Abstract

Pervasive digitalization is challenging established organizational modes of operating and practices in strategy formation. Both theoretical and empirical accounts detail how such processes involve moving from perceived views of information technologies as important but functional resources used to achieve business goals, towards digital strategy grounded in a synthesized perspective where strategies for organizational goals are both formed and executed by leveraging digital resources. While multiple studies detail the underlying rationales for this shift, and what a digital strategy is how such strategies are formed has received less attention. We draw on the notion of planned and emergent strategy formation to analyze how the distributed agency and blurred boundaries induced by digitization are harmonized with organizational governance requirements. We contribute an empirical account of strategizing across three phases identified in an interpretative case study of a digital strategy formation process at the Swedish Transport Administration (STA), marked by distinct approaches to balance and integrate business and digital competencies. Second, we identify distinct work practices aimed at creating new institutional arrangements in the three phases. Third, the analysis demonstrates the cumulative nature of digital strategy formation and how organizations may develop capacity for strategizing over time.

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