Abstract
It would have been difficult for organization scholars to miss the recent turn toward practice in organization studies (Schatzki et al., 2001). In particular strategic management scholars have embraced the idea of practice (cf. Jarzabkowski, 2005; Whittington, 1996). Since its emergence a decade or so ago, the strategy-as-practice field has produced three special issues (Journal of Management Studies, 2003; Human Relations, 2007; Long Range Planning, 2008), with two more currently in preparation (Journal of Management Studies; British Journal of Management), a monograph (Jarzabkowski, 2005) and two handbooks (Golsorkhi et al., 2010; Johnson et al., 2007). Further, multiple textbooks now incorporate the practice-based perspective (Clegg et al., 2011; Johnson et al., 2011). Strategy-as-practice is also represented at most major management conferences (e.g. Academy of Management, British Academy of Management, European Group for Organizational Studies and Strategic Management Society). So, what is strategy-as-practice and do we need another book about it?
Strategy-as-practice is an activity-based view of strategy that reconceptualises strategy as something people do, rather than something organizations have (Jarzabkowski, 2004). Studies incorporating this perspective tend to focus on the ‘the myriad, micro activities that make up strategy and strategizing in practice’ (Johnson et al., 2003: 1). Consequently, research has gravitated toward three core areas of strategizing: practices, practitioners and praxis (Jarzabkowski, 2005; Vaara and Whittington, 2012; Whittington 2006). Practices are the routinized behaviours used in strategy work such as strategy workshops (Hendry and Seidl, 2003), strategy tools (Spee and Jarzabkowski, 2009) and strategy rhetoric (Sillince et al., 2012). Practitioners are the actors actually doing the strategizing. These may be senior strategists (Jarzabkowski, 2008), but also middle managers (Balogun and Johnson, 2004) and other more peripheral actors (Regnér, 2003). Praxis is the unfolding stream of activity, composed of concrete actions and activities (Salvato, 2003). It can be anything like raising an eyebrow, lifting a pen or assigning a task. Praxis is the embodied minutiae of doing strategy.
One of the main contributions of strategy-as-practice is its focus on the micro-level of organizations. By focusing on individual activities, and demonstrating how these interact with organizational actions to produce field effects, strategy-as-practice has illuminated the micro-foundations of strategy. Studies conducted from a strategy-as-practice perspective have garnered better understandings of the micro-dynamics of strategy and have facilitated better explanations for how and why things happen in organizations. Strategy-as-practice has both a empirical and theoretical pluralism that has allowed those working in the area to address questions linked to a broad range of other fields, including coordination (Jarzabkowski et al., 2012), discourse (Vaara et al., 2010) and sensemaking (Balogun and Johnson, 2004; Rouleau, 2005). Of course this eclecticism has also attracted criticism with strategy-as-practice being labelled ‘naïve’ in its approach to strategy, said to contain multiple ‘incompatible’ elements, and accused of being ‘promiscuous’ (cf. Carter et al., 2008a, 2008b). This is harsh but largely fair criticism. Strategy-as-practice both benefits and suffers from its heterogeneity. However, two things do critically unite studies of strategy-as-practice: the focus on the micro activities of actors and the focus on strategy. Thus, as even its critics acknowledge, strategy-as-practice is ‘zapping the field’ (Carter et al., 2008b: 107).
The strategy-as-practice community has been working to establish itself and address the criticism it faces from within the broader management discipline. Accordingly, it has focused on substantive issues such as ontological and epistemological questions, relationships to different theories, methodologies and emerging thematic areas of research (cf. Golsorkhi et al., 2010). However, in seeking greater sophistication, it has ironically also made itself a little less accessible to practitioners. This is where ‘Practicing Strategy’ fills a gap. The authors of this book have distilled the core messages of strategy-as-practice into a series of easy-to-read and easy-to-apply chapters. It has done well to retain sufficient sophistication for an academic audience, drawing on recent studies and explaining theoretical ideas, while also ensuring accessibility by presenting them in a format that is comprehensible for practitioners and students without prior knowledge in this area
As a result ‘Practicing Strategy’ is a book that does exactly what it purports to do ‘…this textbook serves as the starting point for advanced students and researchers of strategic management interested in studying and researching issues about the practicing of strategy’ (Preface). Building around the core notions of praxis, practices and practitioners, it constructs a convincing narrative of knowledge. The structure is clear and meaningful, the text is coherent and well-written with theory effortlessly interspersed, and there is ample illustration and opportunity for reflection. The book itself is relatively short (only 120 pages excluding cases), and organized into four sections and eight core chapters. Each chapter succinctly introduces a new idea, generally in less than 15 pages. Given the authors’ own academic pedigree (Angwin and Vaara, 2005; Angwin et al., 2009; Heracleous, 2003, 2006; Heracleous and Barrett, 2001; Heracleous and Jacobs, 2008; Lan and Heracleous, 2010; Paroutis and Heracleous, 2013; Paroutis and Pettigrew, 2007; Wright et al., 2013), the chapters sometimes feel a little simplistic but perhaps that is the beauty of this book: the ability to capture the complex in simple terms.
