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Title:
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FROM MINTZBERG'S CRITIQUE TO CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE: THIRTY YEARS OF STRATEGIC THINKING AMID COMPLEXITY, ACTION AND ADAPTATION |
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Author(s):
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João N. Roncati |
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ISBN:
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978-989-8704-73-3 |
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Editors:
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Adriana Backx Noronha Viana and Pedro Isaías |
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Year:
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2025 |
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Edition:
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Single |
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Keywords:
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Strategy, Planning, Mintzberg, Strategy-as-Practice, Dynamic Capabilities, Strategic Management |
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Type:
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Concise Paper |
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First Page:
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71 |
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Last Page:
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73 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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Paper Abstract:
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This paper revisits Henry Mintzberg's seminal critique of strategic planning and explores the trajectory of strategic thinking over the past three decades. Mintzberg's distinction between strategy and planning remains a cornerstone for understanding how organizations navigate complexity, unpredictability, and volatility. Building on my earlier research (Roncati, 2000), the article examines how the conceptual separation of strategyas positioning, emergent, and adaptiveand planningas resource allocation and implementationhas evolved into a complementary dynamic that continues to shape both scholarship and practice. The study connects Mintzberg's propositions to more recent theoretical advances, particularly the Strategy-as-Practice (SaP) perspective, as well as the literatures on dynamic capabilities, organizational ambidexterity, and micro-foundations. These approaches reinforce the view of strategy as a social and adaptive process, constructed by actors and embedded in organizational culture, while planning functions as a disciplined mechanism of coordination and execution. The analysis emphasizes the ongoing need for methodological pluralism and highlights the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven tools in scenario formulation, decision-making, and the continuous refinement of strategic hypotheses. By tracing how Mintzberg's original provocations have inspired subsequent conceptual and practical developments, this article argues that the separation between strategy and planning not only remains valid but is essential for contemporary organizations. The contribution lies in reframing strategy as dynamic, contextual, and practice-oriented, and in offering updated pathways for researchers and practitioners seeking to strengthen strategic formulation and implementation under conditions of complexity and accelerated change |
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