Why Strategy Teaching Should be Theory Based

Abstract

The rivalry between business policy and strategy analysis that played out at Harvard Business School during the 1980s remains an unresolved debate in strategic management teaching. I argue that developing managers with the knowledge and insight needed to make sound strategic decisions and guide the development of their organizations is best served by strategy teaching that is rooted in theory. My argument is based on my observations of how complex business situations are understood by the actors involved and the basis on which they form their judgments. To the extent that complex strategic situations are perceived through a cognitive framework, it is better such frameworks are derived from empirically validated theory than from folk wisdom, the gospel according to Warren Buffett, or an atheoretic classificatory system (such as SWOT analysis).