Learning the language of the market: Information systems strategy formation in a UK district health authority

In this paper we seek to show that the process of strategy formation may be viewed at four different “levels,” that of strategic resources, of the strategy process, of the discourse of strategy and of broader social discourses. The mainstream strategy literature addressed only the first of these. Processual approaches to strategy research extend the analysis to consider the second level, but have recently been criticized as neglecting the role of strategy as a form of social discourse. Explanations at the third level address the specific power effects of this discourse and its role in constituting the subjectivity of strategic actors and the problems to which it is applied. We also suggest, however, that strategic discourse may itself be considered a part of the broader social discourses of entrepreneurialism and managerialism. A case study of information systems strategy formation in the UK National Health Service is used to illustrate this argument and to show that the strategy process may be seen as involving learning in terms of each of the perspectives.