Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process

by Raymond E. Miles, Charles C. Snow

"Books and articles come and go, endlessly. But a few do stick, and this book is such a one. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process broke fresh ground in the understanding of strategy at a time when thinking about strategy was still in its early days, and it has not been displaced since." ―David J. Hickson, Emeritus Professor of International Management & Organization, University of Bradford School of Management Originally published in 1978, Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process became an instant classic, as it bridged the formerly separate fields of strategic management and organizational behavior. In this Stanford Business Classics reissue, noted strategy scholar Donald Hambrick provides a new introduction that describes the book's contribution to the field of organization studies. Miles and Snow also contribute new introductory material to update the book's central concepts and themes. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process focuses on how organizations adapt to their environments. The book introduced a theoretical framework composed of a dynamic adaptive cycle and an empirically based strategy typology showing four different types of adaptation. This framework helped to define subsequent research by other scholars on important topics such as configurational analysis, organizational fit, strategic human resource management, and multi-firm network organizations.

Genres: Business, Management

274 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1978

About the author

Selected Papers and Publications

- Collaborative Entrepreneurship, Stanford University Press, 2005. With Grant Miles and Charles C. Snow.
- Fit, Failure, and the Hall of Fame: How Companies Succeed or Fail, with Charles Snow. New York: The Free Press, 1994.
- “Network Organizations: New Concepts for New Forms.” California Management Review(Spring 1986).
- Organization by Design: Theory and Practice, editor and contributor, with J. Jelinek and J. Litterer. Plano, Texas: Business Publications, Inc., 1986.
- Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process, with Charles C. Snow. McGraw-Hill, 1978. (Japanese, German and Chinese language editions). Reissued, with commentary, in the Stanford Business Classics series, 2003.
- Theories of Management: Implications for Organizational Behavior and Development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.
- Organizational Behavior: Research and Issues, editor and contributor, with George Strauss, et al. Wadsworth, 1976; IRRA, 1974.
- “Human Relations or Human Resources.” Harvard Business Review (July-August 1965).
- Author of over 60 articles and book chapters.

Reviews

[Fred Cheyunski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Foreword for a Standard in the Field and a Reflexive Source of Research - Finding this edition of Miles and Snow’s classic book was a pleasant welcome surprise for this reviewer. In addition to the original work, there is an excellent foreword by Donald Hambrick that puts its contribution to organization studies into perspective.

The book itself describes the manner in which organizations adapt to their environment pursuing four basic strategy types: Defenders (prosper through stability, reliability, efficiency), Prospectors (thrive on stimulating and/or meeting new product – market opportunities), Analyzers (more innovative than Prospectors vs. Defenders, but more cautious and deliberate than Prospectors), and Reactors (vacillate in approach).

Familiar with the concepts, this reviewer appreciated the way Hambrick shows how Michael Porter subsequently presented his similar generic strategies on cost leadership, differentiation emphases and ways to map value chain activities. He was also delighted with the connection to Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema’s description of 3 strategic value orientations or “Disciplines of Market Leaders” (operational excellence, product leadership, customer intimacy) much like those presented by Miles and Snow.

Because of these connections, links to earlier management concepts and those that have come since make this volume especially valuable. For instance, one can see the similarities with Geoffrey Moore’s recent reissue of his “Crossing the Chasm” (3rd edition) description of technology adoption with Miles and Snow’s adaptive cycle – businesses cycling through entrepreneurial problem (selecting/adjusting product market domain), engineering problem (producing and delivering products – services), administrative problem (establishing roles, relationships, organizational processes). In many ways, this book can help enrich other such parallels with research by various scholars on topics such as configuration analysis, organizational fit, strategic human resource management, and multi-firm network organizations.

For such a reflexive and useful source of research consult “Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process” (Stanford Business Books edition).

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Books and articles come and go, endlessly. But a few do stick, and this book is such a one. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process broke fresh ground in the understanding of strategy at a time when thinking about strategy was still in its early days, and it has not been displaced since.”

—David J. Hickson, Emeritus Professor of International Management & Organization, University of Bradford School of Management
Miles' and Snow's seminal work was originally published in 1978, and that was the edition I read many years ago. An updated edition was published a few years ago by Stanford Business Classics, which I would recommend.

Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process was, as few professional books can claim to be, an instant classic. It took bold steps into the relatively new field of strategic management, informed by the growing field of organizational behavior. Adaptation to environment is a central theme of the book, and it introduced a theoretical framework that has helped to guide and focus research in the area for three decades. Four different strategic responses to environment are theorized by Miles and Snow. They incude "defenders," "prospectros," "analyzers," and "reactors." The authors examine and describe each type, and their pros and cons, and fit them into an overarching framework that allows not only for testing of their hypohteses, but for extensions and further developments of their theoretical work. Thirty years later, that work is still vigorously moving forward.