The foundations of strategic thinking: Effectual, strategic, and causal reasoning

Abstract

In this chapter, we dissect the differences between strategic planning and strategic thinking and suggest that traditional methods of planning no longer yield the benefits as in the past. Our analysis lays this failure on the use of a causal reasoning logic that alone no longer benefits organizations. Then we also examine foundational beliefs underpinning strategic thinking by examining the connections among the logic of entrepreneurial, causal, and strategic reasoning. In this analysis we distinguish two binary forms of thinking—causal and effectual—to frame our discussion, and then in the Hegelian tradition we press on to form a higher category of transcendent reconciliation through dialectic synthesis to introduce strategic reasoning. We end by picturing how strategic thinking concepts can form a new organizational change model that supersedes traditional planning. We call this model the strategic thinking protocol, which incorporates the logics of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.