Although the strategy formation process in large companies has been extensively and deeply researched, the strategy making in SME (small and medium sized companies) is largely under-investigated by researchers. In our thesis, we find even for entrepreneurial SME owners, the process doesn’t exhibit the characteristics of comprehensive and exhaustive environmental scanning and strategic analysis. Instead, the strategy formation in entrepreneurial SMEs is a combination of systematic planning and improvisation, a combination of proactivity and reactivity. And the limited planning and proactivity is more reflected on the SME owner’s cognitive level, they are strategically aware, sensitive and flexible to any change that will affect their company and immediately know the relevant implications. Our finding is in line with Mintzberg’s insightful notion that “strategy as a pattern” and “strategic thinking”. The SME owner’s opportunistic, intuitive and emergent approach to strategy making often involves more than themselves. Families, friends, company board of directors, accountants, consultants are also influential actors participating and contributing to this process in different ways.

This thesis explores the process by which Chinese universities carry out strategy formation. It aims to provide an insight into the lives of the managers of Chinese universities in the period 2002-2003 which was a time of transition from the regime of President Jiang Zemin to that of President Hu Jintao. Chinese refer to this period as the transition from the third to the fourth generation of leaders. Strategy was defined as a course of action aimed at achieving an organization's purpose and strategy formation was defined as including strategy development and implementation. Answers were sought to the following questions based on data from a small number of universities using stakeholder theory to inform the data collection process: · What is the process by which strategy development and implementation takes place in Chinese universities? · How is the process applied in different universities? · How can an understanding of strategy formation in Chinese universities assist in the development of joint ventures in China by foreign educational institutions? The method of data collection involved interviewing three levels of management in six different universities drawn from three major cities in China. In order to guarantee confidentiality, the identities of the instutions and the individuals involved has been concealed. Background information collected included the history of Chinese universities to 2002 and important features of Chinese culture, society and politics. Stakeholder theory was found to provide a useful framework for analysing the process of strategy formation. It was found that assumptions based on the operations of Australian universities did not apply in China, particularly in the areas of work relationships, reporting and performance management and in the conduct of research. Findings included: · Three approaches to strategy emerged, including the President making unilateral decisions, a consultative approach including stakeholders, and an approach involving consultation with staff. · The process varies between universities depending on factors such as the guanxi relationships of the President. · The learnings from this project can be applied to other joint ventures in education in China.

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This dissertation explores the topic of strategy formation in high-growth SMEs. High-growth SMEs represent the growth and job creation engine of an economy; however, little has been understood on how strategy forms and develops in high-growth SMEs. The focus on large organisations has led to a literature gap regarding strategy making in SMEs (Wisener and Millett, 2012). "There is a need for deeper understanding" of strategy formation processes in SMEs (Lofving et al., 2014) and "research focusing on questions such as how firms grow [...] has been neglected." (Wright and Stigliani, 2012) The research objectives are: to understand how strategy forms and develops in high-growth SMEs; to develop a framework for the qualitative study of strategy formation processes in high-growth SMEs; and to identify enablers and barriers related to strategy formation processes in high-growth SMEs. A multiple, retrospective case-study methodology has been used. Extensive case studies built on in-depth interviews with management have been compiled to understand the complexity of the studied phenomenon. The research develops two qualitative research tools based on the literature review: a preliminary framework and an assessment matrix to study strategy formation processes. Furthermore, the research introduces a new approach to strategy charting. The key contributions of this research are as follows: • A holistic view of how strategy processes in high-growth SMEs form and develop is provided. New insights into the structures, characteristics, and other aspects of strategy formation processes have been articulated. • A framework for the qualitative study of strategy formation processes in high-growth SMEs has been developed by applying the cross-case analysis findings to the preliminary framework. • New enablers and barriers related to strategy formation processes in high-growth SMEs have been identified. New findings on the role of strategy formation in achieving growth have been outlined. This dissertation narrows the gap between strategy formation in academia and real life by providing practitioners with detailed case studies which can be used as guidelines for the development of strategy formation processes. The research can also help SMEs' managers to tackle challenges encountered in strategy formation and to support catalysts which enable strategy formation. This dissertation provides exploratory findings into a phenomenon which has been limitedly researched. Further research should seek to generalise and test the findings on additional SMEs.

