STRATEGY FORMULATION:

SITUATION ANALYSIS AND

BUSINESS STRATEGY
 Situational Analysis:
SWOT Approach
 Strategy formulation
 concerned with developing a corporation’s mission,
objectives, strategies and policies
 Itbegins with situation analysis.
 Situation analysis
 theprocess of finding a strategic fit between external
opportunities and internal strengths while working around
external and internal weaknesses
 Situational Analysis:
SWOT Approach
 SWOT
 acronym used to describe the particular Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that are potential
strategic factors for a specific company
 Strategy = opportunity/capacity
 Opportunity has no real value unless a company has
the capacity to take advantage of that opportunity.
Criticisms of SWOT analysis
 SWOT analysis, by itself, is not a panacea. SWOT, by
itself, is just a start to a strategic analysis. Some of
the primary criticisms of SWOT are:
 It is simply the opinions of those filling out the boxes.
 Virtually everything that is a strength is also a
weakness.
 Virtually everything that is an opportunity is also a
threat.
 Adding layers of effort does not improve the validity
of the list.
 It generates lengthy lists.
Criticisms of SWOT analysis

 It uses a single point in time approach.

 There is no tie to the view from the customer.
 There is no validated evaluation approach.
Generating a Strategic Factors
Analysis Summary (SFAS) Matrix

 SFAS (Strategic Factors Analysis Summary)

Matrix
 summarizes an organization’s strategic factors by
combining the external factors from the EFAS Table with
the internal factors from the IFAS Table.
Strategic Factor Analysis Summary
(SFAS) Matrix
 Finding a Propitious Niche
 Propitious niche
 One desired outcome of analyzing strategic factors is identifying a
niche where an organization can use its core competencies to take
advantage of a particular market opportunity.
 A niche is a need in the marketplace that is currently unsatisfied.
 The goal of strategic factor analysis is to find a propitious niche—an
extremely favorable niche—that is so well-suited to the firm’s internal
and external environment that other corporations are not likely to challenge
or dislodge it

 Strategic window
 a unique market opportunity that is available for a particular time.
 The first firm through a strategic window can occupy a propitious niche and
discourage competition (if the firm has the required internal strengths).
 Such a niche may also be called a strategic sweet spot.
Review of Mission and Objectives

 A re-examination of an organization’s current

mission and objectives must be made before
alternative strategies can be generated and
evaluated.

 Performance problems can derive from

inappropriate (narrow or too broad) mission
statements and objectives.
 Business Strategies

 Business strategy
 focuses on improving the competitive position of a
company’s or business unit’s products or services within the
specific industry or market segment that the company or
business unit serves
 Business strategy can be competitive and/or cooperative
 Porter’s Competitive Strategies
Competitive strategy raises the following questions:
 Should we compete on the basis of lower cost (and thus
price), or should we differentiate our products or
services on some basis other than cost, such as quality or
service?

 Should we compete head to head with our major

competitors for the biggest but most sought-after share
of the market, or should we focus on a niche in which we
can satisfy a less sought-after but also profitable
segment of the market?
 Porter’s Competitive Strategies

 Michael Porter proposes three “generic” competitive

strategies for outperforming other corporations in a
particular industry: lower cost, differentiation and focus.
 Cost leadership
 ability
of a company or a business unit to design, produce
and market a comparable product more efficiently than its
competitors
 Differentiation
 ability of a company to provide unique and superior value
to the buyer in terms of product quality, special features or
after-sale service
 Porter’s Competitive Strategies
 Focus
 abilityof a company to provide unique and superior value
to a particular buyer group, segment of the market line or
geographic market
 When the lower-cost and differentiation strategies have
a broad mass-market target, they are simply called cost
leadership and differentiation.
 When the lower-cost and differentiation strategies are
focused on a market niche (narrow target), however, they
are called cost focus and differentiation focus.
 Porter’s Competitive Strategies
 Porter proposed that a firm’s competitive advantage in an
industry is determined by its competitive scope—that is, the
breadth of the company’s or business unit’s target market.
 Before using one of the two generic competitive strategies
(lower cost or differentiation), the firm or unit must choose:
 range of product varieties it will produce,
 distribution channels it will employ,

 types of buyers it will serve,

 geographic areas in which it will sell, and

 array of related industries in which it will also compete.

