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The Design School

Design School

The book Strategy Safari describes the design school as “strategy formation as a process of conception.” I could not agree more with this statement. This school started it all and laid the foundation for strategic management.
In simpler terms, the design school can be compared to raising a child. When a child is born, we take great lengths taking care and making sure nothing happens to him. We unsurprisingly adopt the basic design school model (figure 2-1 on p. 26) to ensure only the best for our child. Although this school has faced many criticisms, we cannot blame the school’s proponents for thinking this is the silver bullet. As we raise our child, we examine the threats and opportunities surrounding him, assess his distinctive competencies at an early age, evaluate key success factors for his future, create a strategy based on our judgment, and start implementing it with fervor. Although this frame of thought definitely has some arguments in its favor, it leaves out other important considerations which could actually make this strategy better. Although I was raised this way, I could see several loopholes in this strategy. I am not criticizing my parents, and others in this regard—I truly believe our parents have nothing but the best intentions for us—but I just think there is a better way in raising a child; and running a corporation for this matter. Just as the book says, we ask ourselves “how are we able to know the strengths of a corporation which is not even running yet?” The design school is more of a superficial approach of analyzing a corporation than actually delving into its critical details. It is like looking at a young boy and saying he will be a good athlete in the future by simply basing it on his current body structure. My parents wanted me to become an engineer because it was a respected occupation. It just was not my calling and, fortunately, I was able to persuade them that my career path would be in the field of...