Strategic planning as a contributor to strategic change: a generative model

In this paper, I describe an alternative model of a strategic planning process that attempts to link planning processes both with new views of the sources of competitive advantage and with the multiple theoretical lenses used to understand strategic change. I hypothesize that this is possible in a redesigned planning process that engages a broad group of organizational members in a strategic dialogue in which hypothetical futures are generated and tested, in a cognitive loop; then implemented as new capabilities, in a behavioral loop. This paper takes as its focus the relationship of strategic planning to strategic change. It hypothesizes that a 'generative' model of planning processes, which I contrast with a more traditional approach to planning, offers the possibility of linking the two concepts more effectively. The argument utilizes learning and cognitive theories to support its point, and locates this discussion within the mainstream of the literature on strategy-making processes. It then delineates the specific differentiating dimensions of the generative model, posits the model's impact on firm performance, and finally, draws out implications for testing.