 Porter’s Competitive Strategies
 Cost leadership
 lower-cost competitive strategy that aims at the broad
mass market and requires “aggressive construction of
efficient-scale facilities, vigorous pursuit of cost reductions
from experience, tight cost and overhead control,
avoidance of marginal customer accounts, and cost
minimization”

 Provides a defense against rivals

 Provides a barrier to entry
 Generates increased market share
Porter’s Competitive Strategies
 Differentiation
 involvesthe creation of a product or service that is
perceived throughout the industry as unique.
 can be associated with design, brand image,
technology, features, dealer network or customer
service

 Lowers customers sensitivity to price

 Increases buyer loyalty
 Can generate higher profits
Porter’s Competitive Strategies
 Cost focus
 low-cost competitive strategy that focuses on a
particular buyer group or geographic market and
attempts to serve only this niche to the exclusion of
others
 Differentiation focus
 concentrates on a particular buyer group, product line
segment or geographic market to serve the needs of a
narrow strategic market more effectively than its
competitors
 Risks in Competitive Strategies

 No one competitive strategy is guaranteed to

achieve success.
 For example, a company following a differentiation
strategy must ensure that the higher price it charges
for its higher quality is not too far above the price of
the competition, otherwise customers will not see the
extra quality as worth the extra cost.
 Issues in Competitive Strategies

 A company or business unit must achieve one of the

previously mentioned generic competitive strategies.

 Otherwise, the company or business unit is stuck in

the middle.

 Stuck in the middle

 when a company has no competitive advantage and is doomed
to below-average performance.
 Issues in Competitive Strategies

 Successful entrepreneurial ventures follow focus

strategies.
 They differentiate their product or service from those
of others by focusing on customer wants in a segment
of the market, thereby achieving a dominant share of
that part of the market.
Industry Structure and
Competitive Strategy
 Fragmented industry
 many small- and medium-size companies compete for
relatively small shares of the total market
 Products are typically in early stages of product
life cycle
 Focus strategies are used
 Industry Structure and
Competitive Strategy
 As an industry matures, fragmentation is
overcome, and the industry tends to become a
consolidated industry.

 Consolidated industry
 dominationby a few large companies
 premium on a firm’s ability to achieve cost leadership
Hyper-Competition and Competitive
Advantage Sustainability
 Competitive advantage in a hyper-competitive
market is characterized by a continuous series of
multiple short-term initiatives that replace current
products with new products before competitors can
do so.
Hyper-Competition and Competitive
Advantage Sustainability
 Sustained competitive advantage is increasingly a
matter not of a single advantage maintained over
time, but more a matter of sequencing advantages
over time.
Cooperative Strategies

 Cooperative strategies
 used to gain a competitive advantage within an
industry by working with other firms
 The two general types of cooperative strategies are
collusion and strategic alliances.
Cooperative Strategies
 Collusion
 the active cooperation of firms within an industry to
reduce output and raise prices to avoid economic law
of supply and demand
 Collusion may be explicit or tacit
 Cooperative Strategies
 Strategic alliances
a long-term cooperative arrangement between two or
more independent firms or business units that engage in
business activities for mutual economic gain
 Cooperative arrangements fall along a continuum from
weak and distant to strong and close.
Reasons to Form an Alliance

Obtain or learn new capabilities

Obtain access to specific markets

Reduce financial risk

Reduce political risk

Types of Alliances

 Mutual service consortium

 partnership of similar companies in similar industries
that pool their resources to gain a benefit that is too
expensive to develop alone, such as access to
advanced technology
Types of Alliances

 Joint venture
 cooperative business activity, formed by two or more
separate organizations for strategic purposes, that
creates an independent business entity and allocates
ownership, operational responsibilities and financial
risks and rewards to each member, while preserving
their separate identity/autonomy
Types of Alliances

 Licensing arrangement
 agreement in which the licensing firm grants rights to
another firm in another country or market to produce
and/or sell a product
Types of Alliances

 Value-chain partnership
a strong and close alliance in which one company or
unit forms a long-term arrangement with a key supplier
or distributor for mutual advantage
 Strategic Alliance Success Factors
Strategic
alliance
success
factors
 Chapter end questions

