Introduction

In this part of the book we present eight abbreviated papers that illustrate key aspects of the study of Strategy as Practice. The papers, earlier published in leading management journals, have been chosen because, in different ways, they exemplify well characteristics we believe to be important in papers addressing Strategy as Practice. They provide useful examples of different research methods, of the use of different theoretical lenses, of how research might address and explain the role of actors and activities in organizations, and of how more detailed activities might relate to strategic outcomes or organizational consequences. Given that Strategy as Practice is a newly developing research domain, few of the authors of these papers would identify themselves with that domain, at least when they wrote them. The papers have been selected because all of them have important lessons for scholars who aspire to give future contributions to Strategy as Practice.

Each abbreviated paper has the same structure, starting with the original abstract of the paper, followed by a short editors' introduction by the authors of this book, where we present the main reason(s) why the paper has been chosen for inclusion in this book about Strategy as Practice. Then follows the paper summary, using verbatim sections of the paper with linking summaries by ourselves highlighting key aspects of the paper. Finally, at the end of each of the abbreviated papers is an editors' commentary in which we summarize some of the key lessons from each paper as they relate to Strategy as Practice.