Abstract
Strategic thinking and strategic planning are concepts that are not clearly defined both in the literature and in the practice of business organizations and sometimes they are used interchangeably with each other or with strategic management. The purpose of this text is to differentiate and define both concepts and relate their role with the strategic decision making process of a firm. The text ends by approaching the issue of sustainability as a new challenge in the strategic process.
1. Introduction
There is still a widespread agreement that strategic thinking is important for efficient management of firms, but it is often absent or at least lacking (Bonn, 2001; Liedtka, 1998). The gap in practice is followed by historical confusion of the concept among both scholars and practitioners, where the terms strategic thinking, strategic planning, and strategic management are used interchangeably (Mintzberg, 1994a). Goldman & Casey (2010) state:
“In addition to the deficit in the literature regarding strategic thinking, there is a gap in practice. Top leaders’ absence of strategic thinking has been identified as a major detractor of firm performance in studies across industries and countries (Bonn, 2001; Essery, 2002; Mason, 1986; Zabriskie & Huellmantel, 1991). There is concern that this gap will continue: Bonn (2005) noted that strategic thinking was identified by a panel of experts as one of the 10 most critical areas for future management research. In addition, both leadership and strategy theorists have indicated that strategic thinking is needed at multiple organizational levels.” (p. 120)
4. Discussion and Conclusion
This paper offers arguments to clearly differentiate the concepts of strategic planning and strategic thinking as developed in the last thirty years of research and identifies that there is still confusion between these concepts that have somehow influenced practitioners and academics during this period.
From a practitioner’s perspective the literature suggests that there is still a lack of strategic thinking in companies which leads to bad strategies thus bad decisions, in a world that is getting more competitive, object of faster changes and with much more complex demands that can impact in the survival of these firms.
