Strategic Management, Evolutionary Economics, and Complex Adaptive Systems

This chapter sketches a strategic map of a selection of the relevant issues at the intersection of economics, psychology, sociology, and evolutionary theories applied to strategic management. It takes an evolutionary complexity perspective, based on a (manageable) selection of the relevant literature. The discussion focuses on evolutionary processes of change and their implications for strategic planning and related issues of organisation. The chapter concludes by discussing practical and research issues. INtrODUctION This chapter argues that the process of strategic management is analogous to evolution and learning processes (Alchian, 1950; Dopfer, 2001; Veblen, 1898). We argue that economic evolution based on competition, cooperation (Nash 1953; Von Neumann 1945), innovation, and tradition in organizations (Nelson & Winter, 1982; Schumpeter, 1993) is structurally comparable to evolutionary processes in biology (Goertzel, 1992; Kane, 1996; Smith & Szathmary, 1995; Standish, 2000). Therefore, an evolutionary framework can be used to integrate planning and management processes in strategy making. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-962-5.ch008