We did not anticipate the first edition of the Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice to be followed by a new version this soon. In the five years since the first edition was published, however, the field of practice-based strategy research has moved on considerably. New theoretical perspectives have been advanced, alternative methodologies have been suggested and new topics have been explored. In reaction to these developments, we have put this second edition together. We have included twenty new chapters and have substantially revised and updated all the original ones. In addition, the overall structure of the handbook has been changed: We have added Part III, covering organization and management theory perspectives on strategy as practice (SAP), such as the institutional perspective, alternative strategy perspectives, the routine dynamics perspective, the identity theory perspective, the communicative constitution of organizations perspective, the power perspective and the critical perspective. We have also added Part V, on substantive topic areas in strategy as practice research, which includes chapters on strategic planning, strategy meetings, the role of materiality in strategy, the strategic role of middle managers, participation in strategy and the role of emotions in strategy. Moreover, we decided to drop the original Part IV, on exemplary empirical research, as we felt that it was no longer possible to provide a representative overview of the wide variety of empirical studies conducted in the area of strategy as practice. Since the respective empirical chapters are still of great value to practice-based researchers, however, we have made them freely available on the website of Cambridge University Press: to access the papers, please visit www.cambridge.org/golsorkhi.

Working on this second edition has been a wonderful journey, as we have had the opportunity to learn new things and get to know new people. This book project has been an important way for us to participate in the development of the SAP agenda, and we are especially happy about the dialogue that has been established with those who have not usually been considered to be part of the SAP community. All this has required a great deal of effort from the authors. We are grateful to the authors of the previous edition, who without hesitation agreed to revise and update their chapters, and to the new ones, for so generously accepting the challenge to join us in this great adventure.