What is "a strategy"?

A strategy is a plan with an organizing principle behind it.

A strategy is a set of measurable actions to achieve a specific goal. A tactic is a done/not done task to help complete the strategy. For example, the goal may be increase sales by 5%. Strategies might be: Increase sales of product x by 10%. and Increase cold calls by 20%. Tactics might be: hire two new salepersons or Find and purchase the best sales training video for our company. Most often people confuse the tactics with the strategy. If you can measure it on a chart (how much has sales gone up?) it is probably a strategy. If you can only answer yes or no (did you buy that training video yet?) It is just a tactic. And most people don't do enough measuring to write meaningful integrated strategies. G

I think of it this way: a tactic is a tiny plan in the form of an if-then pair: "if sales go down, lower the price". A strategy is a collection of tactics that are meant to work coherently together to cover a bunch of eventualities. So a strategy could consist of a whole bunch of alternatives to what might happen in the first "if" (if sales go up, we do this; but if instead sales go down, we do that), or later choices that happen after the "then" (if sales go down, lower the price; then if they start buying, we'll use the profits to add sparkly paint to increase sales even more), or some combination of both.

I always understand it to mean, like, an action plan to solve some problem or obtain some end. So this is more the latter ("tactics," as you put it) than former ("philosophy"). But I don't see why a strategy couldn't be at a higher level of generality.

Former strategy consultant here. I would recommend A. G. Lafley's book "Playing to Win." At the heart of it, strategy is about making choices. What will the organization do, and, just as importantly, what will the organization NOT do. And, how do these choices work together and allow the organization achieve what it wants to achieve (e.g., faster than market growth, entry into new markets, profitability)? Organizations are overwhelmed by different options -- should they acquire this company or another company, should they invest in a new warehouse or outsource distribution, should they invest in a sales force or work through distributors, should they fund R&D for X new widget or Y new widget? A clearly and simply articulated strategy helps leaders, managers and employees easily filter which of those options that they face on a monthly basis the ones that will ultimately propel the entire organization forward. A company without a strategy (or one that's badly communicated) will end up having different people in different departments make conflicting but well-intentioned choices. For instance, if the declared company strategy is to invest in original clothing designs for the high end consumer market, with an in-house end to end manufacturing to distribution system...... then, leaders and employees know NOT to explore ways to outsource manufacturing, know NOT to create cheaper lines of clothing, know NOT to penny-and-dime the marketing budget, etc. etc. But, imagine if no one knows what the company strategy is except to increase revenues and improve profitability --- then, it means everyone is exploring options to outsource (b/c it's more profitable) or exploring options to move to the low end market (b/c it's more revenue, but would impact brand perception), etc. etc. Almost any viable business idea can be proven viable.... but, a strategy helps people understand the "sandbox" of what are acceptable viable business ideas for their particular organization. Creating the strategy does take a lot of work to evaluate what are those choices the organization should make based on opportunity / capability assessment, but the analysis is NOT a strategy itself. The strategy is the set of choices of what the organization will do for an extended period of time that is then communicated to the rest of the organization to operationalize.

I disagree that a strategy needs to be measurable- rather it needs to be actionable. For instance, Apple saw the threat to their iTunes ecosystem from streaming services like Spotify. So they came up with a strategy to acquire another existing service and fold it into the Apple umbrella. Thus came the acquisition of Beats and the rebranding of their music service as Apple Music.

[Strategy] is a grand-sounding word, and it is frequently misused by laymen as a synonym for tactics. In fact, strategy has a very different and quite simple meaning that flows from just one short set of questions: Who are we, and what are we ultimately trying to do here? How will we do it, and what resources and means will we employ in doing it? The four answers give rise to one's strategy.-- Ricks, Thomas E. 2006. Fiasco: the American military adventure in Iraq. p 127.

If you ask a dozen people to define "strategy" you'll probably get at least a half-dozen distinct answers, especially if they try to differentiate strategy and tactics, but all of them will involve a plan aimed at achieving a known goal. Whether it's a sweeping high-level plan that doesn't care about the details, or something very granular and specific will vary with individual usage.

To me, giving a "strategy" is offering a possible solution and listing the steps to achieving it. Yup. Should probably also include a couple of contingent responses in case, for example, X goes wrong or Y competitor tries to offer a competing product / service. I would not think that offering "your underlying philosophy about" something really constitutes a strategy in most cases. However, the level of detail expected is going to vary a whole lot on the specifics of the situation. "Come up with a strategy for how to design and manufacture this ASIC" is a hugely different task that "come up with a strategy for our sales pitch to Mr. Smith's company." Maybe you can email the mods and provide a little detail about what industry you're in and/or what your role is at work?