How Boards Strategise: A Strategy as Practice View

Abstract

While board involvement in strategy is seen as increasingly important, our understanding of how boards fulfil this role is limited. This article draws on indepth qualitative research with directors and senior managers to develop a Strategy as Practice view on how boards “do” strategy. Two different but complementary strategising practices – Procedural Strategising and Interactive Strategising – are identified and elaborated in terms of their underlying micro-activities. The internal boardroom factors that affect the relative emphasis on these strategising practices – the strategic stance of the board, board power and the perceived legitimacy of each practice – are also identified and discussed. These findings are then integrated into a typology of board strategising. A key implication of this paper is that boards need to consciously choose the nature and extent of their involvement in strategy.