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

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).