Skip to Main Content
HBS Online
  • Courses
    Open Courses Mega Menu
    • Business Essentials
      • Credential of Readiness (CORe)
      • Business Analytics
      • Economics for Managers
      • Financial Accounting
    • Leadership & Management
      • Leadership Principles
      • Management Essentials
      • Negotiation Mastery
      • Organizational Leadership
      • Strategy Execution
      • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
      • Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
      • Leading Change and Organizational Renewal
      • Dynamic Teaming
      • Transforming Customer Experiences
    • Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB)
    • Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
      • Entrepreneurship Essentials
      • Disruptive Strategy
      • Negotiation Mastery
      • Design Thinking and Innovation
      • Launching Tech Ventures
      • Winning with Digital Platforms
      • Leading Change and Organizational Renewal
      • Entrepreneurial Marketing
      • Transforming Customer Experiences
    • Strategy
      • Strategy Execution
      • Business Strategy
      • Economics for Managers
      • Disruptive Strategy
      • Global Business
      • Sustainable Business Strategy
    • Marketing
      • Digital Marketing Strategy
      • Creating Brand Value
      • Entrepreneurial Marketing
    • Digital Transformation
      • Winning with Digital Platforms
      • AI Essentials for Business
    • Finance & Accounting
      • Financial Accounting
      • Leading with Finance
      • Alternative Investments
      • Sustainable Investing
      • Strategic Financial Analysis
    • Business in Society
      • Sustainable Business Strategy
      • Global Business
      • Sustainable Investing
      • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
      • Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
      • Business and Climate Change
    • All Courses
  • For Organizations
    Open For Organizations Mega Menu
    • Corporate Learning
      Help your employees master essential business concepts, improve effectiveness, and expand leadership capabilities.
    • Academic Solutions
      Integrate HBS Online courses into your curriculum to support programs and create unique educational opportunities.
    • Need Help?
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Contact Us
    • Insights
      Open Insights Mega Menu
      • Business Insights Blog
        • Career Development
        • Communication
        • Decision-Making
        • Earning Your MBA
        • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
        • Finance
        • Leadership
        • Management
        • Negotiation
        • Strategy
      • All Topics
      • Learner on computer exploring HBS Online business lessons
        Sample Business Lessons and E-Books

        Gain new insights and knowledge from leading faculty and industry experts.

      • HBS Online Parlor Room podcast logo
        Podcast

        The Parlor Room: Where business concepts come to life. Listen now on your favorite podcast platform.

    • More Info
      Open More Info Mega Menu
      • Learning Experience
        Master real-world business skills with our immersive platform and engaged community.
      • Certificates, Credentials, & Credits
        Learn how completing courses can boost your resume and move your career forward.
      • Learning Tracks
        Take your career to the next level with this specialization.
      • Financing & Policies
        • Employer Reimbursement
        • Payment & Financial Aid
        • Policies
      • Connect
        • Student Stories
        • Community
      • Need Help?
        • Frequently Asked Questions
        • Request Information
        • Support Portal
      • Enroll Now
    Login
    My Courses
    Access your courses and engage with your peers
    My Account
    Manage your account, enrollment, and payments.
    HBS Home
    • About HBS
    • Academic Programs
    • Alumni
    • Faculty & Research
    • Baker Library
    • Giving
    • Harvard Business Review
    • Initiatives
    • News
    • Recruit
    • Map / Directions
    HBS Online
    • Courses
    • Business Essentials
    • Leadership & Management
    • Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB)
    • Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
    • Strategy
    • Marketing
    • Digital Transformation
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Business in Society
    • For Organizations
    • Insights
    • More Info
    • About
    • Support Portal
    • Media Coverage
    • Founding Donors
    • Leadership Team
    • Careers
    • My Courses
    • My Account
    • Enroll Now
    • …→
    • Harvard Business School→
    • HBS Online→
    • Business Insights→

    Business Insights

    Harvard Business School Online's Business Insights Blog provides the career insights you need to achieve your goals and gain confidence in your business skills.

