For many years the strategy field has been dominated by an economic perspective on how firms gain competitive advantage. More recently a growing stream of research, strategy-as-practice, has focused scholars' attention on those that carry out strategy work, the strategists, and their day-to-day activities, as these often influence firm outcomes. This seminar will continue in that vein by presenting two empirical studies about one type of practice – strategy communication. These studies investigate whether strategy communications i) make a difference to firm performance in the context of mergers and acquisitions activity and ii) what sort of strategy communications may be most effective. The findings from these studies have implications primarily for practitioners in terms of establishing the effectiveness of communications in influencing markets, and giving insights into what forms of communications may be most beneficial for communicators and recipients, depending upon circumstances. There are also implications for the teaching of strategy in the classroom, as we may wish to discuss how these findings should influence us in communicating strategy to our students.

Duncan Angwin is the Sir Roland Smith Professor in Strategic Management and Head of Department for Entrepreneurship and Strategy. He is well known for his work on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and strategy research with over 50 articles in leading journals including those ranked by the Financial Times, 12 books and numerous conference best paper awards including the Academy of Management (2017), EURAM (2018) and Strategic Management Society (2008). His work has been cited 13,072 times with several papers being cited over 200 times each.