What Is Meant By Strategy?

• History

Strategy, from the Greek word 'Strategia', meaning command or leadership, is a word derived from military usage, referring to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular objective.

Originally applied to armies co-ordinating full-scale assaults against an enemy, strategy deals with the terms of engagement, as well as whether a battle or war should be even fought at all.

• Modern Connotations

The word strategy has now developed into the modern lexicon to mean any detailed and organized formal plan of action.

Moving away from the theme of military action, strategic theory can be seen in everything from politics to board games, and has been adopted by businesses and industry as a way of increasing revenue and reviewing production.

Strategy in relation to games refers to the options that a player can choose from. For example, each player in a board game such as chess must decide upon a move from a set of possible choices.

A player will decide his next move based upon a sequence of pre-determined solutions to his opponents actions. Therefore if an opponent chooses to use move (A), then you must take action (B) to either defend or counter their move.

• Further Information

To aid chess players, strategy guides have been produced detailing the full array of moves and set outcomes that can be used to win a game. These can be purchased from all major book outlets, as well as online web-stores such as www.amazon.com.