Editing Strategy (section)

===Definition===

[[Henry Mintzberg]] described five definitions of strategy in 1998:
* Strategy as plan – a directed course of action to achieve an ''intended'' set of goals; similar to the strategic planning concept;
* Strategy as pattern – a consistent pattern of past behavior, with a strategy ''realized'' over time rather than planned or ''intended''. Where the realized pattern was different from the intent, he referred to the strategy as ''emergent'';
* Strategy as position – locating brands, products, or companies within the market, based on the conceptual framework of consumers or other stakeholders; a strategy determined primarily by factors outside the firm;
* Strategy as ploy – a specific maneuver intended to outwit a competitor; and
* Strategy as perspective – executing strategy based on a "theory of the business" or natural extension of the mindset or ideological perspective of the organization.<ref>Mintzberg, H. Ahlstrand, B. and Lampel, J. ''Strategy Safari : A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management'', The Free Press, New York, 1998.</ref>

Complexity theorists define strategy as the unfolding of the internal and external aspects of the organization that results in actions in a socio-economic context.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stacey|first1=R. D.|title=The science of complexity – an alter-native perspective for strategic change processes |journal=Strategic Management Journal|year=1995|volume=16|issue=6 |pages=477–95|doi=10.1002/smj.4250160606|s2cid=16794111}}</ref><ref name="TerraPassador2016">{{cite journal|last1=Terra|first1=L. A. A.|last2=Passador|first2=J. L.|title=Symbiotic Dynamic: The Strategic Problem from the Perspective of Complexity|year=2016|journal=Systems Research and Behavioral Science|volume=33|issue=2|pages=235–248|doi=10.1002/sres.2379}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Morin|first1=E.|title=Introduction à la pensée complexe|year=2005|publisher=Éditionsdu Seuil|location=Paris}}</ref>