ABSTRACT
This chapter will provide a comprehensive summary of the core concepts and methods of strategic management, it will discuss the peculiarities of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), and will also give an overview of prior empirical research on nonprofits’ strategies. After introducing the field, we will briefly narrate the history of strategic management and describe particular approaches to strategy. Then, we will outline two complementary approaches to strategic management that are relevant for all organizations, but in particular for NPOs: the resource-based view and the stakeholder view. Third, we will discuss the particularities of NPOs, hereby emphasizing the distinction between prescriptive and empirical research on strategy. To conclude, we will briefly change the theoretical perspective and introduce strategic management as a consequence of institutional pressures: Meanwhile, NPOs have to engage in strategic management and deliver strategic documents (e.g., plans, mission statements) in order to acquire legitimacy.
