Paradigm Change in Strategic Management

Introduction

Strategy was known as a military concept before Ansoff (1972) introduced “strategic management” term into the management literature as “planning”. After Ansoff’s narrow definition, many researchers wended into this area and contributed to the literature. Soon after the area of strategic management became so popular, many approaches emerged such as: global factors, awareness of the management mind and management components, new discoveries and discussions on the environment, dynamic structure of components for instance competition and organization. Strategic management has become essential to sustain competitiveness for organizations in the global market structure and increase their adaptation in unsteady environmental conditions (Ansoff, 1991).

There is a wide range of workplaces that engaged in strategic management (Mintzberg, et al. 1998: 354-360). Porter (1980, 1985, 1990, 1996), which became famous in the 1980s, states that firms should set their route according to the external environment- focused actors. Moreover, Porter defines the key concepts of management (cost, diversity, basic ability) by connecting them to the external environment. The schools of thought described by Mintzberg and colleagues (1998) and theoretical propositions reveal that the structure of the organization is sensitive to the variability of the environment (Morden, 2016). However, the context of strategy that defines the relationship between the environment and the organization is attributed to the time.

This notice should lead us back to the definition of strategic management and re- defining the concepts the theoretical approach. Long-term strategic management, continuing profitability, sustainability and competitive advantage are the defined concepts in strategic management theory. Economies of scale is another concept, which should be added to that list.

Another debate is related to the steps of the strategic management process. With a widespread acceptance, this process consists of analysis, selection, decision-making, implementation and supervision (Morden, 2016). This study provides a suggestion about a paradigm change on the basic concepts of the strategic management process. The first discussion is about time. Strategic management is a long-term concept. However, the definition of “long-term” is important. In the literature, long-term is defined as 5-years and over, while medium-term is 3 to 4 years. But, this definition should change regarding the changing structure of the markets, globalization, growth of companies (scale economy) in recently. Second discussion is about the validity of strategic management concept for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). Because of the structural characteristics of SMEs (organization structure, management approaches, future perspectives, life cycle etc.) and the problems aligned with strategic management, it may be difficult for a SME to adopt strategic management implementations. It will be explained why strategic management cannot be implemented into SMEs by defining their position in the market and their relationships with the large-scale enterprises. The third discussion of this study is about the stages of the strategic management. This study argues that the consciousness factor, which is frequently neglected in the literature or practice, should be the first stage of the strategic management. In the changing competitive conditions, strategic consciousness should take parts at the first stage of the strategic planning process.