Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Theory Building in Strategic Management

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics

Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((EVBE,volume 53))

  • 833 Accesses

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to articulate the terrain of foundational issues in strategic management research and suggest a framework for understanding and justifying the generation of knowledge in this field. The authors propose a framework with four dimensions: specification of the strategic decision, identification of decision level, delineation of the purpose of the decision, and specification of the decision context. Freeman and Lorange demonstrate that the proposed framework points towards a building block approach for reaching a full-blown theory of strategy, and that there exists too little theory to enable researchers to integrate the bits and pieces into a coherent whole.

Originally published in: Advances in Strategic Management, 3, 9–38, © Elsevier Books Limited, 1985

Reprint by Springer, Reproduced with permission of The Licensor through PLSclear, DOI 10.1108/astm

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abell, D. 1980. Defining the Business. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abell, D., and J. Hammond. 1979. Strategic Market Planning. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackoff, R. 1974. Redesigning the Future. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1981. Creating the Corporate Future. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich, H. 1979. Organizations and Environments. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, G. 1971. Essence of Decision. Boston: Little Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, K. 1965. The Concept of Corporate Strategy. Homewood: Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1980. The Concept of Corporate Strategy. Rev. ed. Homewood: Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansoff, I. 1965. Corporate Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1976. Managing Strategic Surprise by Response to Weak Signals. California Management Review (Winter). 18: 21–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1977. The State of Practice in Planning Systems. Sloan Management Review. (Winter) 18 (3): 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1979. Strategic Management. New York: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1979a The Changing Shape of the Strategic Problem. In Schendel and Hofer (1979), 30–44, below.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansoff, I., R. Declerk, and R. Hayes, eds. 1976. From Strategic Planning to Strategic Management. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Astley, G., and C. Fombrun. 1982. The Telecommunications Community: An Institutional Overview. Journal of Communication 32 (4): 56–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1983. Collective Strategy: The Social Ecology of Organizational Environments. Academy of Management Review 8 (4): 576–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athos, A., and R. Pascale. 1981. The Art of Japanese Management. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, B. 1982. T. S. Kuhn and Social Science. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bowie, N. 1981. Business Ethics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brams, S. 1983. Superior Beings. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chakravarthy, B. 1981. Managing Coal. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, A. 1962. Strategy and Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1977. The Visible Hand. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, C., K. Andrews, and J. Bower. 1973. Business Policy: Text and Cases. 3rd ed. Homewood: Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • De George, R. 1981. Business Ethics. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • De George, R., and J. Pichler, eds. 1978. Ethics, Free Enterprise, and Public Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dill, W. 1958. Environment as an Influence on Managerial Autonomy. Administrative Science Quarterly 3: 409–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1975. Public Participation in Corporate Planning: Strategic Management in a Kibitzer’s World. Long Range Planning 8 (1): 57–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1976. Strategic Management in a Kibitzer’s World. In From Strategic Planning to Strategic Management, ed. H.I. Ansoff et al., 125–136. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1978. Running the American Corporation. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, R. 1979 Qualitative Research Methods in Strategic Management. In Schendel and Hofer (1979), below.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emshoff, J. 1980. Managerial Breakthroughs. New York: AMACON.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emshoff, J., and A. Finnel. 1979. Designing Corporate Strategy. Sloan Management Review 21 (3): 41–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emshoff, J., and E. Freeman. 1979. Who’s Butting Into Your Business? The Wharton Magazine (Fall) 44–48: 58–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1981. Stakeholder Management: A Case Study of the U.S. Brewers and the Container Issue. Applications of Management Science 1: 57–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emshoff, J., and I. Mitroff. 1978. Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Planning. Business Horizons (Oct.) 21 (4): 49–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evan, W. 1976. Organization Theory: Structure, System and Environment. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, D. 1978. Freedom Inside the Organization. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feyerabend, P. 1975. Against Method. London: Vesso Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Marshfield: Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, E., and D. Reed. 1983. Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance. In Corporate Governance: A Definitive Exploration of the Issues, ed. C. Huizinga. Los Angeles: University of California at Los Angeles Extension.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, P. 1979. The Corporation As A Moral Person. American Philosophical Quarterly 16: 207–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1982. Crowds and Corporations. American Philosophical Quarterly 19: 271–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gluck, F., S. Kaufman, and A. Walleck. 1980. Strategic Management for Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business Review 58 (4): 154–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, N. 1961. About. Mind 70: 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, J., and W. King. 1982. The Logic of Strategic Planning. Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutting, G., ed. 1980. Paradigms and Revolutions. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, R. 1982. Collective Action. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harrigan, K. 1981. Barriers to Entry and Competitive Strategies. Strategic Management Journal 2 (4): 395–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatten, K. 1979 Quantitative Research Methods in Strategic Management. In Sehendel and Hofer (1979), pp. 448–467, Below.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, R., and W. Abernathy. 1980. Managing Our Way to Economic Decline. Harvard Business Review 58 (4): 67–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hempel, C. 1965. Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, B. 1979. Henderson on Corporate Strategy. Cambridge, MA: Abt Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofer, C. 1975. Towards a Contingency Theory of Business Strategy. Academy of Management Journal 18: 784–810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofer, C., and D. Schendel. 1978. Strategy Formulation: Analytical Concepts. St. Paul: West Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofer, C., E. Murray, R. Charan, and R. Pitts. 1980. Strategic Management. St. Paul: West Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huizinga, C., ed. 1983. Corporate Governance: A Definitive Exploration of the Issues. Los Angeles: UCLA Extension.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jemison, D. 1981. The Importance of an Integrative Approach to Strategic Management Research. The Academy of Management Review 6 (4): 601–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1981a. The Contributions of Administrative Behavior to Strategic Management. The Academy of Management Review 6 (4): 633–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R. 1978 The Relations between the Board of Directors and Operating Management. In Dill (1978), above.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos, I. 1981. History of Science and Its Rational Reconstructions. In Scientific Revolutions, ed. I. Hacking, 107–127. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos, I., and A. Musgrave, eds. 1970. Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laudan, L. 1977. Progress and Its Problems. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, P., and J. Lorsch. 1969. Organization and Environment. Homewood: Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindbloom, C. 1977. Politics and Markets. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorange, P. 1979 Formal Planning Systems: Their Role in Strategy Formulation and Implementation. In Schendel and Hofer (1979), pp. 226–241, below.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1980. Corporate Planning: An Executive Viewpoint. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1980a. Evolution des mĂ©thodes de planification. Revue'economique et sociale 38 (3/4): 134–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1983. Strategie Control. In Latest Advances in Strategie Management, ed. R. Lamb. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorange, P., and R. Vancil. 1976. Strategic Planning Systems. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R., and I. Mitroff. 1982. Challenging Strategie Planning Assumptions. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H. 1979. The Structuring of Organizations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitroff, I., and J. Emshoff. 1979. On Strategic Assumption-Making. Academy of Management Review 4 (1): 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery, C. 1982. The Measurement of Firm Diversification: Some New Empirical Evidence. Academy of Management Journal 25 (2): 299–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, R. 1969. Newcomb’s Problem and Two Principles of Choice. In Essays in Honor of C. G. Hempel, ed. N. Rescher et al., 114–146. Dordrecht: Reidei.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, T. 1981. The Excellent Company Study. New York: McKinsey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, T., and R. Waterman. 1982. Searching for Excellence. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., and G. Salancik. 1978. The External Control of Organizations. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. 1980. Competitive Strategy. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quine, W. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quine, W., and J. Ullian. 1978. The Web of Belief. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J. 1981. Strategies for Change. Homewood: Dow Jones–Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothschild, W. 1976. Putting It All Together. New York: AMACOM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, A., R. Mason, and K. Dickel. 1982. Strategic Management and Business Policy. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudner, R. 1966. Philosophy of Social Science. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rumelt, R. 1979. Evaluation of Strategy: Theory and Models. In Schendel and Hofer (1979), pp. 196–212, below.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, C., and J. Thompson. 1980. A Survey of the Current State of Business Policy Research. Strategic Management Journal 1 (2): 119–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schendel, D., and C. Hofer, eds. 1979. Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning. Boston: Little Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 1979a. Introduction. In Schendel and Hofer (1979), pp. 1–22, above.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vancil, R. 1979. Decentralization. Homewood: Dow Jones–Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weidenbaum, M. 1980. Public Policy No Longer A Spectator Sport For Business. The Journal of Business Strategy 1 (1): 46–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wind, Y., and V. Mahajan. 1981. Designing Product and Business Portfolios. Harvard Business Review 59 (1): 155–165.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    R. Edward Freeman

  2. IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Peter Lorange

Authors
  1. R. Edward Freeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter Lorange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Edward Freeman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA

    Sergiy D. Dmytriyev

  2. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    R. Edward Freeman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Freeman, R.E., Lorange, P. (2023). Theory Building in Strategic Management . In: Dmytriyev, S.D., Freeman, R.E. (eds) R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics(), vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04564-6_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation