Safary De La Estrategia

STRATEGY SAFARI
A GUIDED TOURTHROUGH THE WILDS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT HENRY MINTZBERG BRUCE AHLSTRAND JOSEPH LAMPEL

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Copyright © 1998 by Henry Mintzberg, Ltd., Bruce Ahlstrand, andJoseph Lampel All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. THE FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc. Designed by Carla Bolte Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Permissions acknowledgments appear on pages 393-395. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mintzberg, Henry. Strategy safari: aguided tour through the wilds of strategic management / Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, Joseph Lampel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Strategic planning. I. Ahlstrand, Bruce W. II. Lampel, Joseph. III. Title. HD30.28.M564 1998 658.4'012—dc21 98-9694 CIP ISBN 0-684 -84743-4 (hardcover)

There are some people who begin the Zoo at the beginning, called WAYIN, and walk asquickly as they can past every cage until they come to the one called WAYOUT, but the nicest people go straight to the animal they love the most, and stay there.
—A. A. Milne, in the Introduction to Winnie-The-Pooh

We dedicate this book to such people who are more interested in open fields than closed cages.

CONTENTS

Embarkation 1 "And Over Here, Ladies and Gentlemen: The StrategicManagement Beast" 2 The Design School Strategy Formation as a Process of Conception 3 The Planning School Strategy Formation as a Formal Process 4 The Positioning School Strategy Formation as an Analytical Process

ix

1 23

47

81

5

The Entrepreneurial School Strategy Formation as a Visionary Process

123

6

The Cognitive School Strategy Formation as a Mental Process

149

7The Learning School Strategy Formation as an Emergent Process

175

8

The Power School Strategy Formation as a Process of Negotiation

233

9

The Cultural School Strategy Formation as a Collective Process

263

10

The Environmental School Strategy Formation as a Reactive Process

285

I I

The Configuration School Strategy Formation as a Process of Transformation301

12 "Hang On, Ladies and Gentlemen, You Have Yet to Meet the Whole Beast" References 375 Index 397

349

EMBARKATION

T

his trip began with a paper by Henry called "Strategy Formation: Schools of Thought," published by Jim Fredrickson in a collection entitled Perspectives on Strategic Management (HarperCollins, 1990). Bruce used the paper in a course at Trent University and foundthat it worked well. "Why don't you do a book on it?" he suggested. "Why don't we do it together?" Henry replied. They both thought that Joe would make an excellent member of the team. So the safari was launched. We did not, however, write this as a textbook or some sort of academic treatise. From the outset, we believed that the book should have as much relevance for managers and consultants inpractice as students and professors in the clasroom. So we set out to write an easily accessible explanation of the fascinating field of strategic management. Sure, some parts may appeal more to practitioners, while others may be more of interest to the academically inclined. This is in the nature of the beast. We did not set out to domesticate it but to make it friendly. We wanted readers fromeverywhere to join our safari. But at the same time we want to challenge you. We take risks and hope that they will invigorate you. For as we argue throughout, the field of strategic management needs to be opened up, not closed down; it needs reconciliation among its many different tendencies, not the isolation of each. To enrich the experience of this safari, we hope to follow up with a Guidebook. We...