Stratege as Practice

Strategy as Practice Research Directions and Resources

Introduction:

Strategic management is taught in business schools as a fundamental aspect of management. It has also come to be regarded as a significant area of academic research over the past three decades. However, in that time research in strategy has largely migrated to a concern with strategy as that which organizations have, rather than strategy as that which managers do. In other words, the activity of managing and developing the strategy of organizations by the people concerned with actually doing it has become marginalized. Strategy as Practice reverses this trend by analysing what people do in relation to the development of strategy in organizations. In so doing it provides insights into current issues in strategy that require a more micro level of understanding. This pragmatic approach also helps to integrate different aspects of strategy research and provides insights that will help managers work more effectively.

Authors:

Gerry Johnson is the Sir Roland Smith Professor of Strategic Management at the Ann Langley is Professor of Strategic Management and Research Methods at HEC Montréal.
Leif Melin is Professor of Strategy and Organization at Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University.
Richard Whittington is Professor of Strategic Management at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.