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This study examines the processes of advice seeking by small business owners and employs a Strategy-as-Practice perspective. The analysis of the data from 33 small business owners identified eleven factors that influenced the processes. These included: cost; proximity; technical skills and knowledge; business ties; similarity of goals; business savvy; appropriateness of advice; knowledge of the other; knowledge of the business and its context; personal relationships and trust. The extent of influence of the factors was shaped by the category of the advice provider as indicated by the type of relationship and the type and extent of trust in that relationship. This study makes two major contributions to knowledge. First, it highlights the fact that advice seeking is a practice within the broader practice of strategizing and shows the different roles advice plays in small business owner strategizing. Second, it develops a descriptive framework of the advice seeking practice of small business owners which shows that the small business owner’s practice of advice seeking is a set of open-ended activities which are cognitively ordered and spatially-temporally dispersed. High levels of trust and personal relationships are shown to create an advisory space in which the business owner is willing to be open and vulnerable to the advisor and so enables the advisor to gain knowledge of the business owner and his business which help shape the advice given.

Yes / Adopting digital technologies in different organisations has become a trend over the last decade, yet our understanding of the impact of digital technologies on strategising is fragmented and unclear. To address this gap, this paper reviews existing research on the intersection between digital transformation and strategic management. Specifically, the aim is to explore how the digital context changes strategising. Based on a systematic review of empirical evidence from 163 journal articles, we showcased the manifestation of strategising in the digital age in terms of strategic practitioners, practices and praxis. Consolidating these findings, a typology of strategies in the digital age is developed and discussed, showing the interplay among changes in Strategy-as-Practice parameters. This framework contributes to providing clarity in strategic scenarios of digital transformation and identifies various strategic directions and actions. Overall, we argue that although digital transformation has created additional strategic options, it has yet to change the underlying assumptions of strategising in firms. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo.

This study extends the understanding of leadership emergence from a relational perspective (Hosking, 2011; Cunliffe & Eriksen, 2011; Uhl-Bien, 2006), specifically related to the forming of trusting relationships. The argument follows from the conceptual development of subjectification processes referred to as “care of the self” (Foucault M. , 1988; Foucault M. , 2005) and the implications of “regimes of practices" (Foucault M. , 2010; Dean, 2010). The findings contribute to our understanding of the relation between patterns of differentiation and reciprocity (as contextual definitions) and the relational emergence of leadership. We conceive leadership formed by actions that have no instrumental purpose beyond constructing a subject able to form trusting relationships and judge this to be a phronetic practice. The research is based on a case study of the executive team of a large copper mining company implementing a sustainability strategy that has as its central purpose the construction of trusting relations within a complex net of stakeholders. Based on this case, my second contribution is to conceptualise the function of “parrhēsia practice” (Foucault M. , 2010), a “truth game” about truth, truth-telling and action in the relation of the self and others, which is significant in the formation of the relational leadership of the “conscious pariah” (Arendt, 1978). The study examines how it is that “truth games” of examining the self and “reframing” interactional patterns can facilitate the relational emergence of phronetic forms of leadership. The research methodology, designed to deal from a non-dualistic perspective with the relational emergence of leadership, uses a narrative research approach to describe practices (Czarniawska, Narratives in Social Science Research, 2011). It is “uncovered” as representational and dualistic in the research relation, and a discussion of how a non-dualistic research approach could be developed is provided.

