DEFINING A SPECTRUM FOR STRATEGIC THINKING

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature of strategic thinking and to construct a spectrum for it made of monochromatic thinking models. I design a framework defined by four basic dimensions which come from the nature of the future. These dimensions are: time, complexity, uncertainty, and innovation. For each dimension I define three basic monochromatic thinking models and specify for each of them the main feature. Then, I analyze each model capability of describing events and phenomena from the future and decide if it fits or not into the spectrum of strategic thinking. The main idea of this paper is based on the metaphor of the property of white light to be decomposed by a prism into a spectrum of monochromatic colors. That means that strategic thinking is a rather complex mental phenomenon that can be decomposed into a spectrum of simple monochromatic thinking models. All of these thinking models co-exist in our mind more or less, but only some of them are fitted for being a part of the strategic thinking spectrum.