     
    Filter Results Arrow Down Arrow Up

    Topics

    Topics

    • Accounting
    • Analytics
    • Business Essentials
    • Business in Society
    • Career Development
    • Communication
    • Community
    • ConneXt
    • Decision-Making
    • Digital Transformation
    • Earning Your MBA
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
    • Finance
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Marketing
    • Negotiation
    • News & Events
    • Productivity
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Strategy
    • Student Profiles
    • Technology
    • Work-Life Balance

    Courses

    Courses

    • AI Essentials for Business
    • Alternative Investments
    • Business Analytics
    • Business Strategy
    • Business and Climate Change
    • CLIMB
    • CORe
    • Creating Brand Value
    • Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy
    • Design Thinking and Innovation
    • Digital Marketing Strategy
    • Disruptive Strategy
    • Dynamic Teaming
    • Economics for Managers
    • Entrepreneurial Marketing
    • Entrepreneurship Essentials
    • Financial Accounting
    • Global Business
    • Launching Tech Ventures
    • Leadership Principles
    • Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
    • Leading Change and Organizational Renewal
    • Leading with Finance
    • Management Essentials
    • Negotiation Mastery
    • Organizational Leadership
    • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
    • Strategic Financial Analysis
    • Strategy Execution
    • Sustainable Business Strategy
    • Sustainable Investing
    • Transforming Customer Experiences
    • Winning with Digital Platforms
    Subscribe to the Blog
    *
    Please complete this required field.
    Email must be formatted correctly.
    Please complete all required fields.
    RSS feed

    Filters

    Topics

    Topics

    • Accounting
    • Analytics
    • Business Essentials
    • Business in Society
    • Career Development
    • Communication
    • Community
    • ConneXt
    • Decision-Making
    • Digital Transformation
    • Earning Your MBA
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
    • Finance
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Marketing
    • Negotiation
    • News & Events
    • Productivity
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Strategy
    • Student Profiles
    • Technology
    • Work-Life Balance

    Courses

    Courses

    • AI Essentials for Business
    • Alternative Investments
    • Business Analytics
    • Business Strategy
    • Business and Climate Change
    • CLIMB
    • CORe
    • Creating Brand Value
    • Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy
    • Design Thinking and Innovation
    • Digital Marketing Strategy
    • Disruptive Strategy
    • Dynamic Teaming
    • Economics for Managers
    • Entrepreneurial Marketing
    • Entrepreneurship Essentials
    • Financial Accounting
    • Global Business
    • Launching Tech Ventures
    • Leadership Principles
    • Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
    • Leading Change and Organizational Renewal
    • Leading with Finance
    • Management Essentials
    • Negotiation Mastery
    • Organizational Leadership
    • Power and Influence for Positive Impact
    • Strategic Financial Analysis
    • Strategy Execution
    • Sustainable Business Strategy
    • Sustainable Investing
    • Transforming Customer Experiences
    • Winning with Digital Platforms
    Subscribe to the Blog
    *
    Please complete this required field.
    Email must be formatted correctly.
    Please complete all required fields.
    RSS feed

    Emergent vs. Deliberate Strategy: How & When to Use Each

    business team discussing deliberate strategy
    • 19 Nov 2020
    Tim Stobierski Author Contributors
    tag
    • Disruptive Strategy
    • Strategy

    In business, the terms corporate strategy, organizational strategy, and strategic planning refer to the specific initiatives a company undertakes to work toward and achieve its strategic goals. No matter your business's size, understanding the underlying strategy that guides it is an integral part of being an effective leader and manager.

    Corporate strategy often varies from business to business and depends on several factors. While there are numerous frameworks you can use to interpret your organization’s strategy, one effective way of doing so is through the lens of emergent versus deliberate strategy.

    Here’s an overview of emergent and deliberate strategy, along with an examination of when it may make sense for your organization to leverage one over the other.


    Free E-Book: How to Formulate a Successful Business Strategy

    Access your free e-book today.

    DOWNLOAD NOW

    What Is a Deliberate Strategy?

    According to the online course Disruptive Strategy, a deliberate strategy is one that arises from conscious, thoughtful, and organized action on the part of a business and its leadership. It’s typically generated from a rigorous analysis of data, including metrics such as:

    • Market growth
    • Segment size
    • Customer needs
    • Competitor strengths and weaknesses
    • Technological trajectories

    A deliberate strategy is often employed by large businesses or corporations that are firmly established within their markets. History and stability provide them with enough data and experience to plot out a long-term strategy (sometimes called a five- or ten-year strategic plan) and confidence in their ability to project that far out into the future. While useful, deliberate strategy comes with challenges.

    “Being successful with a deliberate strategy is a very complicated problem,” says Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in Disruptive Strategy.

    Christensen explains that this is because most successful, established businesses consist of multiple people, teams, and departments working together toward a common goal. In such a complex system, individual contributors must understand how their work helps achieve shared goals and impacts others. If even a single contributor doesn’t execute their duties effectively or understand how their work affects strategic goals, then the company’s ability to reach its objectives through collective action is diminished.

    “It’s critical that every employee understands what the organization’s strategy is,” Christensen says. “Because it’s only if they understand the strategy that they can then dissect it into individual activities they must successfully complete to implement the strategy.”

