Philippe Baumard is Professor of Strategic Management, Innovation & Regulation Chair, at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. His research addresses the collective use of tacit knowledge by executives in times of crisis. He authored nine books, ranging from economics to strategic management, long-range forecasting, and expert systems applied to strategy implementation. A fellow of the Oxford-Sorbonne Chancellors grant, Dr. Baumard has been a visiting faculty member at New York University, Lund University (Sweden), University of Technology, Sydney, University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.
Philippe Baumard has observed that strategic success seems to lie more in top managers' ability to use tacit knowledge than in their gaining or updating explicit knowledge' - William H Starbuck, New York University This important new book effectively illustrates how, in conditions of ambiguity, managers over-manage', i.e. rely too much on explicit plans and interpretations. Here, Philippe Baumard develops an alternative analysis and with it a new approach to management' - Frank Blackler, Lancaster University This landmark book delves below the surface of organizations in order to understand the complex processes of top managers' decision making. Philippe Baumard argues that the conventional, rational model of decision making ignores the tacit and intuitive processes that are often crucial in successful business outcomes. He demonstrates through his four central business cases how it is in times of uncertainty, rapid change and turbulence that the fate of companies is often determined, and it is at these times that managers' tacit knowledge and their ability to navigate ambiguous and complex situations is most critical.
