Is Strategic Management Ideological?

Abstract

This article advocates a new approach to research in strategic managementlbusiness policy. Organizational strategy is viewed as praxis, an action concept that involves integrating theory and practice. This advocacy is based on a critique of the existing ideological underpinnings of the field on five criteria. These include (a) the factual underdetermination of action norms, (b) the universalization of sectional interests, (c) the denial of contradictions and conflicts, (d) the normative idealization of sectional goals, and (e) the naturalization of the status quo. Conceptualizing strategy as praxis, the article suggests ways by which the field can reorient itself to lessen its ideological burden.