Muhammad Shafique wrote, It seems from the discussion that we somehow limited
our perspectives of the two as a graduate course or scientific field of study.
Therefore, I would like to extend this question a little further: How do we see
the triangle of ambiguity: strategy, business policy, and strategic management
(for instance, if we put ourselves in the shoes of students, laypeople, and even
practitioners)?
Muhammad's term, triangle of ambiguity, is not a bad description. From my
experience with practitioners, MBA and doctoral students, and even my
departmental colleagues, most people in general seem to equate the three terms
(strategy, business policy and strategic management) and treat them as
conceptual equals. I think this is an issue that goes beyond an explanation of
semantics, in the simple sense of language, but rather points to a deeper
philosophical ambiguity.
Therefore, I have argued for some time (to one journal editor in particular
you know who you are! :-) that it is important for the field to provide an
internally consistent logic that explains the construct of strategy. If done
correctly, a single, robust construct should apply equally well to any level of
strategy (business, corporate, global), or any type of strategy (i.e.,
marketing, financial, 1st mover v. last mover, actor or reactor), and may hold
the key to conceptually integrate the two concerns of relatively infrequent
positioning vs. continuous activities observed by Kim Warren in this discussion.
Nav, Hambrick and Chens recent paper (SMJ 2007) has been mentioned a couple of
times here as well. It was a very interesting paper that identified the
distinctive lexicon of strategic management the language used within the
field but not outside. But a question that came to my mind when reading the
paper was is a distinctive lexicon (which is a very nice phrase for jargon)
the same thing as identifying the construct strategy? Indeed, the authors
reported that the term with the highest positive biserial correlation within
their sample was the word strategy. This made me pause because it means one
cannot say that their distinctive lexicon conceptually equates to the construct
of strategy without facing a significant circularity problem. So the search
continues.
I think eliminating the theoretical and conceptual ambiguity around the
construct strategy, would go a long way toward explaining how the various levels
and types of strategy all stem from the same parsimonious root phenomenon. How
could this not be a positive step forward for the field? (Is my editor
listening? :-)
Doug OBannon, Ph.D.
> Dear All,
>
>
>
>
>
> Further to Joe Bower's note below on this interesting debate, he
> mentions a
> JMI dialog that speaks specifically to this topic. The dialog will be
> coming
> out later this year and presents three perspectives on how strategy
> research
> has/can inform strategy teaching and practice.
>
>
>
>
>
> Joe Bower's piece examines the rise of business policy and the process
> research approach that informed that teaching tradition at Harvard
> Business
> School. Rob Grant responds by emphasizing the evolution of strategic
> management, which is underpinned by economic theory approaches to
> research,
> and its flow through to teaching. These two pieces contrast the
> research
> approaches that underpin Business Policy and Strategic Management.
> Paula
> Jarzabkowski and Richard Whittington conclude by proposing a
> strategy-as-practice perspective, based on sociological theories of
> practice, to build upon the strong practitioner/process focus
> underpinning
> Business Policy, whilst also providing theoretical rigour, albeit from
> a
> different theoretical basis to that traditionally associated with
> Strategic
> Management.
>
>
>
>
>
> We hope this will add insights to the current debate and will post a
> link
> when the paper is available on line.
>
>
>
>
>
> Best wishes
>
>
>
>
>
> Paula Jarzabkowski and Richard Whittington
>
>
>
>
>
> Paula Jarzabkowski
>
> Professor of Strategic Management
> Aston Business School
> Mob: +44 (0)7951 222 114
>
> _____
>
> From: Business Policy and Strategy List
> [mailto:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu]
> On Behalf Of Joseph Bower
> Sent: 15 February 2008 01:09
> To:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
> Subject: Re: Business Policy and Strategy Management: Is there any
> differnce?
>
>
>
> The book Clark Gilbert and I published last year, "From Resource
> Allocation
> to Strategy," Oxford University Press, was written to address the
> fundamental question beneath this discussion of "strategic management"
> vs.
> "business policy." The chapters reflect the evolution of the process
> views, and are commented on in closing chapters by John Roberts, Marge
> Peteraf, Joel Podolny, and Dan Levinthal from the perspectives of
> industrial
> organization, the resource based view of the firm, sociology, and
> strategy.
> It was also the subject of discussion at the SMS meetings in Orlando in
> the
> fall of 2006. Plenary papers for that meeting were specifically
> concerned
> with the question of how the more complex and value laden set of
> management
> challenges addressed by Business Policy were reduced to the more limited
> set
> in competitive strategy. The book that JMI is bringing out late this
> year
> or early next will address the teaching issues more directly.
