ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the art of strategic management as a means of driving organisational resilience. The city of Verdun and its surrounding forts – most notably Fort de Douaumont – had a symbolic but also strategic importance. If there is a criticism of the strategic planning of the Germans, it is that their vision mainly referred to the operational necessity of breaking through the French lines in the Centre and then, through encirclement, demoralising the French. A linear strategy resembles the Methodical Battle, applied by the French; it is a methodical approach to achieving long-term organisational goals. Adaptive strategy can be viewed as a managerial expression of the manoeuvre warfare favoured by Germany; it is less focused on long-term goals but instead seeks the means to achieve a fit between an organisation's capabilities and the environment it operates in.
