Strategy

Strategy

What is “strategy”?

A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision. It derives from the Greek "στρατηγία" (strategia), “command".

People use strategy in many different areas of life, from business to warfare; and there are many games that people play to practice strategy.

Opening Discussion

• What are some ways that you get the things that you want?

• Can you remember something that someone did that you think was a good strategy? What are some smart things you have seen people do?

Military strategyMilitary strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. When this term first appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general" 'the art of arrangement' of troops. Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy.

Business Strategy

Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues through which it can pursue a particular course of action. Generally, strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:

1. "What do we do?"2. "For whom do we do it?"3. "How do we excel?"

Game TheoryGame theory is a method of studying strategic decision making. More formally, it is "the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers." An alternative term is “interactive decision theory”. Game theory is mainly used in economics, political science, and psychology, and other sciences, like logic and biology. The subject first addressed zero-sum games, such that one person's gains exactly equal net losses of the other participant(s). Today, however, game theory applies to a wide range of interactions, and has developed into an umbrella term for the logical side of science, to include both human and non-humans, like computers.

What do you think?

• Do you know of a great military strategy from history?

• What do you think are some good strategies for a successful business?

• Have you ever heard of “Game Theory”? Do you think it is possible to turn making good decisions into a science?

RiskRisk is a strategic board game, that was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players. The standard version is played on a board depicting a political map of the Earth, divided into forty-two territories, which are grouped into six continents. The primary object of the game is "world domination," or "to occupy every territory on the board and in so doing, eliminate all other players." Players control armies with which they attempt to capture territories from other players, with results determined by dice rolls.

StarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling games for the personal computer. Many of the industry's journalists have praised StarCraft as one of the best and most important video games of all time.

In StarCraft, each player controls a whole army, and is able to tell each soldier what to do and where to go. Play usually ends when all of one player’s army has been eliminated. StarCraft is particularly popular in South Korea, where players and teams participate in professional competitions, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised tournaments.

ChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide.

Chess is played with many different pieces, but the most important piece is the king. When one player captures the other’s king, they win the game. This is called “checkmate”.

Originally from India, Chess is considered a classic game of strategy. In English, people often use metaphors from chess, such as “I’m just a pawn.”

What do you think?

• Do you like to play strategy games? Which game do you like the best?

• Can you play chess? How about Chinese chess (Xiangqi)?

• What do you think of people who watch video games on television?

• Do you think “world domination” is a good goal for a game, or should people pursue more peaceful goals?