The nature of management frameworks

Abstract

A management framework (like the Business Model Canvas or SWOT) is a combination of interlinked items that support a particular approach to a specific objective. Various management frameworks are widely used even though their origins, adoption, and value remain vague. Previous research tried to decipher the adoption of these management frameworks, whereas considerably less attention was devoted to the theoretical explanation of the development and value of the frameworks. This paper investigates the nature of management frameworks in particular realms using analogical reasoning between biological and social systems, and mostly draws on memetics, intersubjective reality, and the network effect. By using memetics, the explanations on the origins of well-known frameworks are complemented. Second, the paper shows the role of the network effect in the growing value of a framework until it becomes an intersubjective reality. Finally, such a framework is explained as autopoietic within a particular realm.