategic options management will consider. Companies that make strategies fit into areas, such as these five categories, eventually result in following the leader of the specific industry, which results in competitive suicide for the company. Strategic intent is the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Strategic intent is a useful concept in accounting for purpose and continuity of goals in an organization adapting to internal and external developmental pressures. Yet, extant literature on strategic intent does not account for heterogeneity of goals within an organization. Indeed, there is confusion over who possesses strategic intent. In this paper, we seek to revitalize the concept of strategic intent by exploring its potential as a rhetorical device. Based on philosophical theory of collective agency, we argue that to realize the integrative promise of strategic intent in organizations, achieving coherence between multiple intents is the most viable option. Drawing from rhetorical theories, we investigate the processes involved in diffusing intent and building coherence between multiple intents.

Theoretical Framework

In an attempt to make strategic intent stand on firmer ground, we will first employ the philosophical theory of action to make sense of the possibilities of ...