The causality of strategic control : three-level construction of causality

Abstract

Causality is currently a topic which permeates literature on all three conventional control levels, i.e. Strategy, management, and operations. The purpose of this paper is to explore causality models on these three levels, and to discuss the links and interplay between the levels. It is revealed how strategy-level models are searching for common themes which drive the configuration and profitability of organizations, and the this search may be informed by the operations-level approach. The causality models on the operational level deconstruct organizations into numerous heterogenous, concrete, and unidimensional parts, and the models and themes on the strategic level represent superstructures which integrate and assign meaning to the operational level. Management-level models represent logics which mediate between the two other levels.