    In short, Christensen notes that deliberate strategy only works effectively when everybody understands what the organization is trying to accomplish.

    Related: 5 Tips for Formulating a Successful Strategy

    What Is an Emergent Strategy?

    An emergent strategy is one that arises from unplanned actions and initiatives from within an organization. It’s typically viewed as the product of spontaneous innovation, and often a direct result of the daily prioritization and investment decisions made by individual contributors, such as middle managers, engineers, financial staff, and salespeople.

    Compared to a deliberate strategy, an emergent strategy is often more flexible. Though the organization still has goals that it’s working toward, there’s flexibility to adjust those goals and pursue other opportunities or priorities as they emerge. As such, many startups leverage an emergent strategy.

    “When you’re managing the process of emergent strategy, you’re not telling everybody that they have this piece or that piece,” Christensen says in Disruptive Strategy. “What you have to ensure is that all of the employees are looking for new opportunities to grow.”

    Christensen notes that those may be opportunities that help an organization reach its original strategic goals or effectively cause its priorities and goals to shift.

    “Very often, when a company is trying to implement a deliberate strategy, they’re focused on their [original] goal,” Christensen says. “On the right and on the left, there are emergent opportunities that they don’t even see because they’re so focused on the original goal. If you’re in a mode of emergent strategy, yes, you have to go after something in a deliberate way. But you have to plan on things to emerge on the right and on the left of that which you may never have thought about before.”

    He stresses that, for an emergent strategy to work well, employees and managers alike should constantly look at the periphery—not just in the direction of the end goal.

    Disruptive Strategy | Create winning strategies for your organization | Learn More

    Examples of Companies Using Deliberate and Emergent Strategies

    One example of an organization that uses deliberate strategy is Procter & Gamble, a large consumer goods company that specializes in personal care and hygiene products.

    Due to its established position in the market, Procter & Gamble has mastered its goal of further improving its products, brand, and services for consumers. In fact, the firm publicly states its company strategy to potential investors and stakeholders. According to this strategy, one of the firm’s priorities is to “advance the superiority of products and packages, brand communication, retail execution, and consumer and customer value.”

    As a large business, Procter & Gamble is able to deliberately strategize for the future to “drive category growth, prevent commoditization, and provide the basis to build a sustainable competitive advantage.”

    Meanwhile, PayPal’s unpredictable rise to success is a great example of how instrumental emergent strategies can be. Established in 1998, PayPal’s original company name was Confinity. It was first created to provide security software for mobile devices, but soon had to pivot as a result of low demand. By listening to the market and developing an emergent strategy in 1999, PayPal became what it is today—an exclusive platform for digital payments.

    Another step in its emergent strategy was identifying clear opportunities for growth as they arose. After shifting to a payment platform, PayPal was strategically bought by eBay in 2002, making it the most trustworthy payment method for eBay users across the globe.

    Related: 3 Disruptive Strategy Skills For Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders

    When to Use an Emergent or Deliberate Strategy

    It’s important to remember that the right strategy for a particular business depends on several factors. That being said, emergent and deliberate strategies are often pursued by companies facing certain circumstances.

    How to choose between an emergent and deliberate strategy

    Consider an Emergent Strategy If…

    As a general rule of thumb, an emergent strategy may be the right choice for your business if the future is uncertain, and it isn’t clear what the right long-term strategy should be. By embracing an emergent strategy, you remain nimble enough to make adjustments as more data becomes available, while still knowing that you’re working toward a goal that makes sense.

    Typically, an emergent strategy is most useful during the early phases of a company’s life, after a product launch, or when the competitive landscape is substantially changing.

    When embracing an emergent strategy, it’s crucial to ensure that all employees are empowered to surface and elevate new ideas as they emerge so your organization can coalesce around those that are most promising.

    Consider a Deliberate Strategy If…

    Once a winning strategy is clear, it will likely make more sense to pursue a deliberate strategy that can set your company on course to achieve its strategic goals. Deliberate strategy is a better fit once a company has reached a certain level of maturity and stability, at which point it can shift away from survival toward growth.

    Typically, the difference between success and failure when implementing a deliberate strategy is how well each person or department executes their tasks. Therefore, the strategy must make sense to everyone within the organization—from individual employees to top-level managers.

    How to Formulate a Successful Business Strategy | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

    Different Strategies for Different Times

    While some businesses perpetually embrace an emergent mindset, those that are most successful tend to shift toward a deliberate one once it emerges. Walmart is an excellent example of this principle in action.

