The research adopts a case study approach (in higher education) to investigate how strategic capabilities might be developed in an organisation through strategic management development (SMD). SMD is defined as "Management development interventions which are intended to enhance the strategic capability and corporate performance of an organisation". Causal networks, showing how strategic capability and strategic management processes can be developed, are constructed, and a hypothesis is proposed. This postulates that to be effective, SMD programmes need to be matched with the organisation's level of commitment to strategic management and the degree of maturity of its strategic management processes and competences. This is explored in a tentative typology which shows how four different levels of commitment to strategic management might be matched with key characteristics of SMD programmes.