A strategic stalemate is the inability of management to make a substantial series of productive strategic choices or moves without the support, concurrence, or acquiescence of one or more significant parties external to the firm. In managing their firms, corporate executives run the risk of strategic stalemate because of resource shortages, limited market demands, competitive impasses, or regulatory deadlocks. It is not enough to attempt more strategic planning of a conventional nature to anticipate and cope with these problems, nor is it an adequate response to attempt a simplification of the regulatory environment to avoid confrontational deadlocks. Instead, an active problemsolving approach can be undertaken through creative negotiations. Business coalitions or partnerships among companies within industries, across industries, and in combination with government agencies and other outside interest groups provide the vehicles for this type of interactive dialog. To make such efforts effective, the focus must be on external or facilitative policymaking rather than on internally oriented or instrumental policymaking. A research agenda is proposed for a study of external policies and their roles in negotiations to avoid stalemate. Thirty references are listed.