Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice

Cambridge University Press
Edition: 2, 9/3/2015
EAN 9781107073128, ISBN10: 110707312X

Hardcover, 687 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 3.5 cm
Language: English

Now in its second edition, this extended and thoroughly updated handbook introduces researchers and students to the growing range of theoretical and methodological perspectives being developed in the vibrant field of strategy as practice. With new authors and additional chapters, it shows how the strategy as practice approach in strategic management moves away from disembodied and asocial studies of firm assets, technologies and practices to explore and explain the contribution that strategizing makes to people working at all levels of an organization. It breaks down many of the traditional paradigmatic barriers in strategy to investigate who the strategists are, what they do, how they do it, and what the consequences or outcomes of their actions are. This essential work summarizes recent developments in the field while presenting a clear agenda for future research.

Preface to the second edition
Introduction
what is strategy as practice?
Part I. Ontological and Epistemological Questions
1. Practice in research
phenomenon, perspective and philosophy
2. Epistemological alternatives for researching strategy as practice
building and dwelling worldviews
3. Making strategy
meta-theoretical insights from Heideggerian phenomenology
4. Constructivist paradigms
implications for strategy as practice research
5. Constructing contribution in strategy-as-practice research
6. The ongoing challenge of developing cumulative knowledge about strategy as practice
7. Practical relevance of practice-based research on strategy
Part II. Theoretical Resources
Social Theory
8. Giddens, structuration theory and strategy as practice
9. An activity theory approach to strategy as practice
10. A Bourdieusian perspective on strategizing
11. An economies-of-worth perspective on strategy as practice
justification, valuation and critique in the practice of strategy
12. A Wittgensteinian perspective on strategizing
13. A Foucauldian perspective on strategic practice
strategy as the art of (un)folding
14. A narrative approach to strategy as practice
strategy-making from texts and narratives
15. Actor-network theory and strategy as practice
Part III. Theoretical Resources
Organization and Management Theories
16. An institutional perspective on strategy as practice
17. Relating strategy as practice to the resource-based view, capabilities perspectives and the micro-foundations approach
18. Theory of routine dynamics and connections to strategy as practice
19. Identity work as a strategic practice
20. Sensemaking in strategy as practice
a phenomenon or a perspective?
21. The communicative constitution of strategy-making
exploring fleeting moments of strategy
22. Analytical frames for studying power in strategy as practice and beyond
23. A critical perspective on strategy as practice
Part IV. Methodological Resources
24. Using ethnography in strategy-as-practice research
25. Researching strategists and their identity in practice
building 'close-with' relationships
26. Studying strategizing through biographical methods
narratives of practices and life trajectories of practitioners
27. Researching everyday practice
the ethnomethodological contribution
28. Critical discourse analysis as methodology in strategy-as-practice research
29. Studying strategy as practice through historical methods
30. Quantitative methods in strategy-as-practice research
Part V. Substantive Topic Areas
31. Strategic planning as practice
32. Meetings and workshops as strategy practices
33. The role of materiality in the practice of strategy
34. Strategy-as-practice research on middle managers strategy work
35. Participation in strategy work
36. The role of emotions in strategizing
Index.