ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a short background to the most relevant parts of strategy theory. It discusses some of the problems traditional theories face in relation to widespread experiences of complexity and unpredictable breakdowns in organized patterns of behaviour. The chapter addresses these problems by arguing for a complexity theoretical approach to strategy theory in which strategies are understood as coherent patterns of action emerging in organizational practices. The concept of strategy has its origins in the military. From the 1950s onwards, the concept of strategy became popular with political and business leaders as a form of long-term decision-making in public and private organizations. Since the 1990s, events have dramatically increased the need to rethink strategy, operational management, and leadership. Two phenomena described by complexity theorists are particularly important and relevant to organizational strategy theory: self-organization and emergent processes. During crises and emergencies, strategies can emerge very rapidly in response to whatever is happening.