 1. Is it possible for a company or business unit to

follow a cost leadership strategy and a
differentiation strategy simultaneously? Why or why
not?
 2. Is it possible for a company to have a sustainable
competitive advantage when its industry becomes
hypercompetitive?
 In class exercise
 Small- Group Exercise: How to Keep the Salsa Hot
 Break up into groups of three to five people, and discuss the following
scenario. Appoint one group member as spokesperson for the group, who will
communicate your findings to the class when called upon to do so by the
instructor.
 You are the managers of a company that has pioneered a new kind of salsa
for chicken that has taken the market by storm. The salsa’s differentiated
appeal has been based on a unique combination of spices and packaging
that has allowed you to charge a premium price. Within the last 3 years, your
salsa has achieved a national reputation, and now major food companies,
seeing the potential of this market segment, are beginning to introduce salsas
of their own, imitating your product.
 1. Describe the generic business- level strategy you are pursuing.
 2. Describe the industry environment in which you are competing.
 3. What kinds of competitive tactics and maneuvers could you adopt to
protect your generic strategy in this kind of environment?
 4. What do you think is the best strategy for you to pursue in this situation?
 36

STRATEGY FORMULATION:
CORPORATE STRATEGY
 Corporate Strategy
37

 Corporate strategy
 thechoice of direction of the firm as a whole and the
management of its business or product portfolio
 Corporate Strategy
38

 Corporate strategy addresses three key issues facing the

corporation as a whole:
 Directional strategy
 the firm’s overall orientation toward growth, stability or
retrenchment
 Portfolio analysis
 industries or markets in which the firm competes through its
products and business units
 Parenting strategy
 the manner in which management coordinates activities and
transfers resources and cultivates capabilities among product
lines and business units
 Corporate Directional Strategies
39

 Every corporation must decide its orientation toward growth

by asking the following three questions:
 1. Should we expand, cut back, or continue our operations
unchanged?
 2. Should we concentrate our activities within our current industry,
or should we diversify into other industries?
 3. If we want to grow and expand nationally and/or globally,
should we do so through internal development or through
external acquisitions, mergers, or strategic alliances?
 Corporate Directional Strategies
40
 Directional Strategy
41

 Growth strategies
 expand the company’s activities
 Stability strategies
 make no change to the company’s current activities
 Retrenchment strategies
 reduce the company’s level of activities
 Growth Strategies
42

 A corporation can grow internally by expanding its

operations both globally and domestically, or it can
grow externally through mergers, acquisitions, and
strategic alliances.
 Merger
a transaction involving two or more corporations in which
stock is exchanged but in which only one corporation
survives

 Acquisition
 100% purchase of another company
 Concentration Strategies
43

 The two basic growth strategies are concentration on the

current product line(s) in one industry and diversification
into other product lines in other industries.

 If a company’s current product lines have real growth

potential, concentration of resources on those product
lines makes sense as a strategy for growth.

 The two basic concentration strategies are vertical

growth and horizontal growth.
 Concentration Strategies
44

 Vertical growth
 achieved by taking over a function previously provided
by a supplier or distributor
 Vertical growth results in vertical integration.

 Vertical integration
 the degree to which a firm operates vertically in
multiple locations on an industry’s value chain from
extracting raw materials to manufacturing to retailing
 Vertical Integration
45

 Backward integration  Forward integration

 assuming a function  assuming a function
previously provided by previously provided by
a supplier a distributor
 Concentration Strategies
46

 Horizontal growth
 expansion of operations into other geographic locations
and/or increasing the range of products and services
offered to current markets
 Horizontal growth results in horizontal integration
 Horizontal integration
 the degree to which a firm operates in multiple geographic
locations at the same point on an industry’s value chain
 Diversification Strategies
47

 Concentric (Related) diversification

 growth into a related industry when a firm has a strong
competitive position but attractiveness is low
 The search is for synergy.

 Synergy
 the concept that two businesses will generate more
profits together than they could separately
 Diversification Strategies
48

 Conglomerate (Unrelated) diversification

 diversifying into an industry unrelated to its current one
 Management realizes that the current industry is
unattractive.
 Firm lacks outstanding abilities or skills that it could
easily transfer to related products or services in other
industries.
 Controversies in
49
Directional Strategies
 Is vertical growth better than horizontal growth?
 Is concentration better than diversification?
 Is concentric diversification better than
conglomerate diversification?
 Stability Strategies
50

 A Corporation may choose stability over growth by continuing

its current activities without any significant change in direction.
 Some of the popular strategies are:
 Pause/Proceed with caution strategy
 an opportunity to rest before continuing a growth or
retrenchment strategy
 No-change strategy
 decision to do nothing new—a choice to continue current
operations and policies for the foreseeable future
 Profit strategies
 decision to do nothing new in a worsening situation but instead to
act as though the company’s problems are only temporary
 Retrenchment Strategies
51

 Retrenchment strategies
 used when the firm has a weak competitive position in
some or all of its product lines from poor performance
 management may follow one of several retrenchment
strategies, ranging from turnaround or becoming a
captive company to selling out, bankruptcy, or liquidation.
 Retrenchment Strategies
52

 Turnaround strategy
 emphasizes the improvement of operational efficiency when
the corporation’s problems are pervasive but not critical.
 the two basic phases of a turnaround strategy are
contraction and consolidation

 Contraction
 effort to quickly “stop the bleeding” with a general, across-
the-board cutback in size and costs.
 Consolidation
 stabilization of the now -leaner corporation
 Retrenchment Strategies
53

 Captive company strategy

 company gives up independence in exchange for
security
 Sell-out strategy
 management can still obtain a good price for its
shareholders and the employees can keep their jobs by
selling the company to another firm
 Divestment
 sale of a division with low growth potential
 Retrenchment Strategies
54

 Bankruptcy
 company gives up management of the firm to the courts in
return for some settlement of the corporation’s obligations
 the company will be stronger and better able to compete in
a more attractive industry. In contrast to bankruptcy, which
seeks to perpetuate a corporation

 Liquidation
 management terminates the firm
 When the industry is unattractive and the company too weak
to be sold as a going concern, management may choose to
convert as many saleable assets as possible to cash
 Portfolio Analysis
55

 Portfolio analysis
 management views its product lines and business units as a
series of investments from which it expects a profitable
return
 One of the most popular aids to developing corporate
strategy in a multiple-business corporation is portfolio
analysis.
 Using the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Growth-Share
Matrix depicted in the Figure below is the simplest way
to portray a corporation’s portfolio of investments.
 BCG Growth—Share Matrix
7-56
 BCG Matrix
57

 Question marks
 new products with the potential for success but need a
lot of cash for development

 Stars
 market leaders that are typically at or nearing the
peak of their product life cycle and are able to
generate enough cash to maintain their high share of
the market and usually contribute to the company’s
profits
 BCG Matrix
58

 Cash cows
 productsthat bring in far more money than is needed
to maintain their market share

 Dogs
 productswith low market share and do not have the
potential to bring in much cash
 BCG Matrix—Limitations
59

 Use of highs and lows to form categories is too

simplistic.
 Link between market share and profitability is
questionable.
 Growth rate is only one aspect of industry
attractiveness.
 Product lines or business units are considered only in
relation to one competitor.
 Market share is only one aspect of overall competitive
position.
 Advantages and Limitations of Portfolio
60
Analysis
Advantages
 Encourages top management to evaluate each of the
corporation’s businesses individually and to set
objectives and allocate resources for each
 Stimulates the use of externally oriented data to
supplement management’s judgment
 Raises the issue of cash flow availability to use in
expansion and growth
 Advantages and Limitations of Portfolio
61
Analysis
Limitations
 Defining product/market segments is difficult
 Suggest the use of standard strategies that can miss
opportunities or be impractical
 Value-laden terms such as cash cow and dog can
lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
 Lack of clarity on what makes an industry attractive
or where a product is in its life cycle
 Corporate Parenting
62

 Corporate parenting
 viewsa corporation in terms of resources and
capabilities that can be used to build business unit
value as well as generate synergies across business
units
 Corporate Parenting
63

