A strategy-as-practice approach to strategy research and education

Abstract

This conclusion to the Dialog proposes a strategy-as-practice based approach to bringing strategy research and education closer to practice. Strategy-as-practice rejects the choice, proposed in the previous articles, between theory and practice. The authors argue for strategy research based rigorously on sociological theories of practice. Such research complements the parsimony and generalizability of economics-driven theory, extending strategy research to incorporate the messy realities of doing strategy in practice, with a view to developing theory that is high in accuracy. The authors suggest that practice-based research can also inform strategy teaching by providing students with rich case studies of strategy work as actually practiced, analyzed through such sociological lenses as ethnomethodology, dramaturgy, and institutional theory. Strategy-as-practice research does not aim to give students parsimonious models for analysis or expose them to cases of best practice but rather to help them develop practical wisdom through a better understanding of strategy in practice.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492608318150
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Additional Information: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Journal of Management Inquiry, 17(4), December 2008 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © 2008 Sage Publications.
Uncontrolled Keywords: strategy-as-practice,relevance,social theories of practice,strategy theory,teaching,Business, Management and Accounting(all),Management of Technology and Innovation,Strategy and Management
Publication ISSN: 1552-6542
Last Modified: 06 Mar 2024 08:09
Date Deposited: 21 Oct 2009 15:06
Full Text Link: http://jmi.sage ... stract/17/4/282
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2008-12
Authors: Jarzabkowski, Paula
Whittington, Richard

Download

[img]

Version: Accepted Version


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record