Evolution of IT has resulted in fundamental changes in society, changes that have affected the IT consultant industry and introduced challenges in how IT consultant organizations should adapt to a new, turbulent market. In order to investigate these challenges this study set out to understand the organizational identity of IT consultant organizations, aiming to address the following research question: How do IT consultant organizations manage and adapt their organizational identity? To answer this question a qualitative single case study has been conducted using Whittington’s integrated framework for strategy-as-practice as a theoretical framework. The results show that the case organization of this study manages and adapts their organizational identity by adjusting its work procedures to the new market as well as their role in the relationship with customers. The results also indicate that the case organization manages and adapts their organizational identity by balancing the identity established by headquarter and the identity set by themselves in regard to their local context. These results demonstrate the possibilities of multiple organizational identities within an organization.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research report aims to contribute to the contemporary research discourse within the Strategy-as-Practice (S-as-P) field by studying day-to-day strategising practices that take place within a modern organisation. From an S-as-P point of view, strategy is described as a situated, socially accomplished activity, while strategising comprises those actions, interactions and negotiations of multiple actors and the situated practices that they draw upon in accomplishing that activity (Jarzabkowski, Balogun & Seidl, 2007: 8). Here, strategy is redefined as an action organisations perform rather than a concept organisations ‘have’. This introduces a shift in the strategy process, from a prescriptive approach to a practice approach. In this report, the researcher was able to determine how strategising took place in a Business Unit (BU) at a third-tier level within a multinational engineering organisation. This involved an analysis of how the processes of strategy sense-making and sense-giving took place amongst strategic actors. Furthermore, how this was mediated by strategising methods, strategic tools and artefacts was observed. The research recognised that strategy is socially situated and therefore a social practice. To deal with this dimension, activity theory, discussed by Jarzabkowski (2005), was used as an operational measure to identify micro-social system configurations required to implement strategy. Based on an in-depth single case study of the BU, the researcher’s findings discovered unique roles that multiple actors assume in the strategy implementation process, and how they interacted in the pursuit of goal-oriented strategic initiatives. In that process, different strategising techniques were identified, namely Procedural, Interactive, Pre-active or Integrative. It was also shown how managers used these multiple strategising methods at their disposal to facilitate and mediate strategic initiatives. In an attempt to contextualise these micro-strategising practices, the case study also demonstrated how strategy was translated from broad organisational concepts to BU operational manifestations using internal formal procedures that involved a Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard. This revealed the cascading effect of top-down strategy translation and the gap-closing effect of down-and-up feedback loops in the system. This also exposed how strategy was ‘operationalised’ by decomposing and breaking it down into sub-strategies for implementation, which then created a hierarchy of strategies that were specific to each level of the organisation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsverslag beoog om by te dra tot die kontemporêre navorsingsgesprek binne die Strategie-as-Praktyk (S-as-P) veld deur dag-tot-dag strategie praktyke wat binne ‘n modern organisasie plaasvind te bestudeer. Vanuit ‘n S-as-P oogpunt, word strategie beskryf as ‘n geposisioneerde, sosiaal-uitgevoerde aktiwiteit, terwyl strategie-beplanning bestaan uit die aksies, interaksies en onderhandelings van onderskeie betrokkenes en die geposisioneerde praktyke waaruit geput word in die uitvoering van daardie aktiwiteit. Strategie word hier herdefinieer as ‘n aksie wat organisasies uitvoer eerder as ‘n konsep wat hulle het. Dit bring ‘n verskuiwing in die strategie proses mee, van ‘n voorskriftelike benadering na ‘n praktiese benadering. Die navorser het in hierdie verslag daarin geslaag om te bepaal hoe strategiese beplanning in ‘n derde vlak Besigheidseenheid (BE) binne ‘n multinasionale ingenieursorganisasie plaasvind. Hiervoor is ‘n analise gedoen van hoe die prosesse van strategiese sin-maak en sin-gee onder strategiese betrokkenes plaasvind. Daarbenewens is waargeneem hoe mediasie deur strategie-beplanningsmetodes, strategiese gereedskap en voorwerpe plaasgevind het. Om met hierdie dimensie om te gaan, is aktiwiteitsteorie, soos bespreek deur Jarzabkowski (2005), gebruik as ‘n operasionele maatstaf om mikro-sosiale sisteem konfigurasies wat vereis word vir implementasie van die strategie te identifiseer. Die navorser se bevindings, gebaseer op ‘n enkele diepgaande gevallestudie van die BE, het unieke rolle geïdentifiseer wat verskeie rolspelers tydens die strategie implementeringsproses aanneem en ook die interaksie wat plaasgevind het in die nastreef van doelgeöriënteerde strategiese inisiatiewe. In die proses is verskillende strategie-tegnieke geïdentifiseer, naamlik Prosedure, Interaktief, Pre-aktief of Integrerend. Daar is ook getoon hoe bestuurders hierdie verskillende beskikbare strategie-metodes aangewend het om strategiese inisiatiewe te fasiliteer en bemiddel. In ‘n poging om hierdie mikro-strategiese praktyke te kontekstualiseer, het die gevallestudie ook aangedui hoe strategie vanaf breë organisatoriese konsepte deur die gebruik van interne formele prosedures, wat ‘n Strategie Kaart en Gebalanseerde Telkaart ingesluit het, omgesit is na operasionele aanwysings vir die BE. Hierdeur is die waterval effek van top- afwaartse omsetting en die gaping-vullende effek van af-en-op terugvoerlusse in die sisteem blootgelê. Dit het ook aangetoon hoe strategie ‘ge-operasionaliseer’ is deur dit te ontkoppel en af te breek tot sub-strategieë vir implementasie, waardeur ‘n hiërargie van strategieë, spesifiek vir elke vlak van die organisasie, geskep is.

