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How to bridge peripheral and central s trategy-making routines in decentralized corporations through alignment practices

Andrews, M. (2017) How to bridge peripheral and central s trategy-making routines in decentralized corporations through alignment practices.

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Abstract:Multi-business firms increasingly decentralize their business to operate flexibly but are simultaneously challenged to create synergies through corporate-level strategies when facing trends such as digitization or globalization. To manage this tradeoff, they initiate integrative strategy projects which integrate practitioners from business units and headquarter in mutual strategy teams to pool dispersed knowledge and ease corporate-wide strategy implementation. However, rooted in disparate contexts, individuals from the periphery and the center lack a shared understanding of strategy and approach strategy-making differently. This study examines which practices peripheral and central actors develop to align their strategy-making routines and to establish a shared understanding of strategy. Findings are generated inductively and through grounded theory based on strategy-as-practice research and comparative case study methodology, including four in-depth cases within a multi-business firm. The results indicate that peripherally and centrally situated practitioners engage in four specific alignment practices: Converging, committing, sharing and interacting practice. These are developed non-deliberately over time by peripheral and central practitioners alike. Identifying and coining alignment practices extends the scarce micro-level strategy-as-practice research and further contributes to a better practical understanding of how diverse actors within integrative strategy teams of multi-business firms align their understanding to effectively engage in strategy-making.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/73966
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