IC and Strategy as Practice: A Critical Examination

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into, and a critique of, the relationship between IC and different approaches to strategy in developing competitive advantage in the knowledge economy. The authors examine the ‘practice’ of developing strategy to offer a different view on thinking about strategy from an IC lens, using the example of an Australian music school. The paper is novel because it analyses critically how IC can apply to developing strategy and how to implement IC strategically in practice. IC and strategy have been evolving along parallel paths, converging along the concept of practice. The paper contributes to both the literature on strategy and IC by concluding that, rather than being concerned with becoming an IC or strategy “practitioner”, people should be concerned with becoming “participants” involved in developing the future and thus better connect to praxis in the workplace.