Idea 51: The role of conceptual thinking in decision making
Although a concept may appear to be an abstraction arrived at by analysis, it has a different feel because:
- It is a whole (and as such more than the sum of its parts).
- It is a developing entity in its own right.
A concept is ‘something conceived in the mind’. Conceptual thinking in business addresses such issues as:
- What business are we in?
- What are its strengths/weaknesses?
- What are its purposes/aims?
Conceptual thinking should be kept separate from decision making, even though decisions are made on the basis of the concepts that we have developed.
Concepts can be used in ‘profiling’ business development, but they then have to be made more specific in the form of proposals or plans ...
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