How Useful are the Strategic Tools We Teach in Business Schools?

Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 50, Issue 1, pp. 92-125, 2013

34 Pages Posted: 22 Feb 2016

See all articles by Robert P. Wright

Robert P. Wright

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Sotirios Paroutis

Warwick Business School

Daniela P. Blettner

Simon Fraser University (SFU) - Beedie School of Business

Date Written: January 1, 2013

Abstract

Strategic tools are indispensible for business and competitive analysis. Yet we know very little about managers' internal logic as they put these tools into practical use. We situate our study in a business school context using action learning prior to the manifestation of practice to complement our understanding of practice. Using Personal Construct Theory and Repertory Grids, our mid‐range theorizing showed that, contrary to current thinking about strategic tools, managers think in dualities (often paradoxically) and have a preference for multiple‐tools‐in‐use, tools that provide different perspectives, peripheral vision, connected thinking, simultaneously help differentiate and integrate complex issues, and guide the thinking process. These findings are important for designing better tools and the nurturing of critical managerial competencies needed for a complicated world. Our study's focus also has wider implications for scholars as we see our own material evaluated by those who will put these lessons into practice.

Keywords: internal logic, management education, managerial cognition, personal construct theory, strategic tools, strategy-as-practice, usefulness of tools and theories

JEL Classification: M1

Suggested Citation

Wright, Robert P. and Paroutis, Sotirios and Blettner, Daniela P., How Useful are the Strategic Tools We Teach in Business Schools? (January 1, 2013). Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 50, Issue 1, pp. 92-125, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2735960

Robert P. Wright

Hong Kong Polytechnic University ( email )

11 Yuk Choi Rd
Hung Hom
Hong Kong

Daniela P. Blettner

Simon Fraser University (SFU) - Beedie School of Business ( email )

8888 University Drive
Burnaby, British Columbia V5A1S6
Canada

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
61
Abstract Views
467
Rank
637,858
PlumX Metrics