Body of Knowledge Guide

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The purpose of this guide is to help users of the Body of Knowledge understand the strategic management concepts and themes by organizing the terms by theme.

The research that created this Body of Knowledge was instrumental in creating regenerative managing. Follow the link here to find out more about it:

An Introduction to Regenerative Managing

The terms in the Body of Knowledge are related to one anther. They are part of broader conceptual themes. A given term may belong to more than one theme. For example, the term 'business model' belongs to multiple themes -- the inquiry theme, the business organization theme, and the strategic framework themes.

Following are some themes and a hierarchy of terms related to each theme.

  • ""If x is a sufficient cause of y, then the presence of x necessarily implies the presence of y....
  • See value system.
  • survival -- includes persistence, evolution, and transformation (Burrell...
  • ""Meeting humanity's needs without harming future generations. It's an old ideal, broadly endorsed...
  • Objective of strategy -- Sustainable competitive advantage is the ultimate objective of strategy....
  • Sustaining innovation stands in contrast to disruptive innovation. Sustaining technology or...
  • Symbols, the basis for communication (Stacey, 2001, 102) - A symbol is a thing that represents...
  • See knowledge.
  • Synthesis is the complement of analysis, which produces knowledge, which enables us to describe....
  • A synthetic thinking orientation focuses the efforts to understand and design systems on the...
  • A system is an abstraction used to explain organization. As such, system is a perspective of...
  • Systems archetypes are representations of common complex system dynamics. They are represented by...
  • The four fundamental aspects of social systems are essential to the inquiry process used to reveal...
  • System attributes are the fundamental elements that make a particular system what it is. The...
  • System characteristics describe the fundamental behaviors associated with a particular system type...
  • System dynamics, a part of systems theory, is a method for understanding the dynamic behavior of...
  • A system of record has the following attributes -- Decision record: Expectations, assumptions,...
  • A system's purpose is a composite of multiple purposes. These purposes can be referred to as...
  • One way of classifying systems is based on the purposefulness of the parts and the whole. Based on...
  • System variables are defined for the purpose of inquiry upon a particular system type. Inquiry...
  • With system-environment thinking, the dominant focus is on the relationship of the parts. Also...
  • Systemic refers to the systemic process view of business organizations as systems. From this...
  • Systemic process refers to a view of organizational dynamics and a way of thinking about those...
  • See general systems theory.
  • Changing a system is challenging due to its complexity. This complexity calls for a true...
  • Systems inquiry -- Systems inquiry is inquiry to understand systems, especially the whole of...
  • See general systems theory.
  • See science for an explanation of science, sciences, and branches of science.
  • See general systems theory.
  • Systems theory, or general systems theory, deals with the study of whole systems -- their...
  • The term systems thinking is used in a variety of manners and contexts. There are several...
  • Kim (1994) describes four broad categories of systems thinking tools. Theses tools form the syntax...
  • Same as implicit knowledge, knowledge resulting from experience but not necessarily explicitly...
  • Takt time is the available production time per day divided by the number of items the customer is...
  • Technology is the application of human knowledge to work. (Drucker, 1985, p 11)OED: "A discourse...
  • Teleological cause is an answer to the question of ""why"" a particular phenomenon becomes what it...
  • See organizational theory.
  • Teleology is a philosophical doctrine that final cause exists- the end or purpose for which a thing...
  • A theme is a pervading idea which serves to organize and align a strategy, objectives, offerings,...
  • ""A theory is a statement predicting which actions will lead to what results and why"" (Christensen...
  • A phrase used by Peter F. Drucker to describe the assumptions used to build an organization. These...
  • See firm theory of.
  • Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human nature with their implications for organization and...
  • Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human nature with their implications for organization and...
  • See ""ways of thinking.""
  • Threat perception is defined as a deep sense of vulnerability that is assumed to be negative,...
  • See modularity.
  • See propositional theme.
  • Traditional thinking refers to the thinking that has traditionally permeated the mindsets, models,...
  • Existing outside of nature or not explainable by the laws of nature, such as an innate capabilities...
  • Kant, then, developed transcendental idealism as an alternative to realism, on the one hand, and...
  • Transformation is an economic offering. The process to transform brings about a lasting change in...
  • Transformations are a type of economic offering. Transformations are guided by elicitors for...
  • See causality.
  • This is the functional or unitary form of business-organization that first developed with the...
  • Same as unbounded design. See idealized design.
  • Understanding is the ability to comprehend something, including percieving its significance or the...
  • 'Unjustified variation' in contrast to 'rational variation.' ""The emphasis on unjustified makes a...
  • In the broadest sense, the purpose of a business-organization is to produce value. Value produced...
  • See value system.
  • A value proposition is essentially the offer to provide value by a business to its market. The...
  • See value system.
  • A value system is the network of organizations and the value producing activities involved in the...
  • An organization's values, along with its reason for being, make up its ideology. There is no...
  • For new patterns to emerge in organization, there must be a source for variation -- a difference...
  • A vicious circle is a system of elements whose cause and effect reinforce one another to produce...
  • A virtuous circle is one where a recurring cycle of events in one event increasing the beneficial...
  • A virtuous cycle is a cycle of growth where success in successive elements in the loop of the cycle...
  • Vision is one of the four key elements making up the purpose of an organization. The...
  • Applying Barney's (1991) VRIN framework can determine if a resource is a source of sustainable...
  • See strategic management activities for explanations of the four stages of strategic management...
  • Ways of thinking -- There are several types or ways of thinking. Each of these ways of thinking...
  • Wealth is created by a business organization that provides a unique value to its environment by...
  • Wisdom is a combination of judgment and understanding built upon knowledge and experience. Wisdom...
  • The term worldview comes from the German Weltanschauung, which refers to the total system of values...
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