What is the difference between intended strategy and realized strategy?

• A. Realized strategy includes emergent actions that actually occur.
• B. Intended strategy is what management plans.
• C. Realized strategy is only about financials.
• D. Intended strategy is the same as realized strategy.

Answer: (A)

The difference hinges on how plans meet reality. Intended strategy is the plan management creates based on analysis, goals, and assumptions. Realized strategy is what actually unfolds in practice, including actions taken and results achieved.

The crucial point is emergent actions: unplanned experiments, adaptations, and responses to unforeseen events that come up as the organization operates. These emergent actions get woven into what the organization ends up doing, so the realized strategy is the blend of the deliberate plan and these on-the-ground adaptations. That’s why realized strategy includes emergent actions that actually occur.

For example, a company may plan to roll out a product in a specific way, but customer feedback or a competitive move leads to new partnerships or product tweaks that weren’t in the original plan. Those emergent actions become part of the realized strategy, illustrating how strategy evolves beyond the written plan.