ABSTRACT
This chapter vets the topic of the search for ‘best practices’ in strategic management – possibly one of the main concerns of practitioners (and the consultancy industry). Strategic management – and management more broadly - is for an important part concerned with the search for cases of ‘excellence’ – the ‘best’ practices – and their replication elsewhere. What can be learnt from a case of ‘excellence’ to be applied to other organisations, in other circumstances, for replicating the successful outcome? The chapter addresses this question from the point of view of the more general theme of the ‘best practices research in public management’, a strand of research addressing the question of how to identify and extrapolate a ‘best practice’ from one case and make it work elsewhere to reproduce its outcome. It is argued that the notion of ‘best’ practice is misleading (truly ‘best’ practices are very rare and hard to replicate), but ‘good enough’ practices may be detected, and their core mechanisms replicated elsewhere for solving extant problems. A protocol for the analysis and extrapolation of practices is illustrated. A box prepared for this second edition also discusses how practices may be co-created by practitioners and scholars/experts working together in creative ways.