Today the e-commerce market has become a bigger part of both organizations’ and consumers’ everyday-life. Earlier established strategies within retail can't be relied upon. The online-based organizations don’t act on the same conditions as traditional shops in terms of location, customer service and personal interaction to name a few. These are factors generally important to the traditional strategy formation within retail. E-commerce is an emerging market and to survive a well-formulated strategy formation is crucial in order to endure the environment. The aim of this research is to create an understanding of how strategy is formed in e-commerce organizations. In order to answer the research questions, a qualitative research, including a case study, have been performed. Empirical material has been conducted mainly through semi-structured interviews, with one of Sweden’s largest internet retailers, regarding their ink- and beauty supply segment. Whittington’s (2001) two perspectives; evolutionary and classical, have been used to get different viewpoints on the organization studied. We came to the conclusion that the key factors in strategy formation within e-commerce are experience in combination with available information about the environment they act within. When making recommendations for future studies, a suggestion has been made to examine the whole strategic process and review successful strategies as a consequence of well-analyzed formation. Finally, to examine the impact of maturity of organizations in relation to their strategic processes, would create an understanding of how the relationship between experience within the organization and the data accessible is constructed.

A presente pesquisa aborda o estudo da formação de estratégias na Infraero, empresa pública brasileira responsável pela administração de aeroportos. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso que contempla a análise de um tempo histórico da estatal até os dias atuais, entre 1995 e 2016, utilizando-se a abordagem teórica de Henry Mintzberg, de estratégias emergentes e deliberadas, e de Baum e Dutton (1997) e Eisenhardt e Brown (1997), sobre a imersão estratégica e a busca de uma maior contextualização da estratégia. Através da pesquisa realizada, verificou-se que o desalinhamento entre as ações da empresa, o setor aéreo e as políticas de governo planejadas para a Infraero é o principal fator que vem limitando as ações estratégicas da estatal, prejudicando seus planos e o conhecimento de seu papel no setor, sendo a passividade da Infraero um dos motivos identificados para essa situação. A análise da pesquisa, dividida em três períodos, permitiu observar que o esforço da empresa para seguir as estratégias traçadas nos planejamentos anuais é constante, porém foram identificadas três situações que desencadearam o surgimento de estratégias emergentes: em contextos mais estáveis e favoráveis financeiramente, como forma de se aproveitar oportunidades de crescimento e aprendizado; através de decisões do governo; e reativamente, perante a necessidade de se manter e resgatar a sustentabilidade da empresa. Apontam-se, também, como fatores decisivos influenciadores da formação estratégica: o contexto social e econômico do país, especialmente face o crescimento do transporte aéreo; o contexto político; o contexto interno, em que se observou a influência causada por gestores e o estado das finanças internas; e a ocorrência de grandes choques externos. / The present research approaches the study of strategy formations at Infraero, a Brazilian state-owned company responsible for managing airports in the country. For that, a case study was fulfilled which includes the analysis of a historical time of the state company until the present days, between the years of 1995 to 2016, using the theoretical approach of Henry Mintzberg, of emergent and deliberate strategies, and the approach of Baum and Dutton (1997) and Eisenhardt and Brown (1997), on the embeddedness of strategy and the search for a greater contextualization of the strategy. Through the research carried out, it was found that the misalignment between the company's actions, the airline sector and the government policies planned for Infraero is the main factor that has been limiting the company’s strategic actions, damaging its plans and the knowledge of its role in the sector, with Infraero's passivity being one of the motives identified for this situation. The analysis of the research was divided into three periods, allowing us to observe that the effort that the company has made to follow the strategies set in the annual plans is constant, however, three situations were identified that led to the rise of emerging strategies: in more stable and financially favorable contexts, allowing opportunities for growth and learning; through government decisions; and reactively, given the need to maintain and recover the sustainability of the company. It is also shown as decisive factors influencing the strategic formation: the social and economic context of the country, especially in view of the growth of air transport; the political context; the internal context, in which the influence caused by managers and the state of internal finances were observed; and the event of major external shocks.

