The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management Author(S): Henry Mintzberg Source: Strategic

The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management Author(s): Henry Mintzberg Source: Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Mar. - Apr., 1990), pp. 171-195 Published by: Wiley Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2486485 . Accessed: 28/09/2013 01:47

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Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11, 171-195 (1990)

THE DESIGN SCHOOL:RECONSIDERING THE BASIC PREMISESOF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

HENRY MINTZBERG Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Among the schools of thought on strategy formation, one in particular underlies almost all prescription in the field. Referred to as the 'design school', it proposes a sinmplemodel that views the process as one of design to achieve an essential fit between external threat and opportunity and internal distinctive competence. A number of prenmises underlie this model: that the process should be one of consciously controlled tholught, specifically by the chief executive; that the model must be kept simple and informal; that the strategies produced should be unique, explicit, and simple; and that these strategies should appear fuilly formulated before they are implemented. This paper discusses...