Strategy formation as layered discussion

This paper seeks to elucidate the day-to-day activities comprising the strategy process at the senior management level as part of a layered discussion. The recent interest in micro-strategy has stimulated a re-examination of data gathered during an eight-month stay with the senior management group of one of the larger construction companies in the Netherlands in 1990 and 1991. It emerged that the intended strategy was rarely debated deliberately or openly. If strategy content was ever discussed, it was usually in an implicit manner while dealing with other subjects, where the outcome appeared to have a bearing on the strategic direction of the firm.