Ten Schools of Thought on Strategic Management

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Ten Schools of Thought
Mintzberg’s Ten Schools of Thought
in Strategic Management
May 30, 2013
Developed by Henry Mintzberg, the Ten Schools of Thought framework breaks down
the field of Strategic Management into 10 categories, from Positioning to
Entrepreneurial to Configuration. This document explains each School, its origins,
benefit and limitations, related analyses/frameworks, and other attributes. Also
includes PowerPoint templates for illustrating this model in your presentation.
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Contents
 Overview 4
 Ten Schools of Thought 12
 Templates 33

The Ten Schools of Thought model breaks down the field of Strategic
Management into 10 categories of thinking
Executive Summary
The Ten Schools of Thought model from Henry Mintzberg is a framework
that can be used to categorize the field of Strategic Management.
It describes each school in context and provides a critique. Thus,
it acts as a very good overview to the entire field of Strategic
Management.
While academics and consultants keep focusing on these
narrow perspectives, business managers will be better
served if they strive to see the wider picture. Some of
strategic management's greatest failings, in fact,
occurred when one of these concepts was taken too
seriously.
These 10 Schools of Thought are as follows:
• The Design School
• The Planning School
• The Positioning School
• The Entrepreneurial School
• The Cognitive School
•The Learning School
•The Power School
•The Cultural School
•The Environmental School
•The Configuration School
Design
Planning
Position-
ing
Entrepre-
neurial
Cognitive
Learning
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur-
ation
Strategic
Management

Each School of Thought takes a varied approach into strategy formulation,
as tabulated below
Ten Schools of Thought – School Overviews (1 of 2)
THE DESIGN SCHOOL .
• This school sees strategy formation as a process of conception
• Clear and unique strategies are formulated in a deliberate process
• In this process, the internal situation of the organization is matched to the external
situation of the environment
THE PLANNING SCHOOL
• This school sees strategy formation as a formal process
• In this approach, a rigorous set of steps are taken, from the analysis of the situation to
the execution of the strategy
• This school sees strategy formation as an analytical process
• This approach places the business within the context its industry, and looks at how the
organization can improve its strategic positioning within that industry.
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL
SCHOOL
• This school sees strategy formation as a visionary process
• The visionary process takes place within the mind of the charismatic founder or leader
of an organization
THE COGNITIVE SCHOOL
• This school sees strategy formation as a mental process
• It analyzes how people perceive patterns and process information
• It concentrates on what is happening in the mind of the strategist, and how it processes
the information
THE POSITIONING
SCHOOL .
SCHOOL DESCRIPTION

Though model is great for understanding the origins and characteristics of
the 10 defined dominant schools, more “schools” may exist
Strengths and Limitations
STRENGTHS
 Useful illumination of the origins and
characteristics of the different schools of
thought in strategy formation
 Understand, appreciate, and exploit the
differences in strategy approaches
LIMITATIONS
 Other classifications of the field of
strategy formation are possible
 Additional major ―schools‖ that should be
included: e.g. Strategy Dynamics and
Resource-based View
 The complexity of the 10 schools may
initially scare away aspiring strategists
vs

Non-realized
strategies
There is often a disconnect between the company’s Realized Strategy and
its original Intended Strategy
Deliberate vs. Realized Strategy
DELIBERATE
STRATEGYINTENDED
STRATEGY
EMERGENT
STRATEGIES
REALIZED
STRATEGY
The disconnect arises during the execution process, because different people along
the way will interpret the organization’s strategic direction differently.
Source: Strategy Safari, Mintzberg, 2002
time

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a process of
conception
School of Design (1 of 2)
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment
This approach embraces the adage: look before you leap.
OVERVIEW
• This original view sees strategy
formation as achieving the essential
fit between internal strengths and
weaknesses and external threats and
opportunities
• Senior management formulates clear
and simple strategies in a deliberate
process of conscious thought (which
is neither formally analytical nor
informally intuitive) and
communicates them to the staff so
that everyone can implement the
strategies
• This was the dominant view of the
strategy process at least into the
1970s given its implicit influence on
most teaching and practice
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Fit
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Think (strategy
making as case
study)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
 Prescriptive  Descriptive
BASE PRINCIPLE
• None

SOURCE OF THIS SCHOOL
• P. Selznick

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a formal
process
School of Planning (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the adage: a stitch in time saves nine.
OVERVIEW
• This school grew in parallel with the
design school, but the Planning
School predominated by the mid-
1970's and though it faltered in the
1980's it continues to be an important
influence today
• It reflects most of the design school's
assumptions except a rather
significant one: that the process was
not just cerebral but formal,
decomposable into distinct steps,
delineated by checklists, and
supported by techniques
• This meant that staff planners
replaced senior managers as the key
players in the process
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Formalize
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Program (rather
than formulate)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Some links to urban planning, system theory, & cybernetics

• I.Ansoff
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as an analytical
process
School of Positioning (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the adage: Nothing but the facts.
OVERVIEW
• This was the dominant view of strategy
formulation in the 1980s
• It was given impetus especially by
Michael Porter in 1980, following earlier
work on strategic positioning in academe
and in consulting, all preceded by a long
literature on military strategy, dating
back to 500 BC and that of Sun Tzu,
author of The Art of War
• In this view, strategy reduces to generic
positions selected through formalized
analysis of industry situations—hence,
planners became analysts
• This proved especially lucrative to
consultants and academics alike, who
could sink their teeth into hard data and
so promote their "scientific truths" to
companies and journals alike
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Analyze
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Calculate (rather
than create or
commit)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Economics, industrial organization, and military history

