2 The other side of the strategy debate is the idea of strategy as a prescriptive process, planned rather than learned. 'For Porter, much of what has passed for management thinking in the past decade may have been important, but it wasn't strategy' (Surowiecki, 1999). Porter essentially completely rejects Mintzberg's idea that true strategy forms as part of a learning process (Stonehouse and Snowdon, 2007) and claims that most successful businesses do not change strategy often, instead refining their ability to implement an overall strategy plan (Porter, 1991). This goes completely against the idea presented in Crafting Strategy (1987) that strategic plans constantly change and can be moulded consistently. Porter claims that many modern technological companies are an example of organisations that still gain success from planned, prescriptive strategy (Surowiecki, 1999) and that this is evidence his ideas are still valid. .
Bodwell and Chermack (2010) present ideas for how to integrate both deliberate and emergent planning into the planning of scenarios. Their ideas show that it need not be one or the other. Indeed, in Crafting Strategy (1987) Mintzberg does not completely reject the use of formal planners and planning, and while the articles wider position is on the side of strategy as an emergent process it also acknowledges the use of ideas from the other side of the wider emergent vs. prescriptive debate, positioning itself closer to the middle of Whittingtons model in 'What is Strategy and Why does it Matter?' (2001). 3 .
Strengths and Weaknesses .
One of the biggest strengths of Mintzberg's writing style is how clear and concise it is (Moore, 2010). This may be why his ideas are so universally adaptable, being easily understood and applied in several industries, including the tourism industry, where the idea of crafting strategy is directly applied to the idea of crafting destination image (Ritchie, 1993).