Strategic change and narrative turn perspectives in media texts: learning and coopetition in strategising

For consultants, media texts are a channel to market their services, capabilities and knowledge. Media texts are a significant tool for participating and directing the general pulse of management and strategising. This study follows a narrative turn in emphasising the importance of micro-stories in strategising and strategy research. An empirical analysis of media texts on the web about strategic change revealed that today's professional consultants are expressing more cooperation-based perspectives compared with competition-based perspectives. However, because the main paradigm of societies and economies is competition, the general underlying tendency is based on the tension between competition and cooperation (coopetition). Furthermore, media texts show that strategising is not based on top-down management, but on empowerment processes where the participants are discussing and even deciding the aims of the organisation. In addition, this study concerns the relationship between knowledge management, theory in use and strategy as practice, providing some implications.