UK: HELLER ON MANAGEMENT - STRATEGY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME.

Most strategies fail, but that's no excuse for not having one. Take Intel, where clear direction has driven it to dominate. Trouble is, says Robert Heller, it's not a game many managements play.

'Strategy' has seized centre stage, not just in management lore and literature, but in the financial pages. When a 'strategy row' precipitated the departure of chief executive Duncan Lewis from Mercury Communications, the City professed itself dismayed, not just by this loss, but by the perceived strategic limbo at the parent, Cable & Wireless. Not so long ago, the attitude would have been, never mind the strategy, where's the profits?