Teaching strategy work to business students

Business schools and the education they offer are subject to constant criticism. There is a ‘relevance debate,’ which focuses on whether students are offered the knowledge and skills needed for decision-making and success in an increasingly complex and volatile world. There is also critical scrutiny of the ethical grounding of business education. Moreover, the uncertainties of the operating environment set new requirements for teaching strategic management – or strategy work, as we prefer to call it – to digital-native business students. In this chapter, we argue for an approach based on strategy-as-practice as an alternative to teaching traditional positivistic techniques of strategic inquiry. We offer concrete suggestions regarding teaching methods and learning outcomes based on our teaching experiences. We propose inclusion of a set of themes in course curricula and discuss pedagogical methods that will facilitate a synthesis of research and business practice. Overall, we argue that enhancing the abilities of students to do strategic thinking and strategy work is a key issue in business education today.