The strategy research in Brazil tends do adopt predominantly deterministic models. As a contribution to this kind of research this article adds a normative and non-deterministic perspective where the strategic movement of a telephone company is described and its decision to enter the mobile phone business. Adopting the perspective that strategy is a constructed reality in an iterative and contextual way, a qualitative approach was adopted to carry on the field research, using content analysis. The results of the investigations show that strategy is subject to evolution and becomes increasingly complex, nevertheless keeping the characteristics of a process. The findings reinforce the need for interpretive research that would lead to a better understanding of strategy itself prior to jumping to prescriptive models.
Strategy; non-deterministic view; cell phone industry; strategy as practice; qualitative research