How Useful Are the Strategic Tools We Teach in Business Schools?
研究了经理人使用战略工具时的内在逻辑，发现他们偏好同时使用多个工具来获得不同视角和关联思考，这对改进工具设计和培养管理能力有启示。
abstract Strategic tools are indispensible for business and competitive analysis. Yet we know very little about managers' internal logic as they put these tools into practical use. We situate our study in a business school context using action learning prior to the manifestation of practice to complement our understanding of practice. Using P ersonal C onstruct T heory and R epertory G rids, our mid‐range theorizing showed that, contrary to current thinking about strategic tools, managers think in dualities (often paradoxically) and have a preference for multiple‐tools‐in‐use, tools that provide different perspectives, peripheral vision, connected thinking, simultaneously help differentiate and integrate complex issues, and guide the thinking process. These findings are important for designing better tools and the nurturing of critical managerial competencies needed for a complicated world. Our study's focus also has wider implications for scholars as we see our own material evaluated by those who will put these lessons into practice.