In the view of F. Graetz, strategic thinking and planning
are “distinct, but interrelated and complementary thought processes” that must
sustain and support one another for effective strategic management. Graetz's
model holds that the role of strategic thinking is "to seek innovation and
imagine new and very different futures that may lead the company to redefine
its core strategies and even its industry". Strategic planning's role is
"to realise and to support strategies developed through the strategic
thinking process and to integrate these back into the business".
Henry Mintzberg wrote in 1994 that strategic thinking is
more about synthesis (i.e., "connecting the dots") than analysis
(i.e., "finding the dots"). It is about "capturing what the
manager learns from all sources (both the soft insights from his or her
personal experiences and the experiences of others throughout the organization and
the hard data from market research and the like) and then synthesizing that
learning into a vision of the direction that the business should pursue."
Mintzberg argued that strategic thinking cannot be
systematized and is the critical part of strategy formation, as opposed to
strategic planning exercises. In his view, strategic planning happens around
the strategy formation or strategic thinking activity, by providing inputs for
the strategist to consider and providing plans for controlling the
implementation of the strategy after it is formed.
According to Jeanne Liedtka, strategic thinking differs from
strategic planning along the following dimensions of strategic management:
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