Issues management as a basis for strategic orientation

Abstract

Abstract A firm's strategic orientation is a complex function of many factors that are both internal and external to the organisation, and managerial attempts to exert control over these forces have resulted in a wealth of models and prescriptions for performing the many functions of strategic management. The issues management (IM) approach provides a solid foundation for addressing the important task of environmental monitoring. In this paper, the authors present an alternative view of issues management by focusing attention on the organisational prerequisites for it to be performed properly. This approach is based on the ‘Intelligence – Design – Choice – Implementation – Feedback (Learning) – Intelligence’ model of decision making. The authors argue for a reorientation of issues management in the direction of increased emphasis on the diagnostic (intelligence) activities. Their conclusion is that thinking strategically implies that the organisation actively employs systems thinking as the means for uncovering assumptions, identifying and classifying signals from the environment, and generating and testing hypotheses about the conclusions drawn from this process. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.

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