Print this page"We make war that we may live in peace." - Aristotle
The waging war stage implements the solutions to deploy the strategy. The title of this stage conjures up the notion of the dynamics of engaging in battle with its dynamic confusion and competitor challenges. It recognizes the "fog of war" and the reality that no plan survives intact the first encounter with the enemy. The nature of this stage is akin to a military engagement, where the actions and decisions are aligned with the Commander's Intent. At the same time, the field commanders are granted great tactical autonomy to flexibly adapt to their dynamic environment in order to achieve the intended objectives. This is where the strategic thinking built-up in the earlier stages pays dividends.
Dynamic Transformation
In the waging war stage, the strategy is deployed following the plans from the prior stage. The business is transformed from the current business model according to the plans to implement the idealized design, or at least the portion for this cycle of the process. This stage deals with the dynamics, uncertainty, and the need for real-time responses to the threats and opportunities triggered by competitor moves, market shifts, and other environmental factors.
Test of the Strategic Hypothesis
This stage is also the test of the hypotheses of the theory of business established in the creating art stage. The results of the hypotheses tests, some of which will hopefully be true, and some of which will inevitably be false, feed into the generating wisdom stage in the next cycle of the strategic management process. Learning from the deployment results, the business organization adapts to the ever changing environment.