 Generates corporate strategy by focusing on the

core competencies of the parent corporation and
the value created from the relationship between the
parent and its businesses
 Developing a Corporate
64
Parenting Strategy
 The search for appropriate corporate strategy
involves three analytical steps:
1. Examine each business unit in terms of its strategic
factors
2. Examine each business unit in terms of areas in
which performance can be improved
3. Analyze how well the parent corporation fits with
the business unit
 Horizontal Strategy and
65
Multipoint Competition
 Horizontal strategy
 Isa corporate strategy that cuts across business unit
boundaries to build synergy across business units and to
improve competitive position in one or more business
units
 Horizontal Strategy and
66
Multipoint Competition
 Multipoint competition
 large multi-business corporations compete against other large
multi-business firms in a number of markets
 These multipoint competitors are firms that compete with each
other not only in one business unit, but also in a number of
business units.
 Business units may sometimes need some help from its
corporate parent, especially if the competitor business unit is
getting heavy financial support from its corporate parent.
 In this instance, corporate headquarters develops a horizontal
strategy to coordinate the various goals and strategies of related
business units.
 Chapter End questions
67

 1. How does horizontal growth differ from vertical

growth as a corporate strategy?

 2. What are the major advantages and

disadvantages of an integrative strategy?

 3. How is corporate parenting different from

portfolio analysis? How is it alike? Is it a useful
concept in a global industry?
 68

STRATEGY FORMULATION:
FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY
AND STRATEGIC CHOICE
 Functional Strategy
69

 Functional strategy
 theapproach a functional area takes to achieve
corporate and business unit objectives and strategies by
maximizing resource productivity
 Marketing Strategy
70

 Marketing strategy
 deals with pricing, selling and distributing a product
 Marketing Strategy
71

 Market development strategy

a company or business unit can (1) capture a larger
share of an existing market for current products through
market saturation and market penetration or (2)
develop new uses and/or markets for current products.
 Marketing Strategy
72

 Product development strategy

a company or unit can (1) develop new products for
existing markets or (2) develop new products for new
markets.
 Marketing Strategy
73

 Brand extension
 using a successful brand name to market other products

 Push strategy
 trade promotions to gain or hold shelf space in retail
outlets

 Pull strategy
 advertising to “pull” products through the distribution
channels
 Marketing Strategy
74

 When pricing a new product, a company or business

unit can follow one of two strategies.
 Skim pricing
 offers the opportunity to “skim the cream” from the top
of the demand curve with a high price while the
product is novel and competitors are few
 Marketing Strategy
75

 Penetration pricing
 attempts to hasten market development and offers the
pioneer the opportunity to use the experience curve to
gain market share with low price and then dominate the
industry
 Financial Strategy
76

 Financial Strategy
 examines the financial implications of corporate- and
business-level strategic options and identifies the best
financial course of action

 The management of dividends and stock price is

an important part of a corporation’s financial
strategy.
 Financial Strategy
77

 Leveraged buyout
 company is acquired in a transaction financed largely
by debt usually obtained from a third party, such as
an insurance company or an investment banker.
 Research and
78
Development Strategy
 Research and Development Strategy
 deals with product and process innovation and
improvement
 also deals with the appropriate mix of different types
of R&D and question of how new technology should be
accessed—through internal development, external
acquisition or strategic alliances.
 Research and
79
Development Strategy
 The following are R & D choices:
 Technological leader
 pioneering an innovation
 Technological follower
 imitating the products of competitors
 Open innovation
 firmuses alliances and connections with corporate,
government, academic labs and consumers to develop
new products and processes
 Operations Strategy
80

 Operations Strategy
 determineshow and where a product or service is to be
manufactured, the level of vertical integration in the
production process, the deployment of physical
resources and relationships with suppliers
 Purchasing Strategy
81

 Purchasing Strategy
 deals
with obtaining raw materials, parts and supplies
needed to perform the operations function
 The
basic purchasing choices are multiple, sole and
parallel sourcing.
 Purchasing Strategy
82

 Multiple sourcing
 the purchasing company orders a particular part
from several vendors
 Sole sourcing
 relies on only one supplier for a particular part
 Parallel sourcing
 two suppliers are the sole suppliers of two different
parts, but they are also backup suppliers for each
other’s parts
 Logistics Strategy
83

 Logistics Strategy
 dealswith the flow of products into and out of the
manufacturing process

 Three trends related to this strategy are

evident:
 Centralization

 Outsourcing

 The use of Internet

 HRM Strategy
84

 HRM strategy
 addresses the issue of whether a company or business
unit should hire a large number of low-skilled
employees who receive low pay, perform repetitive
jobs and will most likely quit after a short time (the
fast-food restaurant strategy) or hire skilled employees
who receive relatively high pay and are cross-trained
to participate in self-managing work teams
 Information Technology
85

