Strategising in a professional service firm

Abstract

This thesis is an inquiry into the nature of effective Strategising in professional service firms. Its theoretical heritage Iies with the Uterature on strategy and on theories of practice, which together form the relatively nascent perspective known as strategy-as-practice. From this perspective, strategy is not something a firm has; rather, it is something that people do. Against the general backdrop of the sociology of professions, and the particular context of engineering consultancy, this thesis seeks to answer the questions: How do strategy practitioners in professional service firms 'strategise'; what is the nature of their praxis (i.e. the formal and informal day-to-day activities in which they engage when Strategising)? How do strategists in a professional service firm have impact beyond themselves; what characterises the praxis of those whose Strategising is consequential and, thus, strategic? To answer those questions, a longitudinal case study of an engineering consultancy was undertaken. With over five years of real-time data collection, and fifty-plus years of historical and secondary data, this thesis built a rich case to explore the Strategising praxis of over thirty central participants, plus a much larger number of people with whom they interacted. Data were collected through interviews, observation of meetings and events, and the shadowing of a number of participants for up to five days continuously. Furthermore, data were collected in three countries, and involved participants from five countries. Participants included those in the firm, as well as clients and advisors to the firm. The principal findings of this research are, first, the Characteristics of the professional service firm's pipeline of projects have a profound impact on the nature of effective Strategising. The case at the centre of this study suggests that successful Strategising requires actors to cope with Iumpmess and unpredictability in the acquisition and delivery of projects. Secondly, autonomy is a characteristic of successful Strategising. Autonomy was seen to be an important mechanism for enabling actors to contend with the unpredictability of the project pipeline. It allows for the decoupling of ends and means, creating a form of slack that allows the firm to absorb, or adapt, to environmental changes. Finally, successful Strategising, that is the achievement of Consequentiality by actors, is not simply a result of their choice, if they have one, of tactics. Their situated knowing also plays an important, and perhaps determining, role in achieving Consequentiality.