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Managing strategies incrementally

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  • Quinn, James Brian

Abstract

When sophisticated large organizations make significant changes in strategy, the approaches they use frequently bear little resemblance to the rational-analytical systems so often touted in the planning literature. Such systems are rarely the source of overall corporate strategies. Instead, the processes used to generate major strategies are typically fragmented and evolutionary with a high degree of intuitive content. Although one usually finds imbedded in these fragments some very refined pieces of formal analysis, overall strategies tend to emerge as a series of conscious internal decisions blend and interact with changing external events to slowly mutate key managers' broad consensus about what patterns of action make sense for the future. Based on a multi-year study of how large companies change their strategies, this article summarizes why strategic managers do proceed incrementally and how they manage the complex process of generating an overall strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Quinn, James Brian, 1982. "Managing strategies incrementally," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 613-627.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:10:y:1982:i:6:p:613-627
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    Cited by:

    1. Cho, Yonghee & Yoon, Seong-Pil & Kim, Karp-Soo, 2016. "An industrial technology roadmap for supporting public R&D planning," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Olerup, Brita, 2002. "Mitigating global warming: traditional versus alternative approaches in a planning versus a market context," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 709-716, June.
    3. Steensen, Elmer Fly, 2014. "Five types of organizational strategy," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 266-281.
    4. Jan-Erik Johanson & Elias Pekkola & Päivi Husman, 2017. "Government Programme as a Strategy—The Finnish Experience," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Choi, Ty, 1995. "Conceptualizing continuous improvement: Implications for organizational change," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 607-624, December.
    6. Bettis-Outland, Harriette, 2012. "Decision-making's impact on organizational learning and information overload," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 814-820.
    7. Kowalkowski, Christian & Kindström, Daniel & Alejandro, Thomas Brashear & Brege, Staffan & Biggemann, Sergio, 2012. "Service infusion as agile incrementalism in action," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 765-772.
    8. Dan Lovallo & Olivier Sibony, 2018. "Broadening the Frame: How Behavioral Strategy Redefines Strategic Decisions," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 658-667, December.
    9. Sami A. Khan, 2006. "Dynamics of Change: The Road Ahead," Vision, , vol. 10(1), pages 61-68, January.

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