What would strategies look like in light of pragmatism? In this second part of the book, we invite readers to investigate the ‘specifications’ of pragmatic strategy. We shall conduct our investigation in the context of the purposes, contents, functionalities and processes of strategy. This chapter outlines the major features of pragmatic strategy, while the next focuses on strategy formation. Our aim is to explore how a pragmatic turn will enable us to see strategy differently, wisely. We shall draw from cases such as China’s economic reform; Intel Corporation; Sony’s Akio Morita; USAToday; cochlear implants; the e-commerce company Alibaba.com; Lenovo, the Chinese PC-maker; 3M Corporation’s Post-it Notes; and Huawei, the world’s fastest-growing telecom equipment provider. This is mainly a descriptive and explanative investigation, to prepare readers to proceed to the next part of the book where we shall explore normatively what to do and how to do it in the search for pragmatic strategies.

BEYOND TALKING AND WALKING

Henry Mintzberg famously stated: ‘it is important to remember that no one has ever seen a strategy or touched one.’ We can hold a mobile phone in our hands, take pictures of the clouds in the sky or enjoy an opera at the theatre. None of these things can be said about strategy. What and where is it? Mintzberg further suggests that strategy is merely a figment, an abstraction, perhaps even an illusion, in one’s mind. If we don’t imagine that we have a strategy, it simply won’t exist. Has anyone seen God or touched his hand?