THREE ROADS TO DEVELOPMENT: NEED FOR GROUNDED PRAXIS APPROACH TO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND POLICYMAKING SUBHASH SHARMA The approach to strategic management in case of development organisations essentially involves honing of core competencies. The focus of this approach should be on establishing close linkages on developing the organisation through institution building approach; preparing short and long term policies through forward engineering; and periodical measuring of performance improvement. This article discusses how these approaches can be effectively interlinked and suggests a general framework of strategic management for developmental context and development organisations. THE CONCEPT of 'development' has been an important part of the social discourse since last 200 years. Many nations after their liberation from colonialism, had faced the challenges of development. To fast-track the process of nation building, they adopted the 'top-down' approach to development. Such an approach was "also recommended by the international institutions that provided funding to the new nation states. In contrast to the top-down approach, Gandhi suggested the 'Village-republic' or the 'bottom- up' approach to development. After Indian Independence, policy-makers opted for the top-down approach based on 'socialistic model' with inspiration from erstwhile Soviet Union. However, by 1991, failures of such an approach were becoming obvious and a policy shift in favour of LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) was initiated. Now the world has entered into a new era, wherein national-economies are increasingly influenced by international competition. In essence, they are becoming a part of the world economy. In such a context, global-village and local villages need new global and local visions because of a new "World of Threats and Opportunities" (WTO). If people of the globe have to benefit from the new socio-economic realities new approaches to development are needed.