When I was younger I always conceived of a room where all these (strategic) concepts were worked out for the whole, company. Later I didn't find any such room .... The strategy (of the company) may not even exist in the mind of one man. I certainly don't know where it is written down. It is simply transmitted in the series of decisions made (Quinn 1978: 7). How do organisations in the Australian Catholic Health and Aged Care sector transform shared strategic thinking into formulated strategy? This research has investigated strategy formation, which can be defined as the process whereby the insights and thoughts of the key players in Catholic health and aged care are converted into formulated strategies. Specifically, the research analysed a major strategic amalgamation of the health and aged care operations of the Catholic Church in Australia, identified as Integration 2000. The concept of social constructs of meaning for the key actors is the fundamental perspective of this research. This required a constructivist ontology. The epistemology is interpretivist, and set out to provide a description of perceptions of the key actors as they engage in the formation of strategy. Defenders of interpretivism argued that the human sciences aim to understand human action (Schwandt, 2000:191). A qualitative methodology has been used to provide a plausible interpretation of the conversion process commonly referred to as strategy formation. / A purposive sample was obtained. The data collection methods included qualitative interviews, attendance as an observer at two of the three day National Conferences of Catholic Health Australia and document analysis (see Chapter Three).A key focus of the research was the identification of planning models used to set the strategic context of organisations in Catholic health. The research showed that the prescriptive design and planning models were not used to plan broad strategy, but to implement strategies already formed by an emergent/learning process which, in Mintzberg et al's (1998) terms, would fit the learning, cultural and environmental schools of thought. Pinpointing a strategy school may not be a particularly fruitful exercise in this particular arena. It assumes that the distinctive act of deciding the future shape and the strategic management context of organisations charged with fulfilling a sacred mission can be classified into one school or another. The research also explored the perceptions of the Integration 2000 process, including the compatibility between the espoused philosophies and values of Catholic health and aged care and the behaviours evidenced during the Integration 2000 process. A diagnostic model was used to perform this evaluation. Rather than uncovering major discrepancies, this revealed some differences and some potential challenges. / The espoused philosophies and values of Catholic health and aged care are those of compassion, collaboration, sense of community and, of course, financial viability. Pre-Integration 2000, particularly in health care, theories of organising and practices reflected values of independence and competitiveness, both between and even within religious orders. The findings from post-Integration 2000 suggested that theories of organising and practices were becoming more aligned with the original and continuing values, at the same time as responsibility for sustaining these values was being handed over from religious to lay trusteeship. There are still some outstanding issues before the Integration 2000 process achieves its objectives. The progress to date in bringing together so many components of such a disparate sector attests to the strength of the underlying value systems of Catholic health and aged care.

Many civil society organisations (CSOs) worldwide today face declining memberships, mission-drift or that they no longer are seen as relevant in society today. Several researchers warn that this development may lead to diminished democracy on both the national level and on the organisational level. This dissertation presents a longitudinal case study of the evolving strategy formation processes as they play out within a group of organisations surrounding one of the oldest nonprofits in Sweden, the IOGT-NTO. This membership-based federation and its sister organisations are treated in the analysis as a non-profit group, or interorganisational domain, held together by a shared system of values. The group has been able to retain and even develop much of its character as well as remain true to its original mission. This study demonstrates the importance of a membership-based governance system, which is able to stay true to the organisation's ideological core. It also points at the importance of having processes that enable the organisation to change along with society, while also preserving a certain distance from its surrounding environment so that it can maintain its distinctiveness. By doing this, the organisation is not just staying true to its original mission, but also actively contributing to democracy by including new groups of members in the decision-making process. Finally, the IOGT-NTO case highlights how crucial it is to keep the ideological discussion alive within the governance system. In combination, these structures and mechanisms might enable a CSO to mitigate the iron law of oligarchy and revitalize itself. Stefan Einarsson is a researcher at the Stockholm Center for Civil Society Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research (SIR) in Sweden. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2012.</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>

Strategy is an important part of any business. To become successful, a company must put a lot of effort into creating a strong and feasible strategy. To eliminate problems to follow the strategy it should be clear and jointly formulated. However, a problem could still be that the strategy is perceived and understood differently by managers and em-ployees within the company. This could implicate issues because these persons are ex-pected to follow the strategy and adopt their plans according to it. In this study we in-vestigate how the perceptions of a strategy differ among employees within an organisa-tion. This study is made with Yoigo, which is a Spanish telecommunication company that recently finished the creation of a new strategy.In this research, a qualitative method was used to collect primary data. Highly standard-ized and open interviews were conducted in Madrid at the Yoigo headquarter. In addi-tion, observations were used as primary data in order to better answer our research ques-tions and to fulfil our purpose.Our results indicate that there are significant differences and similarities in employees’ perception of the strategy. This study also concludes that a company’s internal envi-ronment could affect employees’ strategy awareness. We tested the perception of strat-egy through four different perspectives. The first three are customers, competitors and corporation; these perspectives are pointed out as key factors to a successful strategy (Ohmae, 1982). The fourth perspective was to investigate how perceptions differed in terms of the strategy formation process. Our major findings are that employees’ percep-tions regarding competitors and the strategy process are highly coherent while the op-posite is found about customers and corporation.