This thesis contributes to the field of strategy-as-practice by developing understanding of the enacted performance of power within strategic interactions, an area that is underdeveloped. This is addressed by voicing the silences within the field of strategy-as-practice using an organisational studies lens. The study investigates the macro-influences of power, gender, body, culture, and Westernisation on micro-strategising activities and is based on an empirical cross-cultural study of a Saudi Arabian business college. The strategy-as-practice approach faces the challenge of balancing a focus on the specified actions of individuals and remaining aware of the social influences that govern them. This study complements linguistic approaches to understanding strategy with an embodied socially enacted dramaturgical approach to strategy analysis. Dramaturgy is the theoretical and methodological framework used to focus on micro-face-to-face interactions of strategists, complemented by frame analysis which enables invistigation of macro-level aspects of analysis at the meso-organisational level. The analysis focuses on two main areas: first it explores the embodied gendered aspects of strategising, which have previously been marginalised within the field. This analysis shows how the doing and undoing of gender on a managerial level in mixed-gender strategic interactions reflects the values that govern the family context, maintaining traditional values and often constraining women from assuming active roles as participants in strategising. Second, it analyses the tensions that arise between the clash of modernity and tradition by the adoption of international/Western management practices. These institutional influences create conflicts within strategists’ scripts when tradition encounters modernity in confronting a significant aspect of the Arab struggle. This analysis focuses on the importance of adopting a multi-level of analysis that aknowledges both structure and agency within strategising contexts. It also considers the importance of adopting a different type of ethics that is more sensitive to the particularities of caring for the ‘other’.

<p>Internationalization is an important strategic issue for survival for most business schools of today. Following this, various international accreditation bodies have in recent years been very succes­s­ful in promoting accreditation as a means of gaining status and prove high quality. These business school accreditation schemes clearly state their targets against top quality international schools and programs. Internationalization of the business school opera­tions can thus be stated to be of vital impor­tance for schools aiming for one or more of these accreditations. The intention of this study is to turn the issue around and explore to which extent, and with what kind of impact, the accreditation processes in turn have on the area of interna­tiona­li­­­zation within the business school organization.</p><p> </p><p>The theoretical framework consists of three main areas: ’The Business School Environment’, ‘Strategy as Practice’ and ‘Institutional Theory’. The first part aims to reach an understanding for the environment and situation that business schools of today are facing. It also highlights major challenges for the future. In the second part, Strategy as Practice research theories are used to gain understanding for strategy behaviour and strategy creation within plu­ra­listic organi­zations, such as the higher education insti­tution. The third part deals with issues on Quality Frameworks with the aim to reach understanding for the im­pact such processes can have on the organization. Sensemaking Theory is further used to illustrate the rational behind decision making of busi­ness school leaders and the concluding part connects theories on quality frameworks to Identity Creation, linking together identity with culture and image.</p><p> </p><p>The research approach for this qualitative study is the abductive one and the empirical data is collected through a number of semi-structured interviews with business school repre­sen­tatives at various levels working in the area of international relations.</p><p> </p><p>Main findings are presented within the framework of a time structured (past, present, future) model connected to the study’s five objectives: The development of internationali­zation within the school; the view on internationalization among organizational members; the charac­teristics of decision making and implementation processes; the main impact factors of accreditation and the expectations of major future challenges.</p><p> </p><p>The results indicate that although accreditation has shown to have had a substantial impact on the success of business school operations in an international perspective, it is to a much lesser extent a concrete tool for change and improvement within the area of internatio­nali­zation as such. Accreditation has shown to be strongly connected to previous develop­ment and view on internationalization within the organizations. Also, a strong belief in, and commit­ment to, internationalization among influential organizational members has proved to be vital for the accreditation processes. Furthermore, a number of unique charac­teristics connected to the identities’ of the organiza­tions studied, showed to have notable impact on the success of the schools’ international opera­tions, so also the accreditation processes. This includes organiza­tional culture and tradition; working methods; dissemi­nation of information; strong social connections; knowledge, dedication and commitment by individuals and management’s ability to provide organizational members with trust, respect, autonomy and encouragement.</p>

