Michael Smets, Royston Greenwood and Mike Lounsbury show the potential of institutional theory for strategy as practice and its acceleration since 2015. As one of the most vital research areas of organization theory, institutional perspectives bring new insights for the understanding of strategic activities and practice. More precisely, it can help understand the linkage between the different levels of strategic activities but also the internal life of institutions. As a result, scholars in the fields of institutional theory and strategy as practice have begun to reach out to each other to broaden and nuance their respective theorizing. They identify natural points of connection between the two literatures and outline a research agenda for future studies at the intersection of institutional theory and strategy as practice.

This chapter considers the significance of authenticity in the context of branding and consumer behaviour. Authenticity is a complex construct that cannot be directly measured or calculated like other marketing metrics. It is particularly valued during times of change and uncertainty, serving not just as a unique selling proposition for brands but also as a means for consumers to align their choices with their self-identity and self-projection, underscoring the importance of consistency, conformity, and connection in understanding authenticity. These aspects not only help in defining what is ‘authentic’ but also demonstrate the strategic use of authenticity by brands to establish themselves as landmarks within the cultural landscape of consumers.

This chapter explores how perceived authenticity, influenced by a consumer’s narrative of self-identity and self-projection, aids in navigating the cultural landscape. This navigation involves using brands as landmarks to move closer to, or further from, consumers’ ‘authentic’ selves, thereby underscoring the crucial role that brand authenticity plays in consumers’ lives.

Martha Feldman discusses similarities and synergies between the study of routines as dynamic processes and the study of strategy as practice. She argues that strategy as practice and the theory of routine dynamics are distinct but related theories of organizing: Both draw on practice theory to focus attention on the dynamic and generative processes that result in strategy and routines and that have previously been studied as relatively static entities. She outlines several ways in which routine dynamics can contribute to strategy as practice research showing that routine dynamics is not only a compatible theory, but also a useful tool for studying the practice of strategy.

Economic capital is not the sole determinant of a brand’s power; rather, consumer interactions and cultural positioning significantly influence brand narrative and ownership. This chapter focusses on how technologies have complicated these power relations, enabling consumers to co-author brand narratives in digital brand communities. This has led to a fluidity of power where some brands have adeptly navigated the currents, repositioning themselves and engaging new consumers. Using Skype, Burberry, and Old Spice as examples, this case study discusses the failures and successes of brands in maintaining equilibrium in the power dynamic. Burberry’s journey illustrates the brand’s struggle and eventual success in reclaiming its image from unintended consumer associations, while Skype’s decline showcases the challenges of sustaining consumer connection and relevance in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Old Spice exemplifies the successful redirection of brand power towards a new narrative that resonates with both male and female consumers.

Nina Granqvist and Ari Kuismin focus on temporality in strategy as practice research. They offer an overview of prior research on time-related topics and then move on to develop an understanding of the ways in which strategy as practice scholars can approach temporality. This can involve process approaches that concentrate on temporally situated strategic activity over time, practice-based approaches that focus on time as a key element in the way strategy is worked on, and narrative approaches that deal with how pasts and futures are discursively constructed. They conclude with an agenda for future research on the role of temporality in strategizing.

The second case study in this book offers a deep dive into the brand activism of two distinct entities: the fashion giant Kate Spade and the social enterprise organisation Change Please. These two brands show how brand activism, especially when authentically aligned with a brand’s mission, can significantly influence targeted societal groups. Kate Spade is highlighted as a brand with activism ingrained in its DNA, focussing on women’s empowerment and mental health. Change Please is showcased as a social enterprise born with a mission to tackle homelessness through the daily habit of coffee drinking. It demonstrates how a brand built on social activism can enable significant societal change while operating a sustainable business model. Furthermore, this chapter indicates the importance of partnerships in amplifying brand activism, showing how Kate Spade and Change Please exemplify the ways in which brands can serve as navigational landmarks for consumers, and thus providing a blueprint for other entities seeking to embed activism into their business models.

Chapter Four draws on the dynamic theory of uneven development and spatiotemporal fix to conceptualize the changing geography of the European automotive industry based on the spatial profit-seeking strategies of automotive firms. It employs the spatial concept of integrated peripheries to explain the growth of the automotive industry in peripheral regions and its contemporaneous restructuring in existing locations. The empirical analysis is based on 2,124 restructuring events of large automotive industry firms in the European Union countries and Norway between 2005 and 2016, and on 91 interviews with foreign automotive industry subsidiaries conducted in Czechia and Slovakia between 2009 and 2015. Large differences in labor and other production costs across the European Union explain the growth in the east European integrated periphery and simultaneous restructuring in both traditional core regions and old integrated peripheries in western Europe. The empirical analysis also confirmed the increasing internationalization and the decreasing role played by large domestic firms in the European automotive industry.

Christopher Chapman, Wai-Fong Chua and Habib Mahama discuss the varieties of points of contact between Actor–Network theory and strategy as practice research. They review the origins of Actor–Network theory and discuss three of its foundational principles: generalized symmetry, recursivity and radical indeterminacy. The authors describe how various streams of preoccupations related to strategic decision making, planning, accounting and control have dealt with these principles over time. By showing how these principles have been drawn on in empirical studies, Chapman, Chua and Mahama elaborate on how SAP researchers can draw on Actor–Network theorizing to fruitfully advance our understanding of the dispersed, complex and non-linear trajectory of strategy-making.

In September 2008, the oldest investment bank on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, declared bankruptcy. Immediately, the world’s financial system seized up. Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of financial assets were frozen in place, the value of securities made uncertain, and the solvency of seemingly rock-solid financial institutions called into question. By the end of 2008, the United States’ economy was in freefall, shrinking at an annualized rate of 8%. Growth rates in other major industrialized economies also plummeted as well. The recession was so deep, and the recovery so labored that it took more than a decade for output to return to full employment levels. Figure 19.1 illustrates the situation rather dramatically.