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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Concepts of strategy

A critic argues that the rational planning model at Brightwell Utilities fails because middle managers, who hold the best operational knowledge, are excluded from the planning process and merely receive instructions. Which criticism of the rational model does this most directly illustrate?

This illustrates the criticism that the rational model separates formulation from implementation. Senior planners decide top-down while managers with operational knowledge are excluded, so useful information is lost and commitment to the strategy among those who must deliver it is weakened.

  1. AIt separates strategy formulation from implementation, ignoring the knowledge and commitment of those who carry it outCorrect
  2. BIt assumes strategy cannot be changed once set by the board
  3. CIt relies on bounded rationality to produce small adjustments
  4. DIt treats culture as the only source of strategy

Explanation

A common criticism of the rational model is its top-down split between planners and implementers, which wastes frontline knowledge and weakens buy-in. The other options misdescribe either the model or the critique; bounded rationality is an argument made in favour of incrementalism.

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