Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • September 2012
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy

By: A. G. Lafley, Roger L. Martin, Jan W. Rivkin and Nicolaj Siggelkow
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

For all its emphasis on data and number crunching, conventional strategic planning is not actually scientific. It lacks the hypothesis generation and testing that's at the heart of the scientific method. To produce novel and successful strategies, teams need to adopt a step-by-step process in which creative thinking yields possibilities, or hypotheses, and rigorous analysis tests them. They should ask what must be true for a given possibility to succeed—and explore whether those conditions hold.

Keywords

Strategic Planning; Science

Citation

Lafley, A. G., Roger L. Martin, Jan W. Rivkin, and Nicolaj Siggelkow. "Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy." Harvard Business Review 90, no. 9 (September 2012).
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Purchase

About The Author

Jan W. Rivkin

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • July 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Introduction to the RC Strategy Course, Fall 2025

    By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Jan Rivkin, Josh Baron, John Mulliken, Ashish Nanda, Henrique Castro-Pires, Carolyn Fu and Quan Le
    • June 2025
    • Strategic Management Journal

    Outcome and Process Frames: Strategic Renewal and Capability Reprioritization at the Federal Bureau of Investigation

    By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin
    • May 2025
    • Faculty Research

    BlackRock (A): Selling the Systems?

    By: Jan Rivkin
More from the Authors
  • Introduction to the RC Strategy Course, Fall 2025 By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Jan Rivkin, Josh Baron, John Mulliken, Ashish Nanda, Henrique Castro-Pires, Carolyn Fu and Quan Le
  • Outcome and Process Frames: Strategic Renewal and Capability Reprioritization at the Federal Bureau of Investigation By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin
  • BlackRock (A): Selling the Systems? By: Jan Rivkin
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.