>
> Joe Bower
>
>
>
> Professor Joseph L. Bower, Donald Kirk David Professor of
> BusinessAdministration
>
> Harvard Business School , Morgan Hall 467 Soldiers Field Station,
> Boston, MA
> 02163
>
> 617-495-6282
>
> _____
>
> From: Business Policy and Strategy List
> [mailto:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu]
> On Behalf Of Myles Gartland
> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 1:56 PM
> To:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
> Subject: Re: Business Policy and Strategy Management: Is there any
> differnce?
>
>
>
> Let me add another question and wrinkle- is this business policy/SM
> class
> also your Capstone class, or is it something separate form an end of
> program
> integrative experience?
>
>
>
> I attended a good AOM session last year on the death and new rise of
> the
> Capstone. The thesis was Capstone had been highjacked by the strategist;
> and
> being taught as such.
>
>
>
> Are these all the same things? Or different animals?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________
>
> Myles P. Gartland, PhD
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Helzberg School of Management
>
> Rockhurst University
>
>
myles.gartland@rockhurst.edu
>
>
>
>
http://cte.rockhurst.edu/gartlandm
>
>
>
> On Feb 14, 2008, at 12:06 PM, Karriker, Joy wrote:
>
>
>
> We recently began the process of changing our course title from
> "Business
> Policy" to "Strategic Management," in keeping with what we see as the
> current nomenclature. Here is some information we included in our
> request:
>
>
>
> As a course title, "Business Policy," was introduced in business schools
> in
> the late 1950s and included in many schools' curricula in the early
> 1960s.
> However, the term "strategy" was increasingly present on course syllabi
> by
> the late 1960s, eventually leading to a distinct "strategy" discipline
> in
> the 1970s and 1980s (Kesner, 2001). This distinction was recognized
> and
> proliferated by faculty education and training programs in strategic
> management as a unique discipline.
>
>
>
> Reference:
>
> Kesner, I. F. 2001. The strategic management course: tools and
> techniques
> for successful teaching. In Hitt, Freeman, & Harrison (eds.), The
> Blackwell
> Handbook of Strategic Management, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
>
>
>
>
>
> Joy H. Karriker, Ph.D.
>
> Assistant Professor of Management
>
> East Carolina University
>
> College of Business
>
> 3206D Bate Building
>
> Greenville, NC 27858
>
>
karrikerj@ecu.edu
>
> 252.328.5693
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: Business Policy and Strategy List
> [mailto:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu]
> On Behalf Of Joseph Bower
> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 6:47 AM
> To:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
> Subject: Re: Business Policy and Strategy Management: Is there any
> differnce?
>
>
>
> Speaking as one of the co-authors of Christensen, Andrews and Bower,
> Business Policy: Text and Cases, I would say that Strategic Management
> is
> the new name given to the field of Business Policy as it struggled to
> achieve academic respectability - more important, academic tenurability
> (if
> we can live with such a word). The name of the course developed around
> the
> same time as the founding of the SMJ and the SMS.
>
> Joe Bower
>
>
>
> Professor Joseph L. Bower, Donald Kirk David Professor of
> BusinessAdministration
>
> Harvard Business School , Morgan Hall 467 Soldiers Field Station,
> Boston, MA
> 02163
>
> 617-495-6282
>
> _____
>
> From: Business Policy and Strategy List
> [mailto:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu]
> On Behalf Of Muhammad Shafique
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 3:17 PM
> To:
BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
> Subject: Business Policy and Strategy Management: Is there any
> differnce?
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> I have lately come across a very fundamental question: "Is there any
> difference between Business Policy and Strategic Management? If there
> is
> any, what is it precisely?"
>
>
>
> I tried to find some scholarly opinion w.r.t. this but could not find
> anything except that of Schendel, Dan E. & Hatten, Kenneth J. (1972):
>
> Business policy or strategic management: A broader view for an emerging
> discipline. Academy of Management Proceedings, 99-102.
>
>
>
> I'm wondering what is our extant conception of the two? Are they
> substitute,
> a difference of phraseology, two overlapping fields of study, or what?
> I
> shall highly appreciate any help that can clarify this confusion.
>
>
>
> Thanking you in anticipation
>
>
>
> Muhammad Shafique
>
>
>
> *******************************************************************
>
> Asstt. Professor
>
> Head, Strategy & Management Group
>
> Faculty of Management Sciences
>
> International Islamic University
>
> Faculty Block-2, Sector H-10, Islamabad, Pakistan
>
> Tel.: +92-51-9019427
>
> Fax (PP): +92-51-9257945
>
> Mobile: +92-321-9531278
>
> *******************************************************************
>
>
>
> _____
>
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>
>
>