Economic Foundations of Strategic Management

An enduring problem facing the field of strategic management is the lack of theoretical foundations available to describe and predict the behaviour of firms and markets. This study examines present theories in search of theoretical foundations on which future strategic management theory rest.

This book explores the extent to which economic theory is able to provide the theoretical foundations of strategic management. To this end it draws on the philosophy of science; microeconomic theory; and different approaches to strategic management. The work shows that many of the propositions of strategic management are deducible from the economic theories considered. It argues that these propositions should be made open to empirical testing and that a unified theory of strategic management should be developed. Thus the book addresses a current major concern of theorists - that strategy remains ’atheoretical’ and that this reduces the predictive power of the subject and hampers further theory development. The essential contribution made is that economic theory should be systematically explored in order to establish the foundations of business strategy.