Mapping Strategic Management Research

DURING the last two decades, in particular, there has developed a substantial body of literature in the fields of strategic management, strategic planning, corporate and business policy, and related topics. This literature owes much to the prior writings of Alfred Chandler [10] and the decades of case writing and research undertaken at Harvard Business School by many learned professors. Indeed, Harvard's tradition of leadership in this field dates from 1914 when it first introduced a course requirement for business policy into the business school program. The term strategic management is of relatively recent origin [49] and is currently the accepted term for the fields of business policy and planning. However, as a separate field of study, it is still at a fairly young and relatively evolutionary stage. As a result, many definitions of strategy abound, and the terms "strategic planning," "policy," and "strategic management" often mean precisely the same thing to different authors. Whilst conflict about definitions, confusion and an abundance of jargon characterize scientific endeavor in an emerging field [32] this paper will focus on the following definitions of strategy.