1. 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

2. 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

3. THE DESIGN SCHOOL
( A N D R E W S, 1 9 6 5 )
 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.

4. 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.

5. THE SCHOOL OF POSITIONING
( P O RT E R , 1 9 8 0 )
 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.

6. DESCRIPTIVE SCHOOL OF
THOUGHT
Entrepreneurial Cognitive
Learning Political
Cultural Environmental

7. 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.

8. THE COGNITIVE SCHOOL
( S I M O N, 1 9 7 6 )
 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.


9. THE LEARNING SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
( L I N D B L O M , 1 9 5 9 ; QU I N N, 1 9 8 0 A )
 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.

10. THE POLITICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
( A L L I S O N , 1 9 7 1 ; P E R R O W, 1 9 7 0 )
 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.

11. 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.

12. THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL OF
T H O U G H T ( H A N N A N A N D F R E E M A N,
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.

13. Example and argument