    Modern-day Walmart is well known for embracing a deliberate strategy of building large stores in small towns across the country, but this wasn’t always the case. After the success of his first store, Walmart founder Sam Walton decided to open his second one in a small, nearby town due to logistical reasons. As Walton’s success continued, more stores were added, often in small towns. Eventually, the company observed that this strategy was the best means of expanding its business, and it became its deliberate strategy. Walmart’s unplanned initiative of building new stores in small communities (its emergent strategy) transitioned into a thoughtful and organized action (its deliberate strategy).

    As with Walmart, deciding which strategy is ideal for your business will depend on various factors, including its maturity and the competitive environment.

    It’s important not to become so invested in a particular strategy that you blind yourself to other opportunities that arise. Though an emergent strategy can empower your business to rapidly pivot during uncertain times, committing to an emergent mindset may hinder the success of fully pursuing one initiative.

    At the same time, committing to a particular deliberate strategy may cause your business to fall behind competition during periods of change. The most effective companies tend to be those led by professionals who understand when to apply both an emergent and deliberate strategy to their corporate plans.

    Do you want to learn more about different strategies businesses can leverage to grow and succeed? Explore Disruptive Strategy—one of our online strategy courses—and gain the tools, frameworks, and intuition to develop executive-level strategy and organize for innovation.

    This post was updated on November 4, 2022. It was originally published on November 19, 2020.

    About the Author

    Tim Stobierski is a contributing writer for Harvard Business School Online. On the side, he writes poetry; his first book of poems, "Dancehall," was published by Antrim House Books in July 2023.
     
    All FAQs

    Top FAQs

    How are HBS Online courses delivered?

    +–

    We offer self-paced programs (with weekly deadlines) on the HBS Online course platform.

    Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community.

    Are HBS Online programs available in languages other than English?

    +–

    We expect to offer our courses in additional languages in the future but, at this time, HBS Online can only be provided in English.

    All course content is delivered in written English. Closed captioning in English is available for all videos. There are no live interactions during the course that requires the learner to speak English. Coursework must be completed in English.

    Do I need to come to campus to participate in HBS Online programs?

    +–

    No, all of our programs are 100 percent online, and available to participants regardless of their location.

    How do I enroll in a course?

    +–

    Certificate Programs

    HBS Online welcomes committed learners wherever they are—in the world and their careers—irrespective of their professional experience or academic background. To extend the reach of HBS Online, we no longer require an application for our certificate programs. (Applications are still required for our credential programs: CORe and CLIMB.) You can now immediately enroll and start taking the next step in your career.

    All programs require the completion of a brief online enrollment form before payment. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before enrolling in the program of your choice.

    Our easy online enrollment form is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

    Updates to your enrollment status will be shown on your account page. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for enrollment for any HBS Online program.

    Credential Programs

    HBS Online's CORe and CLIMB programs require the completion of a brief application. The applications vary slightly, but all ask for some personal background information. You can apply for and enroll in programs here. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice.

    Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

    Updates to your application and enrollment status will be shown on your account page. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application for CORe and three weeks for CLIMB. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for admissions for any HBS Online program.

    Does Harvard Business School Online offer an online MBA?

    +–

    No, Harvard Business School Online offers business certificate programs.

    What are my payment options?

    +–

    We accept payments via credit card, wire transfer, Western Union, and (when available) bank loan. Some candidates may qualify for scholarships or financial aid, which will be credited against the Program Fee once eligibility is determined. Please refer to the Payment & Financial Aid page for further information.

    We also allow you to split your payment across 2 separate credit card transactions or send a payment link email to another person on your behalf. If splitting your payment into 2 transactions, a minimum payment of $350 is required for the first transaction.

    In all cases, net Program Fees must be paid in full (in US Dollars) to complete registration.

    What are the policies for refunds and deferrals?

    +–

    After enrolling in a program, you may request a withdrawal with refund (minus a $100 nonrefundable enrollment fee) up until 24 hours after the start of your program. Please review the Program Policies page for more details on refunds and deferrals. If your employer has contracted with HBS Online for participation in a program, or if you elect to enroll in the undergraduate credit option of the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program, note that policies for these options may differ.

     

    Sign up for News & Announcements


    • • Please complete this required field.
    • • Email must be formatted correctly.
    • • Please complete all required fields.

    Subject Areas

    • Business Essentials
    • Leadership & Management
    • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
    • Strategy
    • Marketing
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Business & Society
    • Digital Transformation

    Quick Links

    • FAQs
    • Contact Us
    • Request Info
    • Enroll Now
    • Support Portal

    About

    • About Us
    • Media Coverage
    • Founding Donors
    • Leadership Team
    • Careers @ HBS Online

    Legal

    • Legal
    • Policies
    Harvard Business School
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College
    • Site Map
    • Trademark Notice
    • Digital Accessibility