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Strategic change: a journey towards new meaning? Semantic analysis of corporate communication

Olander Roese, Malin LU and Sikström, Sverker LU orcid (2014) In International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management 9(2). p.51-64
Abstract
Strategic change, infused with new data, perspectives and concepts may change the inherent meaning of the central tenets in an existing strategy. It taps into the cognitive aspects of a journey where language, in verbal and written form, aids in the process of communicating, understanding and creating new meaning. Hence, it comes as no surprise that communication is argued to be an important means of forming and executing strategy, particularly if that strategy involves change. Thus far corporate communication has been the objective of extensive and predominately qualitative analysis of written content, with a focus on identifying and demonstrating strategic intent or reorientation. The objective here is to take a different route, not yet... (More)
Strategic change, infused with new data, perspectives and concepts may change the inherent meaning of the central tenets in an existing strategy. It taps into the cognitive aspects of a journey where language, in verbal and written form, aids in the process of communicating, understanding and creating new meaning. Hence, it comes as no surprise that communication is argued to be an important means of forming and executing strategy, particularly if that strategy involves change. Thus far corporate communication has been the objective of extensive and predominately qualitative analysis of written content, with a focus on identifying and demonstrating strategic intent or reorientation. The objective here is to take a different route, not yet explored in the field of strategic management and change. Leaning on a previously conducted, longitudinal and qualitative case study of strategic change the aim is twofold: Firstly, to propose a method for quantitative analysis of semantic content of texts and statistically test the semantic development over time in the same case. Secondly, to evaluate and discuss the results of a quantitative semantic analysis in relation to previous and qualitative findings. By applying latent semantic analysis (LSA), we quantified the semantic content of annual reports and press releases between 2001 and 2010, derived from a case study of one company in the paper packaging industry. Using this method, we statistically analysed significant changes in semantic content across the ten-year time period studied. The results indicate interesting avenues for continued and wider use of quantitative semantic analysis in contributing to the understanding of semantic development and strategic change. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
strategic change, communication, cognition, latent semantic analysis, paper packaging industry
in
International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management
volume
9
issue
2
pages
51 - 64
publisher
International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management
external identifiers
  • scopus:84919384341
ISSN
1753-0296
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Cognitive Psychology (012010190), Innovation Engineering (011021001)
id
80286bad-4bcc-459d-9466-8e9b5f0af08c (old id 4820566)
alternative location
http://www.business-and-management.org/paper.php?id=105
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:32:21
date last changed
2023-05-29 12:26:56
@article{80286bad-4bcc-459d-9466-8e9b5f0af08c,
  abstract     = {{Strategic change, infused with new data, perspectives and concepts may change the inherent meaning of the central tenets in an existing strategy. It taps into the cognitive aspects of a journey where language, in verbal and written form, aids in the process of communicating, understanding and creating new meaning. Hence, it comes as no surprise that communication is argued to be an important means of forming and executing strategy, particularly if that strategy involves change. Thus far corporate communication has been the objective of extensive and predominately qualitative analysis of written content, with a focus on identifying and demonstrating strategic intent or reorientation. The objective here is to take a different route, not yet explored in the field of strategic management and change. Leaning on a previously conducted, longitudinal and qualitative case study of strategic change the aim is twofold: Firstly, to propose a method for quantitative analysis of semantic content of texts and statistically test the semantic development over time in the same case. Secondly, to evaluate and discuss the results of a quantitative semantic analysis in relation to previous and qualitative findings. By applying latent semantic analysis (LSA), we quantified the semantic content of annual reports and press releases between 2001 and 2010, derived from a case study of one company in the paper packaging industry. Using this method, we statistically analysed significant changes in semantic content across the ten-year time period studied. The results indicate interesting avenues for continued and wider use of quantitative semantic analysis in contributing to the understanding of semantic development and strategic change.}},
  author       = {{Olander Roese, Malin and Sikström, Sverker}},
  issn         = {{1753-0296}},
  keywords     = {{strategic change; communication; cognition; latent semantic analysis; paper packaging industry}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{51--64}},
  publisher    = {{International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management}},
  title        = {{Strategic change: a journey towards new meaning? Semantic analysis of corporate communication}},
  url          = {{http://www.business-and-management.org/paper.php?id=105}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}