Emergent Strategy

Description of Emergent Strategy. Explanation.

What is Emergence?

Emergent Strategy and Deliberate Strategy In general, an emergent phenomenon occurs when a (high) number of simple (or complex) entities operate in an environment, forming more complex behaviors as a collective. Emergent behaviors occur due to intricate causal relations across different scales and feedback, known as interconnectivity. The emergent property itself may be either very predictable or unpredictable and unprecedented, and represent a new level of the system's evolution. Emergent behavior is very hard to predict due to the immense number of interactions between components of a system, which increases exponentially with the number of components, thus potentially allowing for many different results to emerge.

Definition Emergent Strategy. Description.

Emergent Strategy is the vision or process towards strategy formation in organizations that emphasizes the benefits of letting the strategy emerge as things gradually becoming apparent. Try before you commit. Strategy is viewed as an ongoing process of constant learning, experimentation and risk-taking. It is an adaptive, incremental and complex learning process in which the ends and means are intertwined and often specified simultaneously. It is the opposite of Deliberate Strategy.

The ends are rarely announced or recorded in a Formal Planning document, and when they are, they remain broad, general and non-quantifiable.

The means develop or evolve over time as the organization learns from environmental developments and interactions.

It does not mean that emergent strategists do nothing upfront and react completely ad-hoc to things as they evolve.

Benefits of emergent strategy formulation. Advantages

Opportunism. Organizations must retain the mental freedom to grab unpredictable opportunities as they emerge. See: Scenario Planning
Flexibility. Organizations must keep their options open, by not committing to early to actions and investments. See: Real Options, Strategic Agility, Dynamic Capabilities
Learning. Letting strategy emerge provides the environment to learn. See: Organizational Learning
Entrepreneurship. The best way to find out what will work is to let people try. This is conducive to an entrepreneurial spirit to emerge. See: Chaos Theory
Building Support. Major strategic change causes considerable resistance in organizations. So time to build support for it is important. See: Appreciative Inquiry

Emergent Strategy Forum (8)

Emergent Strategy and Serendipity
"Emergent strategy is a new concept to me and one I have difficulty accepting it as realistic. Can anybody give me a successful example of this strategy that is not Serendipity (Editor: ~the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it)? To me it resembles "Beach Bum" (Editor: ~a person who loafs on or around a beach) Business."

The Paradox of Deliberate and Emergent Strategy
"Mintzberg and Waters (1985) state that few strategies were purely deliberate or emergent, but normally a mix of the two is used. Understanding the internal political dynamics of the organisation and detailed analysis of the external environment is essential in shaping strategy. Strategy should be shaped on what is feasible, attainable and not on what is ideal.
Deliberate strategy gives direction and commitment while emergence allows for opportunism, flexibility and ongoing learning. This would suggest that deliberate and emergent strategies are opposite so managers need to choose one strategy at the expense of the other not so.
Managers would like to forecast the future and design plans to to prepare for it. Yet on the other hand some managers believe that experimentation learning and flexibility are needed to deal with the unpredictability of the future. However while implementing deliberate strategies the uncertainty of the environment may throw up emergent strategies. Events overthrow the plan."

Implementing Emergent Strategy. Requirements
"To implement an emergent strategy process, organizations need to:
1. Scan their environment constantly
2. Audit the delivery processes for its improvement at a shorter intervals of time (for example one month duration of implementation). The audit team needs to take feedback of the previous cycle and incorporate it in the next cycle.
3. An innovation team needs to work on changes, implementation on test basis etc.
4. Establishing more requent feedback loops is essential for continual improvement."

Emergent Strategy also Reflects Changes in the Firm
"Strategy should be based on providing unique and valuable solutions for the firm (client). In that sense, as clients change the strategy must adapt too. While the strategy's basic foundation should probably remain the same - how the strategy is applied will vary. The companies that can adapt the quickest will be the ones that will benefit the most."

Unrealized Emergent Strategy
"Are UNREALIZED emergent strategies still valuable to an organization and its management? How? Thanks for your input..."

Emergent Strategy is a Considerable Approach
"Emergent strategy is not an intended strategy but it pops out as an organisation works towards achieving their intended goals and objectives.
It is important to consider this perspective besides planned strategy, because business circumstances change and organisations must adjust themselves to these changes."

Definitions of Emergent Strategy
"Emergent strategy, is a strategy that is not carefully pre-planned; it is discovered in the lack of purposes, or in an unexpected form possibly as a result of changes in the environment; alterations in the personnel, who may have different perspectives and motives; and adjustments made by those involved in the implementation in order to take account of local conditions not anticipated by the planners of the strategy."