Strategic transactions and managing the future: a Druckerian perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of institutional innovation in managing the future. Peter Drucker has encouraged managers to develop institutional innovations in order to reach organizational objectives. These institutional innovations revolve round the value created by the organization for its customers over time. Considering Drucker's insight from the perspective of institutional theory, this paper aims to describe how innovations in transaction institutions may lead to strategic transactions and provide a fundamental transformation in the way transactions are conducted in the market. Design/methodology/approach – Using a case study of the development of the American clock industry, it is shown that institutional innovations may provide a leadership position for an organization. By trading direct exchange for an innovative transaction model, management innovation occurred within and well beyond the confines of the American clock market. Findings – The historical case empirically illustrates and extends Drucker's notion of customer‐centric management and the advantage of innovation. Strategically, management must understand how institutional innovations can be used to create a leadership position in the future. This occurs when management uses innovations in transaction rules, termed transaction “institutions”, to create a contrast between the values exchanged between the customer and the organization and the values exchanged between the customer and competing organizations. Research limitations/implications – Peter Drucker's work is quite broad and, perhaps to his credit, he was never a traditional academic. As a result, evaluating his work is more difficult than evaluating research in one specific theoretical domain. However, it is clear that institutional thinking influenced Drucker. Analytically, this places him at odds with traditional economic and strategic analysis. Accordingly, this research is also somewhat at odds with traditional economic and strategic analysis. Practical implications – The implications for management are clear. The entrepreneurial role of each type of organisation in solving problems is critical. Only through entrepreneurship can long‐term solutions to problems be developed. This requires a deep understanding of the costs involved, even on a small scale. When the details of costs are understood, entrepreneurial innovations can be developed in response. Originality/value – This is the first paper that utilizes an institutional framework for strategy analysis based on Peter Drucker's work. This helps managers manage the future by understanding how to systematically take and share risk.