Purpose – To develop a coherent model of several schools of strategic ideas. Utilizing and building upon the models extant in the literature, but also considering a change of epistemological and systemic paradigms.
Design/Approach - An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.
Findings – The result of the analysis of the literature is that a seven school model is postulated. The seven schools being grouped within three categories. The first category is labeled the Classical Schools and includes the Design school, the Planing school and the Positioning school. The second category is labeled the Neo-classical Schools and includes the Contingency school and the Resource school. The third category is labeled the Post Classical Schools and includes the Learning school and the Emergence school.
Practical implications – The concept of strategic emergence, a characteristic of a Complex Self-adapting System, is developed.
Originality/value – Very little work, especially in strategy has been done outside the Modernist paradigm (Parker, 2002). This paper explores the possibility of incorporating open system ideas into a strategic methodology.
Keywords - Strategy, Critical Management Studies (CMS), Positivist, Modernist, Postmodernist, Cybernetic Systems, Complex Self-adapting Systems.