Academic papers
Research foundations for strategy, collaboration, and complex systems
Strategic Doing® is grounded in a growing body of academic research spanning strategy, complexity, networks, sustainability, and collective action. The papers listed here explore the theoretical foundations and applied research that inform the discipline, as well as adjacent scholarship that helps explain why Strategic Doing works in complex environments.
Together, these articles contribute to an evidence base for collaborative strategy in settings where prediction, control, and hierarchy are insufficient.
Network dynamics of social influence in the wisdom of crowds
Examines when and why groups outperform individuals, highlighting the role of equity and interaction design.
Understanding Culture Through Pictures and a Thousand Words
Demonstrates how visual methods support sensemaking and shared understanding in complex cultural settings.
An Effectual Model of Collective Action for Addressing Sustainability Challenges
Presents a model for collective action under uncertainty, integrating effectuation theory with Strategic Doing.
Collaborative Networks: a mechanism for enterprise agility and resilience
A scholarly paper explaining why collaborative networks outperform hierarchical structures in volatile environments, providing theoretical grounding for Strategic Doing’s network-based approach.
Strategic Doing: A New Discipline for Developing Strategy
This paper introduces Strategic Doing as a network-based strategy discipline designed for open, loosely connected systems. It explains how simple rules and structured conversations enable coordinated action without central control.
Allowing Change Through “Letting It Happen”
Explores how enabling conditions and restraint often lead to more durable change.
Key themes: Emergence, complexity, indirect actionShoals Shift: An Ecosystem Transformation Success Story
In the Muscle Shoals region of North Alabama, the University of North Alabama (UNA) and its partners launched the Shoals Shift Project to address challenges such as generational poverty and low educational attainment. Rather than “waiting,” the collaborative team consciously embraced an approach of “doing, not waiting.” They applied Strategic…
Universities as Anchors of Regional Innovation
Article with overview of Strategic Doing as drivers of innovative ecosystems
Strategic Doing vs. Strategic Planning
A comparison between Strategic Planning and Strategic Doing from the Stennis Center at Mississippi State
Effective Strategy Making in Local and Regional Development
Paper presented at the R&D Management Conference (2014) This paper explores how strategy can be developed and implemented in local and regional contexts where authority is distributed and collaboration is essential. It examines how Strategic Doing supports coordinated action in loosely connected networks.
The town-gown relationship: Collaboration in university communities
SD Fellow Rena Cotsones explores this particular kind of collaboration and what factors are behind success
Key themes: Cross-sector collaboration