ABSTRACT
Considering time as a key strategic dimension assumes that the environment in which reader operates is constantly changing rather than assuming that it is static and stable. In Patterns of Strategy, there is one principal element of time and few supporting elements to enable the organisation to alter its relative speed. While offensive time-based strategies rely on speed, defensive time-based strategies rely on slowing time down. A shorter decision–action cycle time destabilises competitors and creates confusion; it reduces the time available for their decision–action cycle and potentially the range of strategic options that are possible for them. Synchronised organisations move at the same speed and with the same cycle times as those to which they are coupled. In fact, many conventional approaches to business strategy manage to ignore time altogether and focus solely on how resources are deployed through pure power approaches.
