A Study on the Balance Wisdom of the Doctrine of the Mean and Corporate Strategic Decision-Making

Abstract

In the context of high uncertainty and complexity in the contemporary business environment, corporate strategic decision-making is confronted with numerous dual paradoxes: efficiency and resilience, short-term performance and long-term development, specialization and diversification, competition and cooperation, etc. How to seek dynamic balance among these seemingly contradictory choices has become a core issue in the field of strategic management. Based on the Confucian classic The Doctrine of the Mean, this study systematically interprets the core connotations of its golden mean philosophy—the three dimensions of “harmony in the mean”, “timeliness in the mean” and “sincerity and illumination”, and constructs a balanced analysis framework for corporate strategic decision-making accordingly. The findings show that the “holding the two ends and using the middle” advocated by The Doctrine of the Mean is not simple compromise, but an art of dynamic trade-off based on a profound grasp of the essence of things; the thought of “timeliness in the mean” requires decision-makers to assess the situation and adjust measures to local conditions; the unity of “sincerity and illumination” emphasizes the unification of internal virtue and external cognition. The conclusions provide theoretical guidance and practical enlightenment for enterprises to address strategic paradoxes in complex environments, and also offer a modern interpretation of traditional cultural resources for the theoretical construction of indigenous management.