• Sun Tzu's ―Art of War,‖ Michael Porter, Purdue University
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a visionary
process
School of Entrepreneurship (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the statement: Take us to your leader.
OVERVIEW
• Similar to the design school, this school
centered the process on the chief
executive
• Unlike the design school and in contrast
to the planning school, it rooted that
process in the mysteries of intuition
• That shifted the strategies from precise
designs, plans, or positions to vague
visions, or perspectives, typically to be
seen through metaphor
• The idea was applied to particular
contexts—e.g. start-ups, niche players,
privately owned companies and
"turnaround" situations, although the
case was certainly put forward that
every organization needs the
discernment of a visionary leader
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Envision
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Centralize (then
hope)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Economics

• J. A. Schumpeter, A. H. Cole, and others in Economics

Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a mental
process
School of Cognition (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the saying: I’ll see it when I believe it.
OVERVIEW
• If strategies developed in people's
mind as frames, models, or maps,
what could be understood about
those mental processes?
• Particularly in the 1980s, and
continuing today, research has grown
steadily on cognitive biases in
strategy making and on cognition as
information processing
• Another branch of this school
adopted a more subjective
interpretative or constructivist view of
the strategy process: that cognition is
used to construct strategies as
creative interpretations, rather than
simply to map reality in some more
or less objective way
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Cope or Create
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Worry (unable to
cope in either
case)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Psychology

• H. A. Simon and J. March
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as an emergent
process
School of Learning (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the adage: If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.
OVERVIEW
• The learning school became a
veritable wave and challenged the
omnipresent prescriptive schools
• Dating back to early work on
"incrementalism," and conceptions
like "venturing," "emerging strategy,"
and "retrospective sense making," a
model of strategy making as a
learning developed that different from
the earlier schools
• In this view, strategies are emergent,
strategists can be found throughout
the organization, and so-called
formulation and implementation
intertwine
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Learn
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Play (rather than
Pursue)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Education, Learning Theory

• C. E. Lindbiom, M. Cyert, J. G. March, K. E. Weick, J. B. Quinn, C. K.
Prahlad, G. Hamel
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a process of
negotiation
School of Power (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the saying: Look out for number.
OVERVIEW
• This comparatively small, but quite
different school has focused on
strategy making rooted in power in
two ways:
• Micro power sees the
development of strategies within
the organization as essentially
political, a process involving
bargaining, persuasion, and
confrontation among inside actors
• Macro power takes the
organization as an entity that
uses its power over others and
among its partners in alliances,
joint ventures, and other network
relationships to negotiate
"collective" strategies in its
interests
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Promote
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Hard (rather than
share)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Political Science

• G. T. Alison (micro); J. Pfeffer and G. R. Salancik; W. G. Astley (macro)
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a collective
process
School of Culture (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the adage: An apple never falls far from the tree.
OVERVIEW
• Opposing the power school, the
cultural school focuses on common
interest and integration
• Strategy formation is viewed as a
social process rooted in culture
• The theory concentrates on the
influence of culture in discouraging
significant strategic change
• Culture became a big issue in the
United States and Europe after the
impact of Japanese management
(e.g. Kaizen) was fully realized in the
1980's and it grew clear that strategic
advantage can be the product of
unique and difficult-to-imitate cultural
factors
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Coalesce
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Perpetuate (rather
than Change)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Anthropology

• E. Rhenman and R. Normann
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as a reactive
process
School of Environment (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the sentiment: It all depends.
OVERVIEW
• Although not strictly strategic
management, if one takes that term
as concerned with how organizations
use their degrees of freedom to
create strategy, the environmental
school deserves attention for the light
it throws on the demands of the
environment
• Among its most noticeable theories is
the "contingency theory," that
considers what responses are
expected of organizations that face
particular environmental conditions,
and "population ecology," writings
that claim severe limits to strategic
choice
INTENDED STRATEGY
• React
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Capitulate (rather
than Confront)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• Biology

• M. T. Hannan, J. Freeman, contingency theorists (e.g. D. S. Pugh)
Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

This school sees Strategy Formulation as formal process
School of Configuration (1 of 2)
This approach embraces the adage: To everything, there is a season.
OVERVIEW
• This school enjoys the most extensive
and integrative literature and practice at
present
• One side of this school, more academic
and descriptive, sees organization as
configuration (coherent clusters of
characteristics and behaviors)
• If organizations can be described by
such states, then change must be
described as rather dramatic
transformation
• Therefore, a literature and practice of
transformation developed as the other
side of the coin
• These two very different literatures and
practices nevertheless complement one
another and so belong to the same
school
INTENDED STRATEGY
• Integrate and
Transform
REALIZED STRATEGY
• Lump (rather than
Split and Adapt)
SCHOOL CATEGORY
BASE PRINCIPLE
• History

• A. D. Chandler, McGill University, R. E. Milles, C. C. Snow

Design
Plannin
g
Position
-ing
Entrepre
-neurial
Cogni-
tive
Learnin
g
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur
-ation
Strategic
Manage-
ment

Contents
 Overview
 Ten Schools of Thought
 Templates

Insert headline
10 Schools of Thought - TEMPLATE
Design
Planning
Position-
ing
Entrepre-
neurial
Cognitive
Learning
Power
Cultural
Environ-
mental
Configur-
ation
Strategic
Management
• Insert filler text

Insert headline
10 Schools of Thought - TEMPLATE
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
DESIGN
CHOOL
PLANNING
SCHOOL
POSITIONING
SCHOOL
ENTREPRENEURIAL
SCHOOL
COGNITIVE
SCHOOL
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LEARNING
SCHOOL
POWER
SCHOOL
CULTURAL
SCHOOL
ENVIRONMENTAL
SCHOOL
CONFIGURATION
SCHOOL
text filler text
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