More from these Authors

• Article | Management Science | October 2018

  Strategy and the Strategist: How it Matters Who Develops the Strategy

  Eric J. Van den Steen

  This paper addresses primarily two questions. First, when (and why) should a company’s strategy be developed by its CEO versus by some outside analyst or other insider? Second, how does strategy interact with vision (in the sense of a strong belief about the right course of action)? The paper studies these questions using a functional definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide other choices.” Among other things, the paper shows that strategy formulation by the CEO leads to both better strategy and better execution, and that a strategist’s vision may improve execution. In the process, the paper also identifies criteria that make a decision strategic and derives explanations why strategies often reflect the background of the strategist.

  Keywords: strategy; strategy and leadership; strategy and execution; Strategy; Leadership;

  Citation:

  Van den Steen, Eric J. "Strategy and the Strategist: How it Matters Who Develops the Strategy." Management Science 64, no. 10 (October 2018): 4533–4551.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2017 (Revised August 2018)

  Digitalization at Siemens

  David J. Collis and Tonia Junker

  The case discusses the digitalization strategy of Siemens AG, a German-based company operating in manufacturing and electronics. The increasing impact of digital technologies on all of its business units had prompted CEO Joe Kaeser and his team to put digitalization at the core of the new corporate strategy, alongside electrification and automation. The challenge was to balance this corporate initiative with the many business units within Siemens, which were used to being independent and had very specific offerings for their clients. For its new analytics platform, Siemens had opted for a push and pull approach to involve business units in its creation, rather than conceptualizing the platform centrally and imposing it on the business units afterwards. The jury was still out on whether this approach would drive digitalization within Siemens fast enough, given the exponential developments in data generation and analytics.

  Keywords: Company management; corporate strategy; competition; information technology; technology networks; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Technology Networks; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry;

  Citation:

  Collis, David J., and Tonia Junker. "Digitalization at Siemens." Harvard Business School Case 717-428, February 2017. (Revised August 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

  Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach

  David Collis and Ashley Hartman

  In 2017 Edward Jones, the largest brokerage firm in the U.S., is deciding whether and how to implement a new "solutions" business model to replace its traditional "product" or "transactional" approach. Many of the required changes appeared to violate some of the tradeoffs that had made the previous approach successful. Was this the right way forward for Edward Jones? Where did this leave the classic strategy with its reliance on the one financial advisor office as the sole channel of distribution?

  Keywords: strategy formulation; strategic change; ＂brokerage industry; ＂solutions approach; strategy implementation; ＂USA,＂; financial services industry; business model innovation; Change; Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States;

  Citation:

  Collis, David, and Ashley Hartman. "Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach." Harvard Business School Case 719-411, August 2018.  View Details

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