Strategic tools: an empirical investigation into strategy in practice in the UK

At the core of strategic planning has been the use of strategic tools and frameworks such as the ubiquitous SWOT analysis and a variety of frameworks bearing Michael Porter's moniker. There has been a tendency for generic tools to be developed and disseminated to industry, with a one‐type‐fits‐all approach. Planning and the use of tools have largely been dismissed in much contemporary, particularly European practice‐based, strategic literature. This paper argues that the use of strategic tools has a place in contemporary strategic management. However, the traditional prescriptive rationale for strategic frameworks is replaced with a practice‐based set of reasons advocating the use of strategic tools. The paper advocates the use of strategic tools in a variety of strategic contexts including planning. However, it is shown that groupings of strategic tool usage can be identified which might indicate that business and business schools should reconsider how they apply, learn and disseminate strategic framework.