People use strategy, plans and tactics to accomplish successful outcomes in their business projects and personal goals. The three concepts work together and are, in fact, interdependent on each other. You cannot develop plans without a strategy, or tactics without a plan. A solid competitive strategy helps businesses gain market share.
Strategy involves a blueprint for gaining a competitive advantage. For example, eyeglasses had glass lenses for more than 400 years. A company developed a strategy to design plastic lenses that would be cheaper, almost unbreakable and lightweight. This product gave the company a competitive advantage over other eyeglass manufacturers. Its strategy included all of the complex plans necessary to bring this project to fruition.
People use strategies in their personal lives to improve their competitiveness or financial stability. For example, a newly hired college graduate develops a strategy to climb the corporate hierarchy. His strategy includes capitalizing on his strengths and overcoming objections.
Plans are the second-level goals in the hierarchy. A complex strategy may contain many plans. Using the eyeglass example, the manufacturer had to identify an appropriate plastic that was hard enough for daily use but soft enough for grinding to the correct magnification; locate or design equipment to grind and buff the lenses; contract with suppliers; find outlets to sell the product; and advertise its new invention to the public. Each part of the strategy has a separate plan to accomplish its goal.
Tactics are the step-by-step methods you use to accomplish a plan. Continuing the eyeglass example, to complete the plan of identifying an appropriate plastic, the tactics would include: identify all businesses that produce plastics, buy samples of each type of plastic, test samples and record pros and cons, and decide whether one plastic is appropriate or if the company needs a custom formula.
Putting It All Together
In addition to identifying competitor strengths and weaknesses, understand your market and know which niches you can develop profitably. You need this information to develop a sound competitive strategy.