Exploring narrative strategy: the role of narratives in the strategic positioning of organizational change

Abstract

This article considers how the use of narratives has steadily transformed corporate strategy in the context of organizational change in recent years. ‘Narrative strategy’ is defined in this article as an evolving field concerned with the role of narratives as patterns of expectation and understanding in organizational transformation. In contrast to a post-strategic and communications-based approach of corporate storytelling, developing a narrative strategy clarifies an organization’s position regarding significant societal debates and derives from a change narrative. The concepts’ narrative constellation’ and ‘narrative discrepancy’ will be introduced to describe how organizations align and position their strategy with broader societal narratives. Both concepts are explored via a literature review and the authors’ experience as consultants. One exemplary case demonstrates how an organization developed and implemented a narrative strategy in a change process: Merck Group’s use of narratives during its transformation from a pharmaceutical manufacturer to a science and technology company in 2014. The article, thus, conceptualizes narrative strategy as a crucial aspect of contemporary strategy development.