In their 2010 article in the MIT Sloan Management Review, “What Every CEO Needs to Know About Nonmarket Strategy”, David Bach and David Bruce Allen contend that sustained competitive advantage arises from engaging with “social, political and environmental issues” as part of corporate strategy.
I completely agree, but would make the case more strongly: much of what passes for corporate “strategy” is actually tactics. The same goes for much of the advice dispensed by illustrious “strategy” consulting firms. “Strategy” sounds more important than “tactics,” so everybody calls whatever they’re talking about strategy, and then moves on to dispensing advice. But what sounds like a linguistic quibble matters, because the distinction between these words bears directly on building a sustained competitive advantage in business.
Silberzahn & Jones 