Crafting Strategy Imaginatively:: Lessons Learnt from Siemens

This paper revisits Roos and Victor's (1999) conceptual framework for strategy making, involving descriptive, creative, and challenging imagination in the light of empirical evidence. The three imaginations are linked to concrete strategy-making processes as illustrated with a longitudinal case study of the electrical engineering and electronics multinational Siemens. In addition to this, questions regarding the extent to which strategy making in big organizations follows an emergent or deliberate path, and the relative role and importance of the three imaginations are discussed. The paper concludes with research avenues for further work in strategy process and strategy content.