Designing an optimal value chain and developing functional policies are obviously important issues for every firm. However, they are not the real core of strategy. In fact, determining what activities to pursue is relatively easy and straight forward all one has to do is to ask: "Given the market I am in, what are the key factors of success? What should I be doing to be successful?" The answers to these kinds of questions should produce a precise (and often lengthy) list of activities to pursue. However, strategy involves much more than the development of individual activities. Strategy is all about combining these activities into a system that creates the requisite fit between the needs of the environment and the actions taken by the company. 1 Strategy will be successful if it creates a well-balanced system of activities that support and reinforce each other and allow the firm to achieve fit with its environment.