“Playing to Win, How Strategy Really Works” by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin

Strategy is the game. Michael Porter inspired A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin to write a book about strategy; namely, Playing to Win, How Strategy Really Works. Lafley and Martin present strategy as “an integrated cascade of choices” with five questions:

 “What are our winning aspirations?

 “Where will we play?

“How will we win?

 “What capabilities must be in place?

 “What management systems are required?”

Serious answers to these questions produce a strategy for defining and achieving the aspirations of the enterprise. The discussion in the book is very instructive and provides a clear picture of what strategy is all about.