Publication

This paper assesses the extent to which contemporary thinking on business strategy can shed light on the way militaries make strategy. The author argues that because business strategy literature has advanced considerably faster than that on military strategy, it makes sense to reverse the traditional business-as-war metaphor. The paper provides a brief overview of classical strategy making, and describes alternative models developed in business strategy theory in the 1970s. Setting out several lessons armed forces could learn from business, the author concludes that alternative business strategy thinking can remind military planners of the limitations of classical strategy planning.