PhD Graduate

Our thesis is titled ‘A microfoundations perspective on strategy search’. Applying a microfoundations lens in the strategy domain, our thesis is firmly grounded in the attention-based theory of organisation. While external environmental search is widely assumed in the literature to be deliberate strategising’s microfoundational base, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of these activities. In a novel approach, our research investigated two complementary, yet neglected microfoundations aspects of strategising, within a single study; asking the questions ‘How do managers prepare for strategic planning?’, and ‘How can a cognition aid influence strategic planning preparations?’. In our study, ‘prepare’ and ‘preparations’ refer to deliberate strategising search activities, the findings from which are intended to inform deliberations on future organisational strategising.

Drawing on data from senior executives across six case organisations, our study contributes to theory in three areas: First, we reveal the microfoundations of strategising search activities, identifying a range of mechanisms influencing search attention. Second, we disclose the link between search attention mechanisms and search cognition modes. Third, the notion of a ‘cognition catalyst’ is advanced, along with proposed enabling mechanisms. A range of important managerial implications are also identified, along with suggestions for promising future research.

Keywords: Microfoundations; attention; cognition; noticing; framing; strategy; deliberate strategising; hermeneutic phenomenology; case study.

My study was completed on a part-time basis, while I carried out my full-time role as a director of BWG Foods, the operators of the EUROSPAR, SPAR, Mace and Londis franchise brands in the Republic of Ireland.