e-Strategy Pure and Simple
Chapter One
Strategic Fuzziness ²: Page Two

One simple way to illustrate the difference is to look at it this way: strategy is what and operations is how. In other words, strategy is the kind of thinking that is what we want to be in nature, while operations is the kind of thinking that is how to get there in nature. Graphically, the difference can be explained by the following illustration.

In quadrant A, we find companies that have a well articulated strategy, well communicated and well understood by everyone in the organization. They know what they want to become. Furthermore, they are very competent operationally. They know how to get there.

Examples of such companies are IBM and Lou Gerstner's recent formulation and deployment of his "co-centric computing" strategy. Other companies with clear strategies are Disney under Michael Eisner, Dell Computer under Michael Dell, Wal-Mart under Sam Walton and David Glass, and Home Depot under Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank.