constitutive elements of "strategic thinking" construct

abstract: new approaches to strategy have accepted strategic thinking as a complement or even an alternative for strategic planning. indeed, strategic thinking capability has been recognized as a characteristic of successful top managers in organizations. moreover, the extant literature emphasizes the fact that top level managers can be taught to think strategically. however, there is no comprehensive model of strategic thinking components that can be used as a base for assessing managers' strategic thinking level and training based on the results of the assessment. thus, in this study we propose a model of strategic thinking elements based on reviewing the extant literature and extracting the related components. this model can be used for designing an assessment tool and planning for managers training programs. furthermore, it can be a starting point for future researches on strategic thinking, especially the ones that examine its relation to other types of thinking, including systems thinking and entrepreneurial thinking.