2.1 Definition and Categories of Strategies

“Strategy”has long become an indispensable concept in the literature on communication management and public relations （Raupp & Hoffjann, 2012）, as well as on management itself. Yet, the concept of strategy, however, is rarely taken into consideration when discuss communication （Bronn, 2001）. This chapter tries to link strategies in communication with those in management.

2.1.1 Definition of Strategies

As is the case of definition of communication, there is a variety of definitions on organizational strategies. To simplify our discussion only a couple of them from classic literature on strategic studies will be cited as follows. A company's strategy is the game plan for management to stake out a market position, attract and please customers, compete successfully, conduct operations, and achieve organizational objectives （Thompson, Gamble & Strickland, 2004）.Furthermore, strategic management is the set of decisions and actions used to formulate and implement strategies that will provide a competitively superior fit between an organization and its environment so as to achieve organizational goals （Samson& Daft, 2003）. Raupp & Hoffjann （2012） publish a brief overview of the literature on strategies systematically. Readers of this book, if interested in, please refer to their article as indicated in the reference. So far, this study defines strategy as game plan for decision-making in managing an organization.

2.1.2 Categories of Strategies

A general plan of major action by which a firm intends to achieve its long-term goal is called grand strategy. Grand strategies fall into three general categories:growth, stability and retrenchment. Growth strategy can be promoted internally by investing in expansion, or externally, by acquiring additional business divisions, such as merge and acquisition. Stability strategy, also called pause strategy, means that the organization wants to remain the same size or grow slowly and in a controlled fashion. Retrenchment strategy means that the organization goes through a period of forced decline-either by shrinking current business units or selling off or liquidating entire businesses （Samson & Daft, 2003）. Botan （2006） differentiates between a“grand strategy”and a“strategy”and points out that while a grand strategy refers on a policy-level to decisions regarding goals, ethics, relationships to publics, strategies are positioned at the campaign-level of decision-making.

Another aspect of strategic management concerns the organizational level to which strategic issues apply. There are three level of strategies—corporate, business, and functional strategies （Thompson, Gamble & Strickland, 2004）. In international business context, there are two types of international strategies, i.e., business strategy and corporate strategy. Corporate strategies depend on the complexity and scope of product and geographic diversification, which include multidomestic, global, and transnational strategies. Business strategy choices are generic including cost leadership, differentiation, focus, and integrated cost leadership or differentiation strategies.