UoL BU1530

  Beyond the Boardroom: Why the Practice Perspective Wins Mainstream strategy models, such as Porter’s Five Forces, often explain as little as 4% to 18% of the variance in firm profitability. This leaves a massive "82 percent to 96 percent" gap that Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) attempts to fill by viewing strategy as an activity that is socially accomplished. However, SAP faces valid criticisms. A major critique is that the field has become too focused on "articulated strategies"—those formally defined by top management—which risks making it a mere subset of traditional research rather than a radical alternative. Scholars argue that researchers often default to studying the "usual suspects," such as CEOs and middle managers, while overlooking the strategic impact of frontline actors like engineers or tour guides. Additionally, SAP researchers face a "dilemma" in balancing the depth of ethnographic data with the breadth and diversity required fo...