Corporate Strategy Quotes
Top 40 Corporate Strategy Quotes
No 1 (Best quote!)
Success is 5% strategy, 95% execution [i.e. implementation].
- Percy Barnevik, boss of the Swedish engineering company, ABB 1988-2002, pictured right.
In Who Says Elephants Can’t
Dance (2002) Lou Gerstner, IBM's ex-boss, pictured right, agrees:
Execution is really the critical part of a successful strategy
No 2
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results,
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British
prime minister, pictured right.
In Management: Tasks,
Responsibilities, Practices (1973), Peter
Drucker, pictured right, says:
The aim of strategic planning is action now.
No 3
Know the enemy and know yourself.
-Sun Tzu (lived around 500 BC) ,Chinese general,
pictured right.
He also says:
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics before strategy is the noise before
defeat.
No 4
Strategy is a human construction; it must in the long run be responsive to human needs.
- Kenneth Andrews, pictured right, in The Concept of
Corporate Strategy (1971)
No 5
Take risks. Ask big questions. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; if you don’t make mistakes, you’re not reaching
far enough.
- David Packard (1912-96),
co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, pictured right.
No 6
We must take things as we find them, and not as we wish them to be.
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French
leader, pictured right.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955),
German-born American scientist, pictured right. said something similar:
A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
No 7
The genesis of the strategy process must be a purposely created misfit between where the firm is and where it
wants to be.
- Gary Hamel, pictured right above, and
C. K. Prahalad, pictured right, Competing for the Future (1996)
No 8
Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.
- Richard Branson (1950- ),
founder of the British company, Virgin, pictured right.
Some further advice on opportunities:
Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity
- Michael Dell (1965- ), founder of
Dell computers, pictured right.
Don’t sit down and wait for opportunities to come. Get up and make them!
- Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), African
American businesswoman, pictured right.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
- Francis Bacon (1561- 1626),
English philosopher, pictured right.
No 9
Those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle.
- Sun Tzu (lived around 500 BC) ,Chinese general,
pictured right.
No 10
To pursue the unattainable is insanity.
- Marcus Aurelius (121-180),
Roman emperor and philosopher, pictured right.
No 11
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), American
president, pictured right.
No 12
Study the past if you would divine the future.
- Confucius (551- 479 BC), Chinese
philosopher, pictured right.
The American revolutionary, Patrick Henry (1736-99),, pictured right. agrees:
I know of no way of judging of the future, but by the past
But Edmund Burke (1729-97)
Irish-born British philosopher and politician, pictured right. disagrees:
You can never plan the future by the past
No 13
Many of the great strategies are simply great visions.
- Henry Mintzberg, pictured right, The Rise and Fall of
Strategic Planning (1994)
No14
I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
- Abraham Lincoln (1809–65), American
president, pictured right.
No 15
All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgements of probabilities, and not on certainties.
- William (Bill)
Hewlett (1919-2001), co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, pictured right.
No 16
When in doubt what should be done, do nothing.
- William Lamb, Lord Melbourne (1779–1848) British prime minister, pictured right.
No 17
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- Alexander Pope (1688–1744), English poet, pictured right.
No 18
When we build, let us think that we build for ever.
- John Ruskin (1819–1900) English art
writer and philosopher, pictured right.
No 19
Our virtues lie in th’ interpretation of the time,
(Aufidius in Corialanus)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right
No 20
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe,
- Abraham Lincoln 1809–65, American
president, pictured right.
No 21
She did not cease to wonder at the persistence of the unforeseen,
(about Elizabeth-Jane in The Mayor of
Casterbridge, 1886)
- Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), pictured right, English writer.
No 22
The reasonable is that which is viable.
(from Sophie’s World, 1991)
- Jostein Gaarder (1952- ), Norwegian writer, pictured right,
No 23
When the facts change, I change my mind.
- John Maynard
Keynes (1883-1946), English economist, pictured right.
No 24
Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating
uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.
- W. Chan Kim, pictured right, and
Renée Mauborgne, pictured right below,
Blue Ocean
Strategy (2005)
In the book they also say:
The creation of blue oceans is about driving costs down while simultaneously driving value up for buyers.
No 25
You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds. Lay first the foundation of humility,
- St. Augustine (354-430),
Algerian philosopher, pictured right.
No 26
Our goals can only be reached through the vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe and upon which
we must vigorously act.
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish
artist, pictured right.
No 27
No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
- Colin Powell (1937- ), American general and Secretary of State, pictured right.
No 28
The whole is worth more than the sum of the parts,
- Aristotle (384-322 BC),
Greek philosopher, pictured right.
No 29
In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969),
American president, pictured right.
No 30
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
- Friedrich Engels (1820-95), pictured right, co-author of The Communist Manifesto with
Karl Marx .
No 31
Long range planning should prevent managers from...dedicating their resources and energies to the defence of
yesterday.
- Peter Drucker, pictured right, in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities,
Practices (1973).
No 32
Readiness is all.
(Hamlet in Hamlet)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right.
No 33
Strategy is a deliberate search for a plan of action that will develop a business's competitive advantage and
compound it.
- Bruce D. Henderson (1915-92), founder of the management consultants, the Boston
Consulting Group, pictured right.
John Kay, pictured right, .in Foundations of Corporate Success (1993)
defines strategy like this:
Corporate strategy is concerned with matching markets to distinctive capabilities
No 34
Successful strategy is based upon an understanding of customers' needs,
- Kenichi Ohmae (1943- ), Japanese management writer and
consultant, pictured right..
No 35
To move swiftly, strike vigorously and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.
- Thomas Stonewall
Jackson (1824-63), pictured right, American Civil War general.
No 36
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), pictured
right, French leader.
No 37
In the long run... we are all dead.
- John Maynard
Keynes (1883-1946), English economist, pictured right.
No 38
A confused army leads to another’s victory
-Sun Tzu (lived around 500 BC) ,Chinese general,
pictured right.
No 39
A battle is won by those who firmly resolve to win it!
(Prince Andrei in War and Peace)
- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), pictured right, Russian writer
No 40
We've got to figure out what we're going to do before we worry how we're going to do it.
John F. Kennedy ,pictured right (in the 2000
film Thirteen Days).
|