+ Models ORGDYN-510; No. of Pages 10 Please cite this article in press as: M. Klag, A. Langley, Critical junctures in strategic planning: Understanding failure to enable success, Organ Dyn (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2014.09.004 Critical junctures in strategic planning: Understanding failure to enable success Malvina Klag a, * , Ann Langley b,1,2 a Department of Management, HEC Montre ´al, 3000 Co ˆte-Sainte-Catherine Road, Montre ´al, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada b Canada Research Chair in Strategic Management in Pluralistic Settings, HEC Montre ´al, 3000 Co ˆte-Sainte-Catherine Road, Montre ´al, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada Formalized strategic planning has long been used as an instrument to optimize performance in organizations, albeit with newer approaches, tools and technologies today as compared with the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, Darrell Rigby and Barbara Bilodeau of Bain and Company reported that as of 2013, the strategic plan continues to be one of the most often cited business tools used in organizations. Strategic planning is believed by many to provide a means of preparing for the future, to organize both thoughts and direction, and to mobilize action. When undertaken by a collaborative and committed group of key stakeholders, strategic planning can, according to some, provide an opportunity to reflect on the changing external environment and the organization’s posi- tion within it, to review and potentially recalibrate the vision and mission, and to design the roadmap to achieve the organizational mission via specific strategies and actions. Strategic planning processes may sometimes be built into the fabric of organizing, present on the business agenda at pre- determined time intervals. In other cases, strategic planning may be undertaken in response to dictated policy, either internally generated or externally imposed by governing autho- rities. Alternatively, strategic planning processes may simply emerge at a certain point in time as the result of a perceived need by an organization for definitive future direction. The fact remains that despite the persistence of strategic plans as a development tool, and the myriad of consulting firms that specialize in their development, many of them fail. Organizational Dynamics (2014) xxx, xxx—xxx * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 514 244 3513. E-mail addresses: malvina.klag@videotron.ca (M. Klag), ann.langley@hec.ca (A. Langley). 1 Tel.: +1 514 340 7748. 2 Note that there is no first or second author for this paper. Both authors have participated equally in its development. Their names are presented in alphabetical order. KEYWORDS Strategy; Strategic planning; Strategy as practice Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect jo u rn al h om ep ag e: ww w.els evier.c o m/lo c ate/o rg d yn http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2014.09.004 0090-2616/# 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.