WHAT IS STRATEGY? Classical strategy approach For classicals, profitability is the company main objective, and rational planning, the means to achieve it. This approach, which dominates the primary textbooks, has wide support both disciplinary and metaphoric. Its conception of strategy formulation is based on the economy of XVIII Century Scotland, while its basic principles on strategy implementation date back to the military ideals of Ancient Greece. However, classical theory of business strategy is relatively new. The principles of a consistent discipline arose in the 70`s, with works of the Business Historian Alfred Chandler (1962), the Theoretician Igor Ansoff (1965) and the Businessman Alfred Sloan (1963). These three men established from the start the basic features of classical approach: advocacy of rational analysis, separation between conception and execution, and commitment with benefits maximization. For Alfred Sloan, General Motors Ex-President, the fundamental strategic problem was to place the company in those markets where it could achieve the maximum benefit. The strategic objective of a company is to gain performance upon benefits and if there is a case where the long-term performance is not successful, deficit must be amended or the activity must be abandoned. Strategy is: The definition of a company’s basic and long-term goals and objectives, the implementation of means of action and the resource allocation necessary to achieve those goals. | 
