Executive training as a turning point in strategic renewal processes☆

Abstract

Turning points—periods when firms shift their strategic trajectory—are central to the literature on strategic renewal. This study advances theoretical understanding by examining how executive training, a potential component of turning points, serves as a platform for constructing future trajectories. We investigate how such programs catalyze renewal by enabling firms to transition from one historical trajectory to another. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis of corporate archives, we find that the transformative effects of executive training hinge on power dynamics among organizational coalitions and the program's ability to challenge entrenched trajectories while inspiring new possibilities. Executive training creates temporal spaces where envisioning a future strategic direction requires both stigmatizing the existing trajectory and conceptualizing an alternative path forward. These programs are not neutral. Instead, they are shaped by power struggles that influence their content and objectives. Executives can strategically leverage training to steer broader renewal efforts, reframe perceptions of the firm's past, and articulate a vision for its future. In this way, executive training emerges as a critical tool not only for capability development but also for driving fundamental strategic transformations.