Bring Strategy Back from the Dead

"The vultures are circling. 'Strategy, as we knew it, is dead,' proclaims Walt Shill, head of Accenture's North American consulting practice. A January 25 Wall Street Journal article quotes him explaining, 'Corporate clients decided that increased flexibility and accelerated decision-making are much more important than simply predicting the future.' A recent white paper from the Boston Consulting Group hung similar crepe. In its research on global powerhouses the firm found some saying they don't 'do strategy' any more.So... Is it time to consign all your three-ring binders of strategic plans to a funeral pyre, maybe heaping the corporate planner onto the blaze for good measure? Well, yes—and no."