“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar”: a study on the construction of meanings in strategy

Abstract

This study suggests the social construcionism approach as useful methodological approach to comprehend strategy as a social practice. For this purpose the results of interviews conducted with owners, business partners and executives are presented regarding the meanings attributed to the practice of strategy in their organizations. The aim was investigate how strategic practitioners build strategic understanding of what strategy is, how it is created in organizations and who are involved in its creation. We develop depth interviews with 23 executives/business owners who work with the strategy in their professional life. Interpreting their linguistic repertoires, through the methodological approach of social constructionism, the results showed a diversity of understandings for the themes “what is strategy” and “how the strategy is created”. The study concluded that the social value of the word strategy was one factor in its spread, especially among small businesses, because the use of the word strategy legitimates the members of an organization to demonstrate that they act as good managers and gives meaning to actions that have always existed in the organizational space.