Framing strategy under high complexity: processes and practices of ongoing reframing in the becoming of strategy

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Bjerregaard, T. ORCID: 0000-0001-6757-703X and Jeppesen, F., 2023. Framing strategy under high complexity: processes and practices of ongoing reframing in the becoming of strategy. European Management Journal, 41 (3), pp. 458-470. ISSN 0263-2373

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.03.007

Abstract

Framing is a key concept in research on how strategists legitimize and win support for strategic change by establishing a frame of reference for that change. This article advances research on strategy framing by showing how, under conditions of high complexity and uncertainty, strategists continuously reframe strategy in relation to shifting constellations of stakeholders. It presents the findings of an ethnographic study of strategizing in the highly complex context of the digital transformation journey of a global manufacturing firm. It shows how (re)framing practices are combined to iteratively shape strategy formation in ways that sustain strategic influence in the face of constant threats to legitimacy. By accounting for how (re)framing practices reach back and forth in time, the ethnographic findings refine conventional understanding of how framing resources of past strategizing enter and reworked in present strategy work. Finally, the article contributes empirical insights into how information systems specialists, often marginalized as strategic actors, frame and pitch strategic projects to gain and exert influence in strategy formation processes.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

European Management Journal

Creators:

Bjerregaard, T. and Jeppesen, F.

Publisher:

Elsevier BV

Date:

June 2023

Volume:

Number: