Most early descriptions of strategy imply that it arises from a deliberate stream of decisions
, however it appears many organizations’ strategy can be
characterised better as emergent rather than predetermined. sees strategy as a craft and stresses the ambiguous and messy nature of strategic decisions. Most empirical management accounting research concerned with strategy presumes deliberate strategy formulation Where strategy formulation has less of a predetermined and deliberate orientation, formal management accounting systems imposing constraints and discipline may be counter-productive
The relatively under explored nature of this dimension of strategy motivated its inclusion in the SMA examination reported herein2