Part III

Summary

Our enthusiasm for Strategy as Practice should be evident in the chapters and commentaries that have preceded this one. This enthusiasm is similarly to be found in the community of academics that has grown up around it, as we indicate above. A good deal of this arises because Strategy as Practice provides a real opportunity to place an emphasis on people and what people do in relation to strategy – something which, as chapter 1 suggested, has been somewhat absent in much of what is now researched in the strategy field. We should however remember that this interest and enthusiasm is part of a long legacy. It builds on the legacy of the subject of strategic management back into the 1950s and 60s and it has been the continuing central concern of academics such as Henry Mintzberg, Robert Burgelman and Andrew Pettigrew. So this is not an entirely new perspective: it builds on and extends a tradition.

Our objectives in this final part are twofold. First, we reflect collectively on the journey followed in this book, summarizing the central substantive, empirical and methodological themes developed in Parts I and II, and broadening the field of vision to draw in some of the most promising recent initiatives in this area. Second, each of the authors provides individual reflections on the contributions and future opportunities of Strategy as Practice, emphasizing those areas that are of greatest interest and concern to him or her personally. All of us have been independently involved in empirical work relevant to Strategy as Practice and were drawn to this area with slightly different motivations and interests.