Ways of Seeing: Competing Vistas on Organizational Improvisation

Abstract

The traditional strategy paradigm tends to associate strategic management with market structures, precluding a careful analysis of the micro-processes involved in strategy making. One such process is improvisation. There is no place for improvisation in the industrial organization approach. If an Austrian approach to strategy is adopted, a different view emerges, one in which competition is a moving target rather than a stable structure. From an Austrian view, improvisation may be a necessity for competing in changing environments. The paper discusses improvisation from an Austrian perspective, presenting it as a process embedded in Schumpeterian environments.