Identity And Strategy: How Individual Visions Enable the Design of a Market Strategy That Works

This groundbreaking book explores the relationship between organizational identity and strategy and proposes a practical strategy-making process that helps to avoid the typical pitfalls in strategic change processes. In doing so, the author bridges an important gap in management and strategy literature and explains how to practically link content and process when designing market strategies. A new conceptual framework is also presented which emphasizes the importance and dynamics of organizational identity and corresponding time discrepancies for strategy making.

Whilst most strategists use the economically and analytically ‘best’ strategy as a measure, Olaf Rughase introduces a new measure for strategy making that takes personal feelings, values and aspirations of organizational members into account. Claiming that individually desired organizational identities – which can be seen as individual visions – give direction, motivation and impetus for strategy action and development, he suggests reaching a shared desired organizational identity which should then be taken as a strategy measure. Using rational and analytical factors the shared desired identity is then challenged and evolved until an attainable market strategy that works in practice is reached. In this way he also shows how the organization’s customers can be closely connected to organizational identity in practical strategy making.

By weaving both practice and theory together, this fascinating book provides a fresh voice on compelling management issues and will be invaluable to academics, researchers, practitioners, consultants and students with an interest in strategic and organizational management.