A critical analysis of schools of strategic management Essay

A critical analysis of schools of strategic management - Essay Example Strategic management is the way of finding gaps in the current performance of the organization and to design, formulate and implement new steps in order to fill these gaps and to align the organizational functions with the pre settled objectives. It is the method of aligning all the activities being undertaken in the organization such as management, marketing, research and development and Computer information system in a prescribed way to achieve the goals of the organization.In order to effectively undertake the process of strategic planning and implementation different thinkers have presented theories, which have been divide into different schools of thoughts. The paper undertakes a comprehensive critical analysis of the underlying assumptions, perspectives and paradigmatic stance taken in these models. The chosen schools of thoughts are:The first step namely the strategy formulation involves the development of the business mission, evaluation of the opportunities and threats faced by the business organization in the business, by using tools such as SWOT analysis, examining the strengths and weaknesses of the business, determining the long term objectives of the business and designing the new strategies to eke in the process of achieving the new targets. It also include the processes to determine the investment direction, the business markets to be addressed, extension of the operations of the business, limitations faced by the business in order to undertake the business activities. ... The classic models for developing strategy, known as the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and called the "Design School Model" by Mintzberg et al. (1998) has been presented in the proceeding section. SWOT Analysis: So strategies are SO, WO, ST, and WT Strategies to take advantage of external opportunities. All managers would like their organizations to be in position where internal strengths can be used to take advantage of external trends and events. Organizations generally will pursue WO, ST, or WT Strategies in order to get into a situation where they can apply SO Strategies. When a firm has major weaknesses, it will strive to overcome them and make them strengths. When an organization faces major threats, it will seek to avoid them in order to concentrate on opportunities. As indicated in the Information Technology Perspective, immense opportunities are available to many firms today from wireless communication advances in technology. (David, 180) WO Strategies aim at improving internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities. Sometimes key external opportunities exist, but a firm has internal weaknesses that prevent it from exploiting those opportunities. For example, there may be a high demand for electronic devices to control the amount and timing of fuel injection in automobile engines (opportunity), but a certain auto parts manufacturer may lack the technology required for producing these devices (weakness). One possible WO Strategy would be to acquire this technology by forming a joint venture with a firm having competency in this area. An alternative WO Strategy would be to hire and train people with the required technical capabilities (David, 180). ST Strategies use