Is comprehensiveness in making strategic decisions always helpful?

Abstract

Extant research provides incongruous answers to the question whether higher comprehensiveness in making strategic decisions is always desirable. To motivate a resolution, we study outcomes of decision-comprehensiveness by modeling strategic decision-making as an emergent process, accomplished through learning by managers over time for organizations focusing on exploration or exploitation, over short or long time horizons, in stable and changing environments. Three out of the eight resultant scenarios favor higher comprehensiveness, and two favor lower comprehensiveness. The remaining three scenarios call for a more nuanced consideration of the comprehensiveness construct. Our research enriches managerial decision-making by highlighting circumstances where higher comprehensiveness is beneficial or detrimental to the quality of a strategic decision. JEL Classification: D70, D81, D91