The study builds on the belief that change has become a normal state of affairs in business life, and that one highly contemporary actor – the private equity firm – has evolved to become specialized in change through repetitively changing its portfolio firms in its quest to generate value. The quest of reshaping a portfolio firm in order to optimize its strategic position, profitability, and financial structure in order to generate value has consequently been this study’s starting point. This dissertation presents how sensemaking, which is about the interplay of action and interpretation, changes over time and how it affects the strategic change of a portfolio firm. By studying and directly observing the communication and interaction between the portfolio firms’s CEO, board, and management team in real-time during a prolonged period when change occurs at a revolutionary pace, this dissertation seeks to examine the development and influence of this sensemaking. The study demonstrates how certain traits of private equity firms influence the timeline, risk profile, and governance of strategic change, how the presence of an idiosyncratic language influences the strategic change by transcending one mindset into a diametrically opposed ditto, and how the materialization of a mental iron cage affects the boundaries of the potential changes as well as adaptations and worldviews. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2012. I publikationen felaktigt: How changes in managers' sensemaking influences a strategic change</p>

Internationalization is an important strategic issue for survival for most business schools of today. Following this, various international accreditation bodies have in recent years been very succes­s­ful in promoting accreditation as a means of gaining status and prove high quality. These business school accreditation schemes clearly state their targets against top quality international schools and programs. Internationalization of the business school opera­tions can thus be stated to be of vital impor­tance for schools aiming for one or more of these accreditations. The intention of this study is to turn the issue around and explore to which extent, and with what kind of impact, the accreditation processes in turn have on the area of interna­tiona­li­­­zation within the business school organization.   The theoretical framework consists of three main areas: ’The Business School Environment’, ‘Strategy as Practice’ and ‘Institutional Theory’. The first part aims to reach an understanding for the environment and situation that business schools of today are facing. It also highlights major challenges for the future. In the second part, Strategy as Practice research theories are used to gain understanding for strategy behaviour and strategy creation within plu­ra­listic organi­zations, such as the higher education insti­tution. The third part deals with issues on Quality Frameworks with the aim to reach understanding for the im­pact such processes can have on the organization. Sensemaking Theory is further used to illustrate the rational behind decision making of busi­ness school leaders and the concluding part connects theories on quality frameworks to Identity Creation, linking together identity with culture and image.   The research approach for this qualitative study is the abductive one and the empirical data is collected through a number of semi-structured interviews with business school repre­sen­tatives at various levels working in the area of international relations.   Main findings are presented within the framework of a time structured (past, present, future) model connected to the study’s five objectives: The development of internationali­zation within the school; the view on internationalization among organizational members; the charac­teristics of decision making and implementation processes; the main impact factors of accreditation and the expectations of major future challenges.   The results indicate that although accreditation has shown to have had a substantial impact on the success of business school operations in an international perspective, it is to a much lesser extent a concrete tool for change and improvement within the area of internatio­nali­zation as such. Accreditation has shown to be strongly connected to previous develop­ment and view on internationalization within the organizations. Also, a strong belief in, and commit­ment to, internationalization among influential organizational members has proved to be vital for the accreditation processes. Furthermore, a number of unique charac­teristics connected to the identities’ of the organiza­tions studied, showed to have notable impact on the success of the schools’ international opera­tions, so also the accreditation processes. This includes organiza­tional culture and tradition; working methods; dissemi­nation of information; strong social connections; knowledge, dedication and commitment by individuals and management’s ability to provide organizational members with trust, respect, autonomy and encouragement.