Chapter 1 introduces the practice-based approach around which the book is built. It is an excellent chapter that really brings strategy-as-practice to life, drives home the relevance of the approach in terms of the ‘micro-level foundations of strategy making and execution’ (p. 3) and explains its relationship to the planning and emergent schools of strategy (p. 4–5). Their literature review is up-to-date and contains references to key work in this area. It is true to its definition of strategy-as-practice as an approach ‘which considers strategy not only as something an organization has but something which its members do’ (back cover). I have absolutely no doubt that this chapter will become required reading as strategy-as-practice becomes more and more integrated into textbooks and classrooms. I also like the focus on process, with the book building in the notion that ‘practice researchers try to uncover the detailed actions that, taken together, over time constitute the strategy process’ (p. 9). However, I worry that this might mislead the uninitiated reader. While it is true that SAP has a leaning toward these methods, often incorporating more process thinking than process research (Langley, 2007), we must also acknowledge that strategy-as-practice is not only process-focused. Content-based studies and quantitative approaches are also legitimate and indeed encouraged (Johnson et al., 2007). I would have liked to see this more clearly stated.
Section A focuses on strategy practitioners, and consists of three chapters (2: Chief Strategy Officers: 3: Strategy Teams and 4: Strategy Consultants). The introduction to this section is an example of what the authors do really well, that is, summarize a core body of literature and present it in a meaningful way. The discussion of the upper echelon versus middle managers is very good, and helps to broaden the scope of who we consider strategists (p. 22): ‘…there have been studies focusing on: top managers (Jarzabkowski, 2008), middle managers (Balogun, 2003; Mantere, 2008; Rouleau, 2005;), strategy directors and their teams (Angwin et al., 2009; Paroutis and Pettigrew, 2007), strategy champions (Mantere, 2005), and expert personnel (Laine and Vaara, 2007)’. Surprisingly, however, not all of these groups are adequately represented in the chapters that follow. While this is disappointing, the authors do pick up on three key groups of actors (strategy officers, strategy teams, and consultants). The discussion is thorough, albeit sometimes a little over-reliant on a few sources (e.g. Angwin et al., 2009). While the authors clearly acknowledge this in the end-of-chapter note (p. 37): ‘This chapter is based on work originally presented at two conferences (Angwin and Paroutis, 2009; Paroutis and Angwin, 2008) and published in Angwin et al. (2009)’, I would have liked to see the discussion extended beyond that original work.
Section B is concerned with strategy practice, and consists of two chapters (5: Influencing Strategy through Discourse and 6: Strategy Meaning in Action). This section is clearly one of the core areas through which this book adds value. In a book written partially by Loizos Heracleous (cf. Heracleous and Barrett, 2001), who is renowned for his work on discourse, a chapter on discourse was bound to create high expectations with the audience. The authors do not disappoint. In Chapter 5, they do a wonderful job of explaining the complex nature of discourse in an accessible and enjoyable-to-read way. I also like the critical theory angle that shines through in this chapter and the next chapter. Chapter 6 is not quite as comprehensive or coherent as Chapter 5. This may be due to the focus on ‘strategy meaning’, but the empirical support for this chapter is clearly weaker than for other chapters.
Section C focuses on the context of strategy in two further chapters (7: M&A; 8: Complex Firms). While this section clearly aligns with the authors’ own research interests (e.g. Angwin and Vaara, 2005 on mergers), it has the least obvious fit with the strategy-as-practice agenda. While mergers (Balogun and Johnson, 2004) and complexity (Jarzabkowski et al., 2013) are clearly themes in strategy-as-practice research, they are not the only topics that could fit here. This is particularly true in light of the authors’ own observation about mergers and acquisitions (p. 95–96): ‘…for the level of research effort expended, the amount of unequivocal findings remain disapppointingly small (Grant, 2002) and many are so broad as to be of little value to practitioners…the results are disappointing and there is even some empirical evidence that the failure rate for M&A is increasing’. Similarily, in Chapter 8 I would have liked to see some discussion around pluralism and paradox, or other ‘hot’ complexity topics, rather than debate around specific strategy actors and engaged practice. However, I recognize that the themes treated in these two chapters are necessarily selective because there is no clear agreement on what constitutes core topics. Perhaps introducing a strong conclusion chapter to the main section of the book, which discusses these considersations and summarizes some core themes, would preempt this type of criticsm.
The final section, Section D, contains a series of detailed case studies. These comprise just over half of the volume of the book (129 pages). And they are wonderful. It is clear that the authors are skilled case study writers and understand how to use language to bring cases to life. The examples are well balanced, cutting across national and industry contexts, including well-known and less well-known organizations, and providing a level of details that is not commonly seen in case studies. The exhibits and appendices are exceptionally useful (e.g. p. 216).
Overall, Practising Strategy offers good treatment of practices and practitioners, and makes strategy-as-practice accessible to a mainstream audience. I would have liked to see a little more focus on the final ‘P’ of strategy-as-practice: Praxis. Hopefully by the time the authors consider a second edition, the strategy-as-practice community will have moved forward, shifting away from practices to the more subtle area of praxis (Vaara and Whittington, 2012). I recommend the book as an excellent teaching text and also as a valuable text for those outside the strategy-as-practice field who are wondering what all the fuss is about.