Most organizations have a strategy that describes where they are going, why they are going there, and how they will get there. It is often useful for us to understand these strategies: if we do, we can interact more successfully with the organizations. Understanding Strategy explains a theory of strategy based on four factors: what it is, the forces that shape it, the processes that form it, and the mechanisms it relies on to take effect. The book presents a uniquely clear, specific conception of strategy, making it possible to analyze and compare the strategies of businesses, non-profits, unions, social clubs, administrative or political branches of governments, or even individual people. The explanation is supported by actual analyses of ten real-but anonymous-organizations.