Knowledge-Based Strategy Development: An Integrated Approach

Strategy development is a rational decision making process, carried out by a group of managers aiming to match the organization’s resources to the opportunities arising from its competitive environment. We argue that, in order to develop successful strategic plans, contemporary business organizations should exploit features from diverse disciplines to attain a synthesis of the strategists’ highly specialized state-of-the-art knowledge. In this paper, we present a collaborative framework where Decision Support Systems and Knowledge Management Systems features are integrated for the appropriate handling of strategic management issues. Based on a well-defined ontology model that interweaves concepts from the Knowledge Management, Argumentation Theory, Decision Making and Multicriteria Decision Aid disciplines, our framework enables strategists to collaborate and accomplish a common understanding of different user perspectives. Furthermore, it assists them in reaching a decision by exploiting the organization’s knowledge resources.