Duman, D U; Green, S D and Larsen, G D (2017) Competitive strategy and the role of narrative infrastructure: The case of Turkish contractors. In: Chan, P W and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 33rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2017, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
Recent years have witnessed the increasing acceptance of the 'narrative turn' in the study of strategy. Such approaches accentuate the socially constructed and discursive nature of competitive strategy. However, as yet little attention has been given to narrative approaches within the context of construction management. The central argument of the narrative perspective is that individuals make sense of the world by telling stories. However, narratives do not emerge just as individual stories; there are also composite narratives reflecting more formal and institutionalized macro stories. Such multi-level and many-voiced stories aggregate over time and constitute a narrative infrastructure drawing from broader narrative building blocks. Connecting the past, present and future temporally, narratives of competitive strategy constitute an overall sense of direction in present day decision-making and generate possibilities for further actions. Drawing on the twin concepts of 'narrative infrastructure' and 'narrative building blocks', the described research aims to deconstruct the formal sector-level narrative of Turkish contractors. The rationale for focusing on Turkish contractors is that they have consistently demonstrated a high propensity for risk by operating in markets, which others perceive to be politically instable and hostile.The empirical data comprises governmental and institutional level strategy texts that portrays the strategic development of Turkish contractors in international contracting. Especially important are the publications of Turkish Contractors Association (TCA), which constitutes the strongest voice at the sectorial level and serves a continual point of reference for contracting firms. The strategy texts produced by the TCA demonstrate the internationalization of Turkish contractors as an epic story, in which managers are depicted as quasi-heroic characters striving to establish their firms in emerging markets. Empirical analysis will deconstruct the emplotment and genre structure of such strategy texts. The findings will illustrate how such narrative framing enable the discourse of direction and what narrative building blocks are mobilized to constitute the narrative infrastructure for contracting firms.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitive strategy; narrative turn; international contracting; Turkish contractors; narrative analysis |
| Index terms: | aggregate, competitive strategy, framing, internationalization, composite, decision-making, strategy, markets, manager, narrative, publication, emerging market, drawing |
| Subjects: | practitioner, qualitative and interpretive research, research dissemination and communication, conceptual models, decision analysis, materials science, economic analysis, technical documentation, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Design Practice, Construction Materials, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, International Construction, Engineering Principles, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here