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The purpose of this paper is to study the nature of the strategy formation and its impact on firm performance in relation to market development and product innovation.

The paper is based on an empirical study of 91 Austrian SMEs which covers a time period of ten years. Strategy formation was captured by an analysis of strategic intentions and corresponding actions in two surveys carried out in 1995 and 2003.

The study finds no direct association between strategy formation and performance, though, emergent strategists had less often a growth orientation. Taking into account industry dynamics, shows, contrary to our expectations, that companies which employed an emergent market development strategy achieved higher sales growth in stable than in dynamic industries.

The question of the superiority of planned vs emergent strategies has a long debate in strategy formation literature. The authors contribute to this question by investigating the role of different information sources for the formation of market and product innovation strategies and its impact on the performance in different environments over a ten-year time period.

Reports findings from an empirical investigation into the process of operations strategy formation in six small manufacturing companies in the UK. A two‐stage methodology was used, with three companies being studied in‐depth and three as supplementary cases. The top‐down strategic planning mode, which dominates the manufacturing strategy literature, was found to be inadequate as a depiction of manufacturing strategy formation in SMEs in practice. Manufacturing strategy formation was shown to be a complex process involving a combination of deliberate and emergent actions and decisions, influenced by organisational culture, politics and powerful individuals. Emergent actions and decisions within manufacturing always played a part in manufacturing strategy formation. Manufacturing strategy formation could be more deliberate if greater use was made of business planning and by the identification of a set of explicit objectives for manufacturing. Manufacturing strategy formation could be less emergent if political behaviour could be reduced. Other factors that seemed to be influential included the interpretative processes of managers, the role of a corporate parent and the level of management education.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a micro-level, human-activity-centred interpretative framework for the way operations strategy is formed, linked and aligned with corporate-level strategies, and to apply it to gain insights on these processes.

Relying on the theoretical foundations of social practice theory and actor-network theory, as well as on the analysis of the organisational realities of the operations strategy formation process embedded in pluralistic organisational contexts, a conceptual framework for analysing the production and alignment of operations strategy is developed. The framework is then used to guide field research for the analysis of an operations-led strategic initiative in a medium-sized agro-food company.

Operations strategy formation can be interpreted as an ongoing practical, distributed social activity of network (re)formation. Specific initiatives, or events, act as catalysts for the association of operations strategy formation practices with corporate-level ones, facilitating thus the current and future alignment of strategic content. Artefacts play an active role in the linking process.

The research presented in this paper is pioneering as it is the first explicit consideration of operations strategy formation (process) as practical social activity (practices are the focus of analysis, not individuals’ choices), in which non-human agency (informational artefacts, etc.) is explicitly taken into account. For this purpose, a novel analytic framework was developed, which, however, need to be further tested to determine the exact conditions under which it is valid.

The framework improves the understanding of the organisational dynamics of operations strategy formation, its linking with, and institutionalisation in, other organisational processes and strategic discourses. Thus, it can assist in the analysis of operations-led strategic initiatives.

Application of the results obtained can provide better workplaces.

For the first time: operations strategy formation is considered as a social activity by focusing on the strategists and managers’ practices; the role of documents, decision-support tools and other artefacts is surfaced; and the importance of introducing operations strategy formation practices carrying strategy content into corporate and business-level strategy processes and their role in the alignment of the two strategies is emphasised.

This chapter proposes that organizational strategy formation should be characterized theoretically as a process that is subject to several interacting forces, rather than represented by separate discrete decision-models or theoretic perspectives, as is commonly done in the strategic management literature. Based on an extensive review of relevant theory and empirical work in strategic decision-making, organizational change theory, cognitive and social psychology, and strategy processes, seven kinds of “forces” – rational, imposed, teleological, learning, political, heuristic, and social – are identified as interacting in and having significant influence on the strategy formation process. It is further argued that by applying a holistic “forces-view” of the significant and interacting influences on strategy formation, we can better understand the dynamics and challenges in managing the process of defining and changing organizational strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to explicate deeper structures in manufacturing strategy (MS) formation processes, in order to advance process understanding. This would be useful in identifying and nurturing appropriate forms of MS formation within specific organisational settings.

Nine case studies in the Australian metal products, machinery and equipment manufacturing sectors, guided by the grounded theory approach.

Deeper structures in MS processes represent linear and parallel, convergent and divergent, sequential and iterative progression of strategic initiatives across four broad phases identified as: initiation, consolidation, commitment and realization. The multiple progressions are explained by the nature of strategic initiatives, the causal relationships between the phases or modes and the influence of internal and external organisational contextual factors. The aggregate patterns are presented in the form of a conceptual model.

