Open Strategy: Consolidated Definition and Processual Conceptualization

Open approaches to operational work in organizations (e.g., crowdsourcing and open source development) have been of particular interest to information systems (IS) researchers. Recently, organizations, including IBM, Red Hat and Wikimedia Foundation, have also embraced openness principles for strategic work (e.g., planning, forming and implementing strategy). Little is known about such “open strategy” and, within it, the (critical) role of information technology (IT). Definitions and conceptualizations of open strategy in the literature are vague and inconsistent. In the study reported in this paper, we have reviewed the emerging literature on open strategy. By analysing the characteristics most commonly attributed to open strategy, we propose a consolidated definition of open strategy. Furthermore, we develop an open strategy process model and use it to re-analyse four open strategy case studies. This analysis contributes to our conceptual understanding of open strategy and of what is required for open strategy to work in practice.