In Search for a New Paradigm

Lalit Manral ()
Additional contact information
Lalit Manral: University of Central Oklahoma

Chapter Chapter 16 in Dynamic Strategy, 2025, pp 295-313 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter lays out the case for a new guiding paradigm to shape further theoretical development of strategic management—defined broadly as the study of behavior and performance of profit-seeking firms—as a science of corporate life. A new paradigm in turn requires a clear understanding of the ontological foundations of theories within the current paradigm of sustainable competitive advantage and the ontological issues that motivate its replacement. The ontological foundations of extant theories in strategic management remain inadequate as axiomatic foundations for theories that intend to focus on the dynamics of strategic firm behavior in dynamic competitive environments. The conceptualization of dynamic strategy, like other theoretical endeavors, must focus on two distinct albeit related issues: (a) description of reality and (b) tools for analysis. The bimodal reality of evolutionary ontology, which maintains a dichotomy between the cognitive world (i.e., subject world) and the real world (i.e., object world), seems to be the natural position for the field of strategic management. What are the implications of adopting an evolutionary ontology for theorizing about the dynamics of strategy? This chapter explicates the paradigmatic-ontological foundations of a descriptive theory of dynamic strategy and the accompanying analytical framework, Evolutionary Strategy Dynamics (ESD). The choice of evolutionary ontology determines the: (a) framework for the conceptual elements of the [evolutionary] theory of dynamic strategy and (b) epistemology for the boundary conditions of the [evolutionary] theory of dynamic strategy.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-00228-0_16

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783032002280

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-00228-0_16

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().