The conceptual model needed to be tested with a large sample of data using statistical techniques to improve its external validity. Causal relationships explored in this study may be further strengthened using longitudinal qualitative studies.

The findings are grounded in empirical data. The model presented using simple formalisms is capable of providing rich insights in aggregate terms. As such, it is expected to hold a natural appeal to practitioners. If the findings can find their way into MS pedagogy, they can make a more substantial and progressive contribution to MS practice.

The findings of this study have corroborated and explained the findings of several recent studies that have uncovered alternative forms of MS formation. The deeper understanding of MS process developed in this study contributes to theory‐building with the added significance that this study has successfully crossed the traditional analytical boundaries.

This article describes and analyses observations from a longitudinal case study to advance an understanding of operations strategy formation as a continuous process. The managerial practices of the case company are analysed in relation to four general desired outcomes of a strategy process, and a process design is constructed as an example of good practice. Regarding strategy formation as a continuous part of the normal management process, the process design is proposed as a relevant alternative to the traditional discontinuous practice of strategy formation. The interplay between modes of strategy formation in different phases of the process is discussed, indicating the varying roles of managers.

Based on a study carried out in 2004‐2005 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, this paper explores the theme of CSR strategy formation, investigating how three companies from different industry sectors ‐ a chemical products manufacturer, a diesel engine technology development company and a large multi‐media enterprise ‐ have shaped and institutionalised CSR strategies. The data revealed three major categories of interrelated factors that lead to CSR strategy formation, namely, delineating events; stakeholder influence, and drivers for CSR strategies. Delineating events are chronologically ordered events that trigger a process of reflection on CSR issues. Stakeholders such as the company’s president, stockholders, employees, community, customers, and competitors exert considerable influence in the formation of CSR strategies. Drivers are events and processes emerging from the company’s environment, which create the conditions to shape CSR strategies. The first part paper provides a brief discussion of the notion of CSR and examines a selection of management theoretical models that provide essential insights to understand CSR as strategy; the second part focuses on the findings of the exploratory study which provides the basis for this paper.

The aim of the present paper was to examine strategy formation in construction firms. Strategic thinking has become increasingly important because the environment of construction has changed dramatically in recent years. An organizational strategy is the result of a formation process over time and an organization uses strategy when dealing with a changing environment. Therefore, strategies are formed in an iterative process of social interactions involving various activities. The basic unit of analysis strategy must be a distinct business and corporate entity. Corporate strategy should grow out of a deep understanding of how construction firms prosper in individual business areas, i.e. ‘the parenting advantage’. Parenting advantage is a criterion for guiding corporate strategy formation. Business strategy is formed by accepted common thinking and on the basis of business strategy in general. Business strategy and competitive advantage is based on the competencies and resources of firms.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the strategy formation process takes place studying the relevance of the integrative perspective and the use of the variables rationality, implication and vision, and verifying the relationship between an integrative strategy formation process and the management of work and the consequences of this relationship in terms of performance.

The paper adopted a qualitative methodology, specifically a simple case analysis, following a six‐stage process: establishing the research objectives, the theoretical research framework, unit and the level of analysis, selecting the study cases and a pilot case, and ellaborating the protocol for the case study analysis.

An integrative strategy formation process that combines with certain equilibrium rationality and emergence facilitates a more effective management of work, specifically of complex work. When the organisation permits a greater degree of participation, it is facilitating an improvement in organisational results (particularly with respect to professional works – administrative or engineering that add more complexity).

The paper highlights the importance of the fit between an integrative strategy formation process and the management of different types of work, considering that a better fit drives to better results.

The major part of studies in the field of strategic cognition focussed on strategy content, while process studies are comparatively rare. Those of the studies that are dedicated to explain strategy occurrence are dominantly restricted to formal decision making. In contrast to this, the purpose of this paper is to draw on a framework that helps to get a differentiated picture on contingent processes, strategies may pass through in organizations. Furthermore, an own elicitation procedure is introduced that enables to measure strategic cognition on different levels.

The paper provides an empirical approach by applying collective causal mapping techniques, both on an individual as well as collective level. The conceptual framework of the study rests on the “genesis” concept of strategy formation introduced by Kirsch and colleagues.

The main contribution of the paper is the presentation of a methodical approach to study the formation of shared strategic orientations in small companies. An operationalization to study these cognitive processes, based on collective causal mapping techniques is provided.

Applying the methodical approach presented in the paper is expected to make a contribution to the understanding of the shared knowledge of organizational members about major strengths and weaknesses of a new strategic reorientation and to contribute to practical concerns of organizational members in specific problematic situations, especially in small companies.

The study empirically approaches the complex phenomenon on strategy formation in small companies and therefore expands the understanding of shared cognition in organizations.