 Follow-the-sun management
 Multinational corporations are finding that having a
sophisticated intranet allows employees to practice
follow-the-sun management, in which project team
members living in one country can pass their work to
team members in another country in which the work day
is just beginning.
 The Sourcing Decision:
86
Location of Functions
 Outsourcing
 purchasing from someone else a product or service that
had been previously provided internally
 the reverse of vertical integration

 Offshoring
 theoutsourcing of an activity or a function to a wholly
owned company or an independent provider in another
country.
 Disadvantages of Outsourcing
87

Customer complaints

Locked in to long-term contracts

Lack of ability to learn new skills and develop

new core competencies

Lack of cost savings

Poor product quality

 Errors in Outsourcing to Avoid
88

 A study of 91 outsourcing efforts conducted by

European and North American firms found seven
major errors that should be avoided:
 Outsourcing the wrong activities
 Selecting the wrong vendor

 Writing a poor contracts

 Overlooking personnel issues

 Lack of control

 Overlooking hidden costs

 Lack of an exit strategy

 Proposed Outsourcing Matrix
89
 Strategies to Avoid
90

Managers who have made poor analyses or lack creativity may be

trapped into considering some of the following strategies to avoid:

Follow the Hit another Arms race

leader home run

Do Losing
everything hand
 Stakeholder Priority Matrix
91

Stakeholders can be categorized in terms of their (1) interest in the corporation’s

activities and (2) relative power to influence the corporation’s activities.
 Questions to Assess
92
Stakeholder Concerns
 Strategic managers should ask four questions to
assess the importance of stakeholder concerns in a
particular decision:
1. How will this decision affect each stakeholder?
2. How much of what stakeholders want are they likely to
get under the alternative?
3. What are the stakeholders likely to do if they don’t get
what they want?
4. What is the probability that they will do it?
 Pressures from Stakeholders
93

 Political strategy
 plan to bring stakeholders into agreement with a
corporation’s actions
 Some of the most commonly used political strategies
are constituency building, political action committee
contributions, advocacy advertising, lobbying and
coalition building.
 Pressures from the
94
Corporate Culture
In evaluating a strategic alternative, strategy makers
must consider pressures from the corporate culture and
assess a strategy’s compatibility with that culture.
If there is little fit, management must decide if it should:

 Take a chance on ignoring the culture.

 Manage around the culture and change the
implementation plan.
 Try to change the culture to fit the strategy.

 Change the strategy to fit the culture.

 Process of Strategic Choice
95

 Strategic choice
 the evaluation of alternative strategies and selection of
the best alternative

 Failure almost always stems from the actions of

the decision maker, not from bad luck or
situational limitations.
 Avoiding the Consensus Trap
96

 There is mounting evidence that the best strategic decisions

are not arrived at through consensus when everyone agrees
on one alternative.
 Two techniques help strategic managers avoid the consensus
trap :
 Devil’s advocate
 assigned to identify potential pitfalls and problems with a
proposed alternative strategy in a formal presentation
 may be an individual or a group

 Dialectical inquiry
 requires that two proposals using different assumptions be
generated for each alternative strategy under consideration
 Process of Strategic Choice
97

Criteria for evaluating alternatives includes:

 Mutual exclusivity: Doing any one alternative would
preclude doing any other.
 Success: It must be feasible and have a good probability
of success.
 Completeness: It must take into account all the key
strategic issues.
 Internal consistency: It must make sense on its own as a
strategic decision for the entire firm and not contradict key
goals, policies and strategies currently being pursued by
the firm or its units.
 Developing Policies
98

 The selection of the best strategic alternative is not the

end of strategy formulation.
Policies define the broad guidelines for implementation.

When crafted correctly, an effective policy accomplishes

three things:
 It forces trade-offs between competing resource
demands.
 It tests the strategic soundness of a particular action.
 It sets clear boundaries within which employees must
operate, while granting them the freedom to experiment
within those constraints.
 Chapter End Questions
99

1. Are functional strategies interdependent, or can

they be formulated independently of other
functions?
2. Why is penetration pricing more likely than skim
pricing to raise a company’s or a business unit’s
operating profit in the long run?
3. What is the relationship of policies to strategies?