IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v28y2007i5p535-551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choice, chance, and inevitability in strategy

Author

Listed:
  • Mark de Rond
  • Raymond‐Alain Thietart

Abstract

We propose a theory to manage the uneasy relation between strategic choice, chance, and determinism (or inevitability). To do so, we locate arguments in intellectual history that have a clear bearing on this relation. We introduce and defend four conjectures that outline the relationship between each of them and their comparative significance. The paper thus aims at achieving three objectives: (a) to articulate a philosophically sustainable theory of strategic choice that corroborates experience (without being induced by it); (b) to synthesize what remains one of the most sustained debates in strategy, namely the nature, role, and relation of choice, chance and determinism; and (c) to contribute to developing a foundation for multilevel research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark de Rond & Raymond‐Alain Thietart, 2007. "Choice, chance, and inevitability in strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 535-551, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:28:y:2007:i:5:p:535-551
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.602
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/smj.602?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei Shi & Brian L. Connelly & Jeremy D. Mackey & Abhinav Gupta, 2019. "Placing their bets: The influence of strategic investment on CEO pay‐for‐performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2047-2077, December.
    2. Derbyshire, James & Wright, George, 2017. "Augmenting the intuitive logics scenario planning method for a more comprehensive analysis of causation," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 254-266.
    3. Abatecola, Gianpaolo, 2014. "Research in organizational evolution. What comes next?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 434-443.
    4. Bohnsack, René & Kurtz, Hannes & Hanelt, André, 2021. "Re-examining path dependence in the digital age: The evolution of connected car business models," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    5. Raghu Garud & Arun Kumaraswamy & Peter Karnøe, 2010. "Path Dependence or Path Creation?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 760-774, June.
    6. Gianpaolo Abatecola & Gabriele Mandarelli & Sara Poggesi, 2013. "The personality factor: how top management teams make decisions. A literature review," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(4), pages 1073-1100, November.
    7. Daniele Tumidei & Constantinos Alexiou & Michael Bourne, 2021. "A choice and inevitability framework in strategic management: empirical evidence of its real-life existence," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1729-1766, August.
    8. Santos, Susana C. & Caetano, António & Brochado, Ana, 2023. "Why am I so successful? Self-presentation and deliberative attributions of success in entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    9. Jean‐Philippe Vergne & Rodolphe Durand, 2010. "The Missing Link Between the Theory and Empirics of Path Dependence: Conceptual Clarification, Testability Issue, and Methodological Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 736-759, June.
    10. Marina Boykova & Helena Knyazeva & Mikhail Salazkin, 2023. "History and Modern Landscape of Futures Studies," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 17(4), pages 80-91.
    11. Ursula Weisenfeld, 2009. "Serendipity as a Mechanism of Change and its Potential for Explaining Change Processes," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 20(2), pages 138-148.
    12. Ohid Yaqub, 2016. "Serendipity: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-17, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Perren, Lew, 2013. "Strategic discourses of ‘competitive advantage’: Comparing social representation of causation in academia and practice," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 235-246.
    14. Raymond-Alain Thietart, 2016. "Strategy dynamics: Agency, path dependency, and self-organized emergence," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 774-792, April.
    15. Eric von Hippel & Georg von Krogh, 2016. "CROSSROADS—Identifying Viable “Need–Solution Pairs”: Problem Solving Without Problem Formulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 207-221, February.
    16. Jan-Erik Vahlne & Jan Johanson, 2017. "From internationalization to evolution: The Uppsala model at 40 years," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1087-1102, December.
    17. Manuel Hensmans & George Yip & Gerry Johnson, 2011. "Traditions of Renewal - How four traditions linking emotion and cognition in different ways allow for strategic renewal ahead of one’s time," Working Papers CEB 11-020, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Markus A. Fitza, 2017. "How much do CEOs really matter? Reaffirming that the CEO effect is mostly due to chance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 802-811, March.
    19. Horner, Sam & Jayawarna, Dilani & Giordano, Benito & Jones, Oswald, 2019. "Strategic choice in universities: Managerial agency and effective technology transfer," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1297-1309.
    20. Jerker Denrell & Christina Fang & Chengwei Liu, 2015. "Perspective—Chance Explanations in the Management Sciences," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 923-940, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:28:y:2007:i:5:p:535-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.