Strategy-as-Practice

This SIG is directed at the empirical and theoretical development of Strategy-as-Practice. Strategy-as-Practice investigates strategy at close range, as it is shaped by multiple actors, their actions and practices, and the strategic consequences these have for the firm. The theoretical and practical relevance of this field is evidenced by its rapid growth, with special issues in Journal of Management Studies and Human Relations, leading journal publications, dedicated European and North American conference tracks and an almost 1000-member website.

We are interested in a broad spectrum of issues concerned with the making and doing of strategy and strategic change in organisations. We apply a variety of different theoretical approaches, such as practice perspectives on organisation, sensemaking, discourse analysis, and script theory. What we are agreed on is the importance of a focus on the processes and practices constituting the everyday activities of organizational life and relating to strategic outcomes. We see the linkage through to strategic outcomes as an important component of our research as we ultimately need to be able to link the outcomes of (multiple) strategising activities, events and behaviours within the firm to more macro organisational, institutional and, possibly, even broader social contexts and outcomes.

If we are to theorise about the link between what occurs within organisations and more macro levels of analysis we need to situate organisational activities within the broader context of action. As such, we share with traditional strategy research a concern for firm performance, but we also emphasise the significance of potentially multiple strategizing outcomes and their interactions through time. In addition, we acknowledge the role of a broad range of strategists outside of the senior management team in organisations, and the potential impact of others within the field on strategising activities, such as consultants and business school academics.
 

Objectives

The specific objectives of this SIG in developing the strategy-as-practice research agenda are to

• Provide a discussion forum for academics and practitioners who play key roles in shaping an organization's strategy. The questions which are of interest to us are:
  • Who are the strategic actors, at what level of the firm, and in what stages of the strategy process are they engaged?
  • What are the tools, technologies, routines, and procedures that practitioners draw upon in order to act strategically?
  • How are language, narrative, interpretation, and social interaction involved in utilising the tools and technologies that comprise the strategic infrastructure?
  • What constitutes the competence, skill and learning of a strategic practitioner in utilising the strategic infrastructure?
  • How and by whom are strategic problems identified and conceptualized? How are potential solutions generated, evaluated, and decided on? Who are the individuals who influence these decisions? How do they work? How effective is their work in defining and achieving 'strategic balance'? How could their effectiveness and impact be improved?
• Provide a perspective that bridges strategy process and content. For example by examining the inside of strategising processes, and marry the concern for both strategy content and process, and for both intentional and emergent activities and outcomes
• Develop epistemological, methodological and theoretical bases for conducting micro studies of strategy as practice.
• Enhance our theoretical and methodological understanding of day-to-day activities and practices with regard to strategy formation in organisations
• Advance our knowledge of links, reciprocity and exchanging patterns of influence between the micro and macro practices of strategy
   

Website

For a summary of the issues and topics raised in this Special Interest Group as well as a sample of papers reflecting the strategy-as-practice perspective please visit the 'strategy-as-practice' website at http://www.strategy-as-practice.org.
 

Committe

Chair

Mike Zundel, University of Liverpool, m.zundel@liverpool.ac.uk