Tactics are the day to day decisions that one has to take to carry forward a strategy to its logical outcome. Strategy on the other hand has to do with perspective. Strategy is the framework, your compass that you will use to make decisions that will benefit the future outcome of your business. Strategy is the set of directions you make to enhance your situation and position within your overall market. Tactics are easy to copy. If one company observes innovations in another company's products, for example, the observing company can easily duplicate what it has seen, or develop something comparable if straight duplication is not possible. As soon as the process or product is copied, the competitive advantage of the innovation recedes or disappears.

Strategy is the thinking aspect of planning a change, organizing something, or planning a war. Strategy lays out the goals that need to be accomplished and the ideas for achieving those goals. Strategy can be complex multi-layered plans for accomplishing objectives and may give consideration to tactics. Tactics refer specifically to action. In the strategy phase of a plan, the thinkers decide how to achieve their goals. In other words, they think about how people will act, i.e., tactics. They decide on what tactics will be employed to fulfill the strategy.