Opening Strategy ― Professional Strategists and Practice Change, 1960 to Today

Strategy is becoming more 'open' - more transparent and more inclusive. Opening Strategy tells the story of how corporate strategists and strategy consultants have worked since the middle of the last century to open up the strategy process. First strategic planning, then strategic management, and now 'open strategy' have all brought more people into the strategy process and provided more strategic information, for the benefit of both business and society at large.

Informed by interviews with corporate strategists and consultants at leading firms such as General Electric and McKinsey & Co, and drawing on the historical archives of strategy's pioneers, this book provides vivid insights into the trials and tribulations of practice change in the strategy profession. Above all, it stresses the hard work of the little recognized and sometimes eccentric individuals who have been leaders in practice change. By building on a wide range of illustrations, covering both successes and failures, the book draws out general lessons for practice innovation in strategy. Those studying the topic will be able to set standard strategy techniques in historical and social context and develop new areas for investigation, while practising executives and consultants should gain a sense of how to innovate in strategy - and how not to.

Richard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Oxford

Richard Whittington is Professor of Strategic Management at the Said Business School and New College, University of Oxford. He has authored, co-authored or contributed to ten books, including the best-selling textbook Exploring Strategy (12th edition, Pearson, 2019) and the Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy (2019). He is an associate editor of the Strategic Management Journal and has co-edited six special issues in leading journals. He was previously a board member of the Strategic Management Society and past Chair of the Strategizing Activities and Practices interest group at the Academy of Management. His current research focuses on strategy-as-practice and 'open strategy'.