NINE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

A school of thought is understood to be the range of thought of a specific group of researchers, which has crystallized within the field of strategic management (Brown, 1993).School of thought are divided into two category :

Prescriptive

Descriptive

PRESCRIPTIVE SCHOOL

Prescriptive schools focus on more the process of strategy

making rather than the contents of the strategy where they

are the only strategy maker in the organization and made

without the help of any non conscious intuition. (MacBeath,

2008). Prescriptive divided into three categories, which are:

Design

Planning

Positioning

THE DESIGN SCHOOL (ANDREWS, 1965)

The ‘design’ school is responsible for the development of the

Strength Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) model.

In design key role played by board of directors and

chairperson.

Explicit prescriptive use as a strategy in design.

the ‘design’ school it is very difficult to point to a specific

root discipline.

the environment is seen as relatively constant.

THE PLANNING SCHOOL (ANSOFF, 1965)

the ‘planning’ school has its theoretical roots in system

theory and cybernetics.

The central actor of planning is the planner of the

company such as top management.

Formulating, programming and budgeting are main steps

of planning school .

The steps are done in controlled and stable environment.

For strategy made explicit plan to implement those steps.

THE SCHOOL OF POSITIONING (PORTER,

1980)

The central focus of the ‘positioning’ school is the

industrial–economic angle.

Competitive position are analyzed by three

generic strategies: cost-leadership, differentiation

or focus.

Economic variables are analyzed in positioning.

DESCRIPTIVE SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Entrepreneurial Cognitive

Learning Political

Cultural Environmental

THE SCHOOL OF ENTREPRENEURIAL

(SCHUMPETER, 1934)

In the ‘entrepreneurial’ school, the environment is not a

stable factor; it can be influenced and manipulated.

Entrepreneurs are capable of bringing new innovative

products and services into the market.

It developed on the basis of idiosyncratic dynamics, quite

detached from the existing ‘laws’ of the market.

It is the entrepreneurs with a vision of the future who

determine the environment and not vice versa.

THE COGNITIVE SCHOOL (SIMON, 1976)

The cognitive school of thought has psychology of root

discipline.

In the cognitive school the individual is the unit of

analysis and strategy formation is based on ‘mental maps.’

In particular, the concept of ‘bounded rationality’ has

been important.

THE LEARNING SCHOOL OF THOUGHT (L INDBLOM, 1959 ;

QUINN, 1980A)

The learning school of thought has psychology of root discipline.

This school consider the environment to be very demanding and/or

difficult to comprehend.

In these schools strategy will be not so much planned, but rather

incremental and ‘emerging’.

In this school strategists must develop a long-term vision while

approaching the short-term step by step.

Quinn (1980a) concluded that incrementalism is logical because of

the iterative character of strategic management processes and the

need to adjust strategies continuously.

THE POLITICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT (ALLISON, 1971 ; PERROW,

1970)

The political school of thought is non-logical incremental forms

of base.

The contribution of the political school of thought to the

strategic management field consists of concepts such as power

and coalitions.

This school of thought is strongly influenced by political science.

The latter level of analysis is the meso level in which the

environment is clearly malleable.

THE CULTURAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT (NORMANN, 1977)

In the cultural school of thought, developing a common

perspective for the organization is the central issue.

A strategy can only be successful if it is deeply rooted in

the company culture and, accordingly, the development

of common values and insights is a central issue.

The conceptual breeding ground for this school of

thought is anthropology.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT (HANNAN AND FREEMAN,

1977)

This school has been strongly influenced by the

work of ‘population-ecologists’.

By analogy to biology this school look at

organizations with the aid of the variation–

selection–retention model.

The key player of this school is stakeholders.

This school of thought use in specific position as a

strategy.

Example and argument