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50th Anniversay Article: The Strategy Field from the Perspective of Management Science: Divergent Strands and Possible Integration

Harvard Business School, 237 Morgan Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 02163
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2000 Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
levinthal{at}wharton.upenn.edu

We reflect on the evolution of the strategy field as seen through the window of Management Science. Reflecting the diverse disciplinary roots of strategy research, we identify a broad-ranging body of work that varies with respect to the assumptions made regarding individual rationality and the level of analysis at which the research is carried out. We argue that recent developments begin to delineate a potentially unifying conceptual framework for treating the field's defining questions—the conceptual apparatus of evolutionary economics. We conclude by laying out important challenges for evolutionary economics if it is to serve as a foundation for both the positive and the normative research agendas of the strategy field.

Key Words: business strategy; evolutionary economics; behavioral theory of the firm

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