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Strategic Planning Theories

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DBA 822 Seminars in Strategy and International Business
Strategic Planning Theories
A Literature Review
By; Benjamin J. Shuford III
8/24/10

Introduction: Strategic planning is a broad concept that has been introduced into the main stream practices of today’s corporations. Strategic planning can be defined as an organization’s process of defining goals, direction, and decision making processes that effect the allocation of resources that include capital and people. The term “strategy” is derived from the Greek word of “strategos,” which means literally, “general of the army.” (Hart, 1965). The Greek tribes of ancient civilizations would elect a strategos to head their regiments during battles. These political rulers would follow the …show more content…

In his early work, he identified three main types of strategy processes: planning, entrepreneurial and learning-by-experience. He described planning as a philosophical approach when he classifies strategic business thinking in ten schools of thought, which he describes in their historical and ideological context. Early theorist, such as Igor Ansoff, focused on the analytical aspects of strategy formation. The first three schools in Mintzberg’s taxonomy are therefore prescriptive and focus on how strategy ought to be formulated. One of the major premises of the prescriptive schools if the performance claim, which states that the more an organization engages in systematic strategic planning, the more likely it will result in above average returns. The prescriptive schools have been influential in the discourse of strategy formulation, but have failed to explain the process of strategy execution (Mintzberg, 1990). Mintzberg's School of Strategic Thought (Mintzberg and Lampel, 1990). | | | | | | | | School | Category | Foundation | | | | Design | Prescriptive | Engineering | | | | Planning | Prescriptive | Systems Theory | | | | Positioning | Prescriptive | Economics | | | | Entrepreneurial | Descriptive | Economics | | | | Cognitive | Descriptive | Psychology | | | | Learning | Descriptive | Psychology | | | | Power | Descriptive | Political Science | | | | Cultural | Descriptive | Anthropology | | | | Environmental |

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