Strategy as Simulacra? A Radical Reflexive Look at the Discipline and Practice of Strategy*

Grandy, Gina; Mills, Albert J.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2004.00470.x

Cited by 82 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…In a seminal analysis, Knights and Morgan (1991) examined strategy as a body of knowledge and analyzed the various kinds of power implications that the language of strategy has for organizations. Their analysis later inspired other theorists to examine strategy through a critical lens (Hendry 2000, Lilley 2001, Levy et al 2003, Grandy and Mills 2004. Other studies then focused on the role of narratives in strategy processes in organizational contexts (Barry andElmes 1997, Dunford andJones 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective

Mantere

Vaara

2008

Organization Science

329

297

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We still know little of why strategy processes often involve participation problems. In this paper, we argue that this crucial issue is linked to fundamental assumptions about the nature of strategy work. Hence, we need to examine how strategy processes are typically made sense of and what roles are assigned to specific organizational members. For this purpose, we adopt a critical discursive perspective that allows us to discover how specific conceptions of strategy work are reproduced and legitimized in organizational strategizing. Our empirical analysis is based on an extensive research project on strategy work in 12 organizations. As a result of our analysis, we identify three central discourses that seem to be systematically associated with nonparticipatory approaches to strategy work: “mystification,” “disciplining,” and “technologization.” However, we also distinguish three strategy discourses that promote participation: “self-actualization,” “dialogization,” and “concretization.” Our analysis shows that strategy as practice involves alternative and even competing discourses that have fundamentally different kinds of implications for participation in strategy work. We argue from a critical perspective that it is important to be aware of the inherent problems associated with dominant discourses as well as to actively advance the use of alternative ones.

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confidence: 99%

On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective

Mantere

Vaara

2008

Organization Science

329

297

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“…It is what makes a firm unique, a winner, or a survivor. The military link is evident in the corporate development of the notion of strategic thinking (cited in Grandy & Mills, 2004, p. 1156 strategy seems more concerned with competition between firms, whereas business models are more concerned with the "core logic" Linder & Cantrell (2000) in Seddon & Lewis (2003) Strategy can be viewed as building defenses against the competitive forces or finding a position in the industry where the forces are weakest (Porter, 2008, p. 35). the relationship between the company and its competitive environment; the allocation of resources among competing investment opportunities; and a long term perspective in which "patient money" figures prominently.…”

Section: Strategy Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

A Three-Component Definition of Strategic Marketing

Iyamabo

Otubanjo

2012

SSRN Journal

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“…The phenomenon investigated is how practitioners think and act towards making sustainability-embedded decisions and practices (or not) in their jobs that influence organizational aggregate sustainability adoption and embeddedness [60,71,72]. The case company chosen is a property company that owns, manages, develops and refurbishes a large portfolio of retail, commercial and industrial properties.…”

Section: The Case Study Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness

Roux

Pretorius

2016

Sustainability

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There can be little doubt that sustainability has become one of the most important issues in business in recent years. In spite of sustainability's importance, there is agreement amongst leaders and practitioners that sustainability is not as embedded as desired. This study reports a framework on inhibitors that limit sustainability embeddedness in organizations. The framework can assist management to address the non-achievement antecedents of embeddedness specifically and holistically. This study obtained empirical data from employees on all management levels in a stock exchange-listed company. Through in-depth analysis in a case organization, valuable insights about embeddedness were inductively identified, interpreted and presented using descriptive labels, namely: "Professing What Is Right"; "Green Distraction"; the belief of "Not My Job"; "Firefighter"; the "Past Performance Anchor"; "Strategy Discourse" and "Harmony"-a mediator to sustainability embeddedness. All these were also found to be altered by the transformation of culture and the communication of the strategy message by sustainable leadership-the moderator. The findings were also corroborated by related and supporting literature as part of our contribution and pursuit for better understanding of this phenomenon.

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Strategy as Simulacra? A Radical Reflexive Look at the Discipline and Practice of Strategy*

Cited by 82 publications

References 57 publications

On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective

On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective

A Three-Component Definition of Strategic Marketing

Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness

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