Project Strategy Management

Strategy

can be considered in terms of

content

and

process

. The content refers to both

competitive priorities

(performance-related macroobjectives that can become Critical Success Factors — CSF) and the

interventions

made to achieve them. The latter can deal with

technological

levers (relative to the product/process and to information/communication), internal

organisational

choices and those to interface with suppliers/customers, and

managerial

levers (for example, Just-in-Time, Total Quality Management and Concurrent Engineering). The process, on the other hand, refers to the

formulation

and

implementation

of the strategy.

Traditionally, corporate strategy relies on three options: cost leadership, differentiation and segmentation (Porter, 1980). The current trend of overcoming performance trade-offs questions this distinction (Filippini et al., 1998): the aim is the joint achievement of multiple performances, giving them different importance throughout time (the

sand-cone model

– Ferdows and De Meyer, 1990).

Nowadays, strategy is mostly about defining priorities, which are not standard, but more of an

order-winning

and

qualifying

type (Hill, 1989): the former ones make it possible to steal customers from the competitors; the latter simply allow the company to enter into a certain competitive arena. Both are equally important, and when analysing the scenario, a company must decide whether to invest in one or the other type of strategy.