Organizations operating in complex social, economic, and policy environments face a fundamental challenge: demonstrating how their actions lead to meaningful and lasting change. Traditional planning and evaluation tools often focus on activities and outputs while leaving underlying assumptions implicit. The Theory of Change framework emerged as a response to this limitation by offering a structured way to articulate causal pathways between interventions and desired outcomes.

One of the most persistent problems in management theory and practice is the gap between strategic intent and day-to-day execution. Organizations often articulate compelling visions yet struggle to convert them into coordinated action across teams and individuals. The OKR framework, short for Objectives and Key Results, emerged as a response to this challenge by offering a structured yet flexible approach to goal setting. At a doctoral level, OKRs should be understood not mer

One of the central challenges in strategic management is not the formulation of strategy but its effective implementation. Organizations frequently articulate ambitious strategies that fail to materialize in practice due to misalignment between formal structures, processes, and the human elements that shape everyday behavior. The McKinsey 7S framework emerged as a response to this implementation gap, offering a holistic lens through which organizations can be analyzed as inte

The AIDA framework and its later evolution into conversion funnel theory remain foundational constructs in marketing scholarship and practice. Although frequently criticized for their linearity and simplicity, these models persist because they offer a structured way to understand how individuals move from initial exposure to eventual action. At a doctoral level of analysis, AIDA should not be treated as a rigid sequence of steps but as a cognitive–behavioral abstraction that

The marketing mix remains one of the most enduring and widely taught frameworks in marketing theory and practice. Despite repeated critiques that it oversimplifies complex market dynamics, the framework persists because it provides a structured way to translate strategy into operational decisions. Originating in the mid-twentieth century, the 4P Marketing Mix was designed to help firms systematically manage controllable variables in pursuit of market objectives. As economies

The Strategic Problem of Heterogeneous Markets Modern markets are characterized by profound heterogeneity in customer needs, preferences, purchasing power, and behavior. The assumption that a single product or marketing strategy can effectively serve an entire market has long been challenged by both empirical evidence and theoretical development. The Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning framework, commonly referred to as STP, emerged as a systematic response to this chall

The Shift from Predictive Control to Adaptive Coordination The Agile and Scrum framework represents a fundamental shift in how organizations conceive, plan, and execute complex work. Emerging initially within software development, Agile challenged traditional, plan-driven project management approaches that assumed stable requirements and predictable outcomes. Scrum, as one of the most widely adopted Agile frameworks, operationalized these principles into a structured yet flex

From Predictive Planning to Learning Under Uncertainty The Minimum Viable Product framework has become one of the most influential concepts in contemporary entrepreneurship and innovation practice. Popularized within the Lean Startup movement, the MVP reframed product development from a linear, prediction-driven process into a learning-oriented cycle grounded in experimentation and feedback. Rather than striving to build fully featured products based on untested assumptions,

Rethinking Competition in Saturated Markets Traditional strategic management has long been grounded in the assumption that firms must compete within clearly defined industry boundaries, striving to outperform rivals through cost leadership, differentiation, or focus. This competitive logic presumes scarcity, rivalry, and zero-sum outcomes. Blue Ocean Strategy emerged as a challenge to this dominant worldview by arguing that long-term superior performance is achieved not by co

The Rise of Design Thinking in Business and Scholarship Over the past two decades, Design Thinking has moved from the margins of design practice into the core of business strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation research. Initially associated with industrial design and creative problem-solving, the framework has been widely adopted by corporations, startups, public institutions, and universities as a structured approach to addressing complex, ill-defined problems. Its appea

Why Value Propositions Became Central to Strategy and Innovation As markets have become increasingly saturated and competitive, firms can no longer rely solely on superior technology, operational efficiency, or scale to sustain competitive advantage. Instead, the ability to clearly articulate and deliver compelling value to customers has emerged as a central concern in strategic management and entrepreneurship. Within this context, the concept of the value proposition has evo

Introduction: Why Business Models Became Central to Strategy Over the past two decades, the concept of the business model has moved from the margins of strategic management discourse to its very center. This shift reflects broader changes in the competitive landscape, including digitalization, platform-based competition, and the increasing importance of innovation beyond products and processes. Traditional strategy frameworks, which focused primarily on industry positioning o

Understanding Competitive Advantage from Within the Firm Strategic management scholarship has long been concerned with explaining why some firms consistently outperform others despite operating in similar industries and environments. While early strategy research emphasized industry structure and competitive positioning, subsequent scholarship shifted attention toward the internal characteristics of firms as the primary drivers of sustained performance differences. The VRIO f

The Enduring Importance of Macro-Environmental Analysis Strategic decision-making in business and entrepreneurship unfolds within complex macro-environmental contexts that extend far beyond firm boundaries and industry dynamics. Political shifts, economic cycles, social transformations, technological change, environmental pressures, and legal frameworks jointly shape the opportunities and constraints faced by organizations. The PEST and its extended variant, PESTEL, have emer

View PDF DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18365324 Few strategic management tools have achieved the enduring recognition and widespread adoption of the SWOT Analysis framework. Despite its apparent simplicity, SWOT analysis continues to be taught in leading business schools, applied in corporate boardrooms, used by entrepreneurs, and referenced in academic research across disciplines including strategy, entrepreneurship, public policy, and international business. SWOT's o

Porter’s Five Forces is a timeless lens for understanding competitive pressure in any industry, and healthcare is no exception. The health sector combines unique regulatory environments, mission-driven providers, and rapidly evolving technology, which means each of Porter’s forces plays out with particular intensity and nuance. Applying the framework helps hospital executives, clinic owners, medtech entrepreneurs, insurers, and health system strategists identify pressure poin

The electric car industry is no longer a speculative market—it’s a global revolution disrupting traditional automotive paradigms. Electric vehicles (EVs) have moved from niche status to the center stage of transportation. With global sales climbing steadily, aggressive investments by automakers, and growing policy support for green energy, it’s crucial to understand the strategic dynamics influencing this space. One of the most effective tools for analyzing these dynamics is

This integrated research paper in its examination points out the key strategic issues and prospects of the US auto industry, including shif