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Hardly any other management concept is as overused as strategy, yet at the same time hardly any other concept is as vaguely defined. As a means of escaping the conceptual jumble, this monograph suggests a systems-theoretical definition which makes it possible to sort out the various threads of the strategy discussion. Strategies are “search programs” used for finding the means to achieve previously defined goals. With these, we let classical ideas about strategy confront modern organizational theory, and demonstrate how strategy development in organizations can look beyond purpose-rational constraints.
Stefan Kühl is professor of sociology at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and works as a consultant for Metaplan, a consulting firm based in Princeton, Hamburg, Shanghai, Singapore, Versailles and Zurich.
List of contents
Foreword.- What are strategies? Approach for the mobilization of finding means search for means optimization.- The lure and limitations of an instrumental rational approach.- Strategy development beyond understanding organizations in mechanistic terms.- Concerning the classification of strategy processes: Goals as a characteristic of structure, among other things.- Bibliography.
About the author
Stefan Kühl is professor of sociology at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and works as a consultant for Metaplan, a consulting firm based in Princeton, Hamburg, Shanghai, Singapore, Versailles and Zurich.
Summary
Hardly any other management concept is as overused as strategy, yet at the same time hardly any other concept is as vaguely defined. As a means of escaping the conceptual jumble, this monograph suggests a systems-theoretical definition which makes it possible to sort out the various threads of the strategy discussion. Strategies are “search programs” used for finding the means to achieve previously defined goals. With these, we let classical ideas about strategy confront modern organizational theory, and demonstrate how strategy development in organizations can look beyond purpose rational constraints.
