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Material artifacts: Practices for doing strategy with ‘stuff’

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  • Jarzabkowski, Paula
  • Paul Spee, Andreas
  • Smets, Michael

Abstract

This paper addresses the dearth of research into material artifacts and how they are engaged in strategizing activities. Building on the strategy-as-practice perspective, and the notion of epistemic objects, we develop a typology of strategy practices that show how managers use material artifacts to strategize by a dual process of knowledge abstraction and substitution. Empirically, we study the practice of underwriting managers in reinsurance companies. Our findings first identify the artifacts – pictures, maps, data packs, spreadsheets and graphs – that these managers use to appraise reinsurance deals. Second, the analysis of each artifact’s situated use led to the identification of five practices for doing strategy with artifacts: physicalizing, locating, enumerating, analyzing, and selecting. Last, we developed a typology that shows how practices vary in terms of their level of abstraction from the physical properties of the risk being reinsured and unfold through a process of substituting. Our conceptual framework extends existing work in the strategy-as-practice field that calls for research into the role of material artifacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jarzabkowski, Paula & Paul Spee, Andreas & Smets, Michael, 2013. "Material artifacts: Practices for doing strategy with ‘stuff’," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 41-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:31:y:2013:i:1:p:41-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2012.09.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02276672, HAL.
    2. Eero Vaara & Virpi Sorsa & Pekka Palli, 2010. "On the force potential of strategy texts : a critical discourse analysis of a strategic plan and its power effects in a city organization," Post-Print hal-02312559, HAL.
    3. Sarah Kaplan, 2011. "Strategy and PowerPoint: An Inquiry into the Epistemic Culture and Machinery of Strategy Making," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 320-346, April.
    4. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02312709, HAL.
    5. Linda Rouleau, 2005. "Micro‐Practices of Strategic Sensemaking and Sensegiving: How Middle Managers Interpret and Sell Change Every Day," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7), pages 1413-1441, November.
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    Cited by:

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