A Process Model of Strategic Business Exit in an Established High Technology Firm

The process model of strategic business exit (SBE) maps the activities of different levels of management onto the business and corporate levels of strategy making involved in Intel Corporation’s exit from the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) business during the mid- 1980’s. The model examines how well the activities of different levels of management are articulated within and across the business and corporate levels of strategy making involved in SBE. It identifies vicious circles, dilemmas, paradoxes, and tensions within the pattern of managerial activities involved in SBE and highlights the distinction between business-level resource allocation issues and corporate-level distinctive competence issues. The SBE process model contributes to the development of an evolutionary process theory of strategy making by elucidating the subtle interplays between selection and coordination in strategy making, and by providing a tool for mapping the strategy making of complex players.