Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of
those decisions. However several authors have observed a lack of research on the strategic decision making
process. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions
are made notably are absent. (Fredrickson, 1985) This paper reports the results of a study that attempts
to assess the effects of decision making circumstances focusing mainly on the approaches applied and the
managerial skills and capabilities the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decision making
procedures. The study was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and it was
sponsored by a Fulbright Research Scholarship Grant