Between discourse and narration: how can strategy be a practice

International audienceThe aim of this text is to explore the idea that strategic management research w ould profit from a practice-oriented approach, w here practice is defined as everyday situated-embedded in local contexts-actions performed by organizational members in order to make strategy. Draw ing on tw o empirical w orks, w e study tw o kinds of such practice: actions (as accounted for by the actors) and narrations (as structured by the narrators). In the first case, strategic discourse is contrasted to action and its tactics ; in the second, strategic discourse is contrasted to narratives. Their interpretation is aided and dramatically enriched by a contrast betw een strategy and tactic, as introduced by M ichel de Certeau. This contrast emphasizes the discursive-or paradigmatic-nature of strategy opposed to the narrative-or syntagmatic-nature of practice