Playing to win

If you are looking for a book on strategy that both has a good and manageable framework for the strategy process and at the same time includes a large (American) case, then this book is your go-to.

The book is published by Harvard Business Review Press, so the writing craft is simply spot on! At the same time, the running case is one of the really big American companies, namely Procter & Gamble, so it makes for exciting and inspiring reading.

The starting point is to view strategy as a deliberate set of choices and not, as it is often seen, as abstract visions or annual plans. The authors argue that good strategies are created through clear priorities about where you want to play and how you want to win – rather than trying to be everything to everyone. In this way the book also uses, metaphorically, an almost game-strategic understanding of strategy. The book introduces five interconnected strategic choices: the company's aspiration to win, the choice of markets and customers, how you create a unique position, which capabilities are required, and which management systems should support the strategy. The book thereby builds on Roger Martin's point that, in many organisations, you fall into the "execution trap" because those who devise the strategy and those who carry it out become separated.

The book argues that, by means of a cascade of questions down through the management chain, you can make sure that you do not separate head (top management's interpretation of the strategy) and body (employees' concrete behaviour in everyday life).