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Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) Community Day 2024: “Practicing Strategy at the Crossroads: Navigating Transformation through Time, Space, and People”

Convenors:
Christoph Brielmaier
University of Bamberg, Germany
Christian Bruck
WU – Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
Robin Engelbach
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Rebecca Lu
Aston Business School, United Kingdom
Annabelle Müller
University of Bamberg, Germany

Call for Applications

Advisory Committee:
Yanis Hamdali, European University Viadrina, Germany

Facilitators, Panelists, & Roundtable Hosts:
Blagoy Blagoev, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Gary Burke, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Katharina Cepa, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
Charlotte Cloutier, HEC Montréal, Canada
Leonhard Dobusch, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Martin Friesl, University of Bamberg, Germany
Stefanie Habersang, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany
Claus Jacobs, University of Bern, Switzerland
Renate Kratochvil, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Davide Nicolini, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom
Omid Omidvar, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom
Sotirios Paroutis, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom
Igor Pyrko, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Tania Räcker, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Birgit Renzl, University of Stuttgart, Germany
David Seidl, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Violetta Splitter, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Eero Vaara, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Basak Yakis-Douglas, King’s College London, United Kingdom

 

Overview

The Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) Community Day 2024 is an inclusive platform to build, strengthen, and extend relationships within the broader EGOS community. Particularly for junior SAP scholars spread across different sub-themes of the Colloquium, this pre-Colloquium workshop provides an opportunity to exchange informally, discuss new theoretical ideas and methods, and receive feedback on working or emerging papers. The SAP Community Day 2024 consists of two parts:

Part 1 is designed as a space to inspire debates and reflect upon the theme “Practicing Strategy at the Crossroads: Navigating Transformation through Time, Space, and People”. Grand societal shifts and challenges place organizations at a crucial crossroads. For instance, the boundaries between the digital and physical as well as the professional and personal world become increasingly blurred. Additionally, the demand for sustainability transformation introduces a sense of urgency and scarcity, altering perceptions of time and space in strategizing. These and other fundamental changes provide rich opportunities of investigation for SAP scholars such as:

  • How do these pivotal changes – emerging from the fusion of the digital and physical worlds – affect actors’ activities in organizations?

  • How do technological advancements influence how and which actors collaborate in strategy-making across time and space?

  • How do grand challenges such as the climate crisis or geopolitical tensions influence how actors formulate and implement strategy?

  • How does this multitude of fundamental changes affect organizational actors themselves and their wellbeing?

  • And importantly, what is the role of SAP scholars in addressing these key questions?


To engage with these and other topical questions, we will bring together diverse perspectives from management and organization theory. The session will commence with insights from renowned scholars, who will share their reflections on practicing strategy at these crucial crossroads, encompassing time, space, and people. This will lead into an interactive panel discussion, encouraging a dynamic exchange of ideas.

Our panelists will be:

Charlotte Cloutier, HEC Montréal, Canada
Martin Friesl, University of Bamberg, Germany
Omid Omidvar, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom
Tania Räcker, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Eero Vaara, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
 

Part 2 features Paper Development Roundtable sessions where participants discuss their current research with leading SAP scholars. Participants will briefly present core ideas and current issues they are facing. Roundtable hosts will provide feedback and invite a joint discussion around the table. Ideas and/or papers on all topics and theoretical perspectives are welcome (thus, there is no need to explicitly relate to the focus topic of Part 1).
 
In addition to the above sessions, we will provide opportunities for informal networking and discussions during breaks. The joint lunch break will further foster these networking activities and thereby nurture the SAP community’s spirit.
 

Application

Please submit – via the EGOS website – by April 30, 2024 a single application document (.docx or .pdf file) which contains the following mandatory information:

  1. On the first page: your name + contact details (incl. title, postal address, email, phone number) and keywords that best describe your current research interests.
  2. Which part(s) of this SAP Community Day would you like to attend? – It is possible to attend either Part 1 or both parts!
  • If you would like to attend Part 1 (“Practicing Strategy at the Crossroads: Navigating Transformation through Time, Space, and People”): Please indicate your interest in attending this part.
  • If you would like to attend Part 2 (Paper Development Roundtables): Please include an abstract of up to 1,000 words (incl. references). Ideas and/or papers on all topics and theoretical perspectives related to Strategy-as-Practice Research are welcome! [Thus, they do not have to relate to the focus topic of Part 1!] We welcome all types of submissions, including – but not limited to – conceptual, quantitative, and qualitative papers at any development stage; also, emerging observations from your data, such as ethnographic vignettes, can be submitted. There is no need to submit full papers later on; however, shortly before the SAP Community Day 2024 you will have the option to update your submission.

Christoph Brielmaier is a Research Associate at Otto-Friedrich-University, Bamberg, Germany. His research focuses on the Strategy-as-Practice, attention-based view of the firm, and its intersections. His research has been awarded with the SMS Best Paper Award, the SMS Best PhD Paper Award as well as the AoM pushing the boundary award from the Strategy-as-Practice Interest Group. Christoph’s work has been published in ‘Strategic Organization’, ‘International Journal of Management Reviews’, and ‘Organization Theory’.
Christian Bruck is a Research Associate at the Institute for Strategic Management at WU – Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. In his research, he currently addresses the formulation and implementation of Open Strategy initiatives, inter-organizational strategizing, collaboration and governance of B2B platforms, and the valuation aspect of business models. Christian studies these phenomena through empirical qualitative, quantitative, as well as conceptual research by applying a practice-based perspective.
Robin Engelbach is a Research Associate at the Chair of Organization and Management at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research focuses particularly on the Open Strategy phenomenon, investigating the effects of opening up the strategy process through internal and external inclusion and transparency. Robin draws primarily on empirical, qualitative data, but also employs conceptual approaches.
Rebecca Lu is a PhD student at Aston Business School, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on the role of play, games, materiality and identity in strategy work, and she draws on qualitative research methods.
Annabelle Müller is a Research Associate at Otto-Friedrich-University, Bamberg, Germany. Her research focuses on sustainability and organizational structures and the valuation of sustainability initiatives. Annabelle approaches these topics mainly from an empirical qualitative research approach based on practice- and process perspectives.