From Strategy to Strategy Development: From Understanding to Process

tl;dr

• Strategy is understanding — frameworks, principles, mental models. Strategy development is the process that translates this understanding into concrete goals, actions and resource decisions.
• Without a structured development process, strategy knowledge remains a statement of intent — companies know what strategy is, but not how to formulate their own.
• The gap between “understanding strategy” and “doing strategy” is where most companies fail — not from ignorance, but from a lack of process.

Why Understanding Strategy Is Necessary but Not Sufficient

Understanding strategy is not the same as doing strategy. A CEO who knows Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT analysis and the BCG matrix does not yet have a corporate strategy — just as a medical student who knows anatomy cannot yet perform surgery. Understanding strategic concepts — what strategy is, which types exist, which frameworks have proven effective — forms the necessary foundation. But a foundation is not a result.

Henry Mintzberg distinguishes between strategic thinking and strategic planning in “The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning” (1994): “Strategic thinking is synthesis — the creative combination of intuition and analysis. Strategic planning is analysis — the systematic decomposition into steps.” Both need each other, but the transition from thinking to planning — from understanding to process — is the critical step that many companies never take.

The Transition: From Understanding to Action

The transition from strategy to strategy development occurs in 3 steps:

Step 1: From concepts to questions. Strategy knowledge becomes operationally effective only when translated into questions. “I know Porter’s Five Forces” becomes “How attractive is our industry, actually?” “I understand SWOT” becomes “What are our 3 decisive strengths — and against which external risk are they indefensible?”

Step 2: From questions to analyses. The right questions require the right analytical methods. A market entry question requires PESTEL and Five Forces. A positioning question requires benchmarking and competitive analysis. The method follows the question — not the other way around.

Step 3: From analyses to decisions. Analyses generate data. Strategy development converts data into options, evaluates options against strategic goals and produces a decision with resource allocation and timeline. Without this step, analysis remains an academic exercise.

In practice, companies most often stall between steps 2 and 3 — they analyze thoroughly but fail to translate findings into decisions. The reason: analysis is comfortable (collecting data carries no risk); decision-making is uncomfortable (every strategic decision excludes alternatives).

How Strategy Development Operationalizes the Concept

Strategy development is the structured process that converts abstract strategy into operational reality. The strategy process typically comprises 5 phases: strategic analysis, option generation, evaluation and decision, implementation planning and strategic controlling.

What distinguishes this process from mere strategy knowledge: it creates commitment. A strategy that is discussed within the leadership team but never formalized does not exist. Only the development process — with documented decisions, allocated resources and defined milestones — makes strategy real.

A mid-sized software company (120 employees, EUR 18M revenue) understood its market environment: platform economy, API-first, modular architectures. The executives read the relevant literature and attended conferences. What was missing: a structured process that turned this understanding into a decision — platform or product? International or DACH-focused? The strategy consulting engagement installed an 8-week development process that resulted in the decision for a DACH-focused API platform — with 40% revenue growth the following year.

The Gap Between Knowledge and Action

The gap between strategy understanding and strategy practice has 3 causes:

1. Complexity aversion. Strategic decisions are complex — they involve multiple stakeholders, uncertain future scenarios and irreversible resource commitments. The result: companies remain stuck in the analysis phase, because analysis is risk-free and decision-making is not.

2. Process poverty. Many companies have no defined strategy process — no fixed schedules, no responsibilities, no templates. Strategy work then happens ad hoc: at the offsite, on a flight, or not at all.

3. Execution gap. Even when a strategy is formulated, the mechanism to translate it into operational actions is missing. McKinsey reports that 70% of strategic initiatives fail not because of the strategy, but because of execution. A strategy workshop without an implementation plan is an expensive brainstorming session.

Conclusion

Understanding strategy is the foundation. Strategy development is the practice. The transition from understanding to process — from concepts to questions, from questions to analyses, from analyses to decisions — is where strategic knowledge generates impact. Without this transition, strategy remains a statement of intent.

The next step? Check whether your company has a defined strategy process — with responsibilities, timelines and decision mechanisms. If not, start there.

Further reading:

• Strategy Development: The Complete Process
• Strategy Consulting: When External Support Makes Sense
• Strategy Process: Phases and Tools

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Sources

• Mintzberg, Henry: The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. Free Press, 1994.
• Grant, Robert M.: Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 11th edition, Wiley, 2021.
• Porter, Michael E.: Competitive Strategy. Free Press, 1980.