Metaphors for Thinking about Corporate and Technical Strategies

ABSTRACTThis article posits that (1) vocabulary and language play a crucial role in aligning corporate strategy with technical strategy, and (2) top managers' awareness of vocabulary's crucial role will help them to lead their organizations in devising more creative and competitive strategies. A social constructionist approach to strategy formulation is presented, examining how communication, action, cognition, and knowledge interact as an organization expresses either a deliberate or an emergent strategy. The metaphor underlying the communication framework can have an important impact on the emergent strategy.