The desktop strategist: analysis of the intellectual support requirements for executives

The thinking executive´s need for an IDAS (information decision-action system) is explained. General requirements for a desktop IDAS to support strategic executive thinking are outlined. The authors focus on one aspect only of an executive IDAS-the intellectual support requirement that should be delivered by the computer aid. This means that the support is regarded as an interactive thinking aid for what may be called the rational executive´s thought-experiment process (T-E). The T-E process can be represented as a sequential state-transition process during which the thinker transits from states of uncertainty to states of increasing clarification. Each transition takes place in a distinct thought space defined in terms of a four compartment matrix for the type of entities and relationships involved: tangible or intangible for the entities; logical or deterministic for the relations