Question
What is the difference between tactical and strategic efforts, and is their difference simply a matter of time duration over which the efforts show their impact?
Answer
I am afraid most of the answers here fall victim to the standard confusion around these terms.
Nothing but pain, ambiguity and lack of clarity results from using these common distinctions, to the point that they muddy language to the point of near-uselessness.
Here is a (rather old) article of mine that attempts to bring clarity to the terminology (warning, it is obsolete, and I have updated ideas on the way, but this is still enough to illustrate why standard definitions/connotations of the two terms lead to ambiguity and messiness, and what to do about it).
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/0...
Here's another post that's about the historical development of the idea of "strategy" in the military, with particular reference to Clausewitz' definition, which was based on an analysis of Napoleon's style.
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2008/0...
And finally, here is a review of a book about the evolution of "strategy" in the business world:
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/0...
The three articles together should give you a sense of the real and substantive distinctions. Big vs. small, long term vs. short term, what vs. how are all peripheral.
My own thinking has evolved considerably since I wrote these 3 posts, and my synthesized views will be included in my upcoming book, http://ribbonfarm.com/tempo ...but as a sneak preview in somewhat oversimplified terms:
Strategy is about whatever gives you an unfair advantage, and unreasonable leverage. It ALWAYS involves an organizing insight, what Clausewitz called "coup d'oeil" ("strike of the eye") which Napoleon and other greats demonstrated in abundance. Most obvious plans to achieve anything of even reasonable complexity are too expensive/based on brute force. Even when they work, the result is Pyrrhic victories. Strategy is the "Aha" that creates feasible and high-value attacks on apparently intractable/unsolvable problems.
Tactics comprise the language and vocabulary of decision-making in a given domain.
I don't mean language in a human spoken language sense. I mean a domain language of action, such as the maneuver repertoire of a
fighter pilot with which he can "express" meaning through flight. This
kind of language accommodates, and is an outcome of, learning processes.
Nothing but pain, ambiguity and lack of clarity results from using these common distinctions, to the point that they muddy language to the point of near-uselessness.
Here is a (rather old) article of mine that attempts to bring clarity to the terminology (warning, it is obsolete, and I have updated ideas on the way, but this is still enough to illustrate why standard definitions/connotations of the two terms lead to ambiguity and messiness, and what to do about it).
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/0...
Here's another post that's about the historical development of the idea of "strategy" in the military, with particular reference to Clausewitz' definition, which was based on an analysis of Napoleon's style.
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2008/0...
And finally, here is a review of a book about the evolution of "strategy" in the business world:
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/0...
The three articles together should give you a sense of the real and substantive distinctions. Big vs. small, long term vs. short term, what vs. how are all peripheral.
My own thinking has evolved considerably since I wrote these 3 posts, and my synthesized views will be included in my upcoming book, http://ribbonfarm.com/tempo ...but as a sneak preview in somewhat oversimplified terms:
Strategy is about whatever gives you an unfair advantage, and unreasonable leverage. It ALWAYS involves an organizing insight, what Clausewitz called "coup d'oeil" ("strike of the eye") which Napoleon and other greats demonstrated in abundance. Most obvious plans to achieve anything of even reasonable complexity are too expensive/based on brute force. Even when they work, the result is Pyrrhic victories. Strategy is the "Aha" that creates feasible and high-value attacks on apparently intractable/unsolvable problems.
Tactics comprise the language and vocabulary of decision-making in a given domain.
I don't mean language in a human spoken language sense. I mean a domain language of action, such as the maneuver repertoire of a
fighter pilot with which he can "express" meaning through flight. This
kind of language accommodates, and is an outcome of, learning processes.