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...that all individuals in the organisation can think strategically, not just the CEO. In the modern organisation, all staff are encouraged to demonstrate autonomy and responsibility combining thought, analysis, and action. In this context the paper goes on to explain the interaction of internal and external stakeholders in the organisation from the board of directors down to line management in an evolved or sophisticated strategy process. Contemporary definitions of strategic thinking, strategic planning, and strategic management are developed.
Introduction
The popularity of strategic planning peaked in the 1960s with the contributions of Kenneth Andrews (1965) and Igor Ansoff (1965) and their rational, analytical strategic planning models. However, experience as early as the 1970s and into the 1980s taught an important lesson in that these prescriptive approaches (Mintzberg, 1990; Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel, 1998; Mintzberg and Lampel, 1999) to strategic planning are of little practical use in an uncertain environmental context. Mintzberg (1978) made an important insight when he distinguished between the intended and the emergent strategy of the organisation. Later contributions from Ohmae (1982), Peters and Waterman (1982), Mintzberg (1994, 2000), Prahalad and Hamel (1994), Liedtka (1998a, 1998b), Heracleous, (1998) and Markides (2000) have discussed and advanced our awareness of and insight into the activities of strategic thinking, strategic planning and strategic management.
From this past we now have a greater awareness of what the strategy paradigm can and cannot do for an organisation and the importance of the interaction of internal and external stakeholders in participating in the strategy process. In particular, this paper agrees with Liedtka (1998) that all individuals in the organisation can think strategically, not just the CEO. In the modem organisation all staff are encouraged to demonstrate autonomy and responsibility combining thought, analysis and action. In this context the paper goes on to explain the interaction of internal and external stakeholders in the organisation from the board of directors down to line managers in an evolved or sophisticated strategy process. Contemporary definitions of strategic thinking, strategic planning, and strategic management are developed.
Strategic Thinking
Terminology in the field of strategic management is a contentious issue (Markides, 2000) with different writers using similar terminology in different ways in an effort to present their ideas as new and fresh. The introduction of the term strategic thinking to the strategy literature has served to create further confusion with a strong debate at present on what actually constitutes strategic thinking.
There has been little attention given in the literature to identifying what strategic thinking looks like in a practical setting (Liedtka, 1998) and this is a significant void given the strength of the debate in journals and conferences on this important organisational activity. Review of empirical journals also indicates little or no attention to relating a theoretical understanding of strategic thinking to the substantial body of strategic management empirical research.
Review of the strategy literature indicates that it is possible to take a "broad" or a "narrow" definition of strategic thinking. A narrow definition of strategic thinking emphasises eastern, generative, creative, synthetic, divergent thought processes and is usually associated with writers such as Mintzberg (1994) and Ohmae (1982). The focus of the strategists is the high level issues of mission and vision for the organisation. A broad definition of strategic thinking seeks to combine eastern, generative, creative, synthetic, divergent thought processes with a western, rational, analytical, convergent approach to problem solving. This view of strategic thinking is associated with writers including Liedtka (1998), Wilson (1994, 1998), and Raimond (1996).
Wilson (1998:5 11) points out:
"... if one thing is clear from the experience of the past 20 years, it is that innovative strategies do...
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