Strategy evaluation is simply an assessment or appraisal of organizational performance, but using it does not guarantee that the strategy will work. Richard Rumelt offers four criteria in strategy evaluation, namely “consistency, consonance, feasibility, and advantage” (David, 2011, p. 288), two of which are discussed below.
Consistency, in Rumelt’s criteria, states that a strategy must not have conflicting goals and objectives. Conflict within the organization reflects a problem in management but can also refer to strategic inconsistency. We can say that there is strategic inconsistency if: the problem remains even though some personnel, who may have caused the problem, have been changed; some successes are attributed to one department and failure for another equal department; and, top management continues to have a hand in solving problems at the lower level (Chang & Singh, 2000).
Another of Rumelt’s criteria is “consonance,” which emphasizes the importance of examining “sets of trends,” in relation to “individual trends” (David, 2011, p. 291). A strategy symbolizes an adjustment to an external stimulus or changes in the environment. The challenge of this sort of strategy formulation is that most trends are results of other trends. David (2011) gave an example about the popularity of day-care centers, which came out because of new developments, like the need for quality education, and the need of women to be a major part of the workforce.
References
Chang, S. & Singh, H. (2000). Corporate and industry effects on business unit competitive position. Strategic Management Journal, 21(1), 739-752. Web.
David, F. (2011). Strategic management: Concepts and cases (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.