Strategy as Practice

'Strategy is something all organizations are encouraged to have. Many that do get it wrong. Their strategies are empty black box 'diamonds' or other modish schemes. In this book Jarzabkowski argues, cogently, that strategy should be seen in terms of practice - in terms of what it is that organizations and strategic actors do when they do strategy. The book signals a major re-orientation and intellectual maturation of a field that is too important for organizations to leave to the odd blend of occasional scholarship, analysis based on aggregate data, and inspired prescription that has characterized much of strategy to present. In addition, it charts how organizations in one of the most important institutional areas of contemporary societies, the universities, actually do strategy' Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia 'This is a pioneering work. As the first book in the new strategy-as-practice field, it offers its readers both innovative models and exemplary field research.It should be a rich source of inspiration for future researchers in the field' - Richard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management, Said Business School, Oxford 'This book extends and develops the emerging fields of strategy and practice as well as activity theory. It also demonstrates empirically, using University settings, how activity theory is itself bounded by the wider contexts of organisation, embedded routines and the heavy hand of history' - David C. Wilson, University of Warwick 'The subject of strategy has, in general and regrettably, migrated to a concern with abstract concepts, macro strategic issues and a distance from what managers do. In that context this book is unusual and very welcome. At the most fundamental level, managers manage activities and that is what this book addresses. However it relates those activities to strategic outcomes and therefore allows the reader to make the important bridge between what managers do and organisational strategies. It is a book that, unusually, is to do with the practice of strategy' - Gerry Johnson, Strathclyde University Strategy as practice heralds a defining moment in how strategic management is understood.Paula Jarzabkowski's book leads the way in setting out the meaning and implications of this new field. This book is the first of its kind to help readers bridge the gap between what managers actually do and organizational strategies. It provides an activity-based framework for studying strategy as practice, with empirical evidence to illustrate the dynamics of this framework in real terms. The book supports readers with: * definition of key terms * the context in which strategy as practice has developed * Clear concepts, frameworks and models for analyzing strategic activity Strategy as practice is indispensable reading for postgraduate students conducting research or doing courses on Strategy and Practice, Strategy Implementation or Strategy in Action as well as Advanced Issues in Strategy. This book will be a resource for both students and researchers alike. "> www.strategy-as-practice.org