1. Theoretical foundations of corporate strategy

1.1 Notions of corporate strategy

The notion of corporate "strategy" (or "general policy") has been progressively enriched since the seminal contributions of Chandler, Ansoff and Andrews in the 1960s; it refers to :

• the plans and speeches of an organization's leaders (Ansoff, [2] );

• the art of building "sustainable competitive advantages" (Porter, cf. [69] );

• the "5Ps" of strategy: P for plan, P for pattern, P for ploy, P for position, P for perspective (Mintzberg, cf.