The power of PowerPoint: A visual perspective on meaning making in strategy
基于两家咨询公司的实地数据，研究了战略家如何通过PPT的视觉机制（描绘、并置、凸显）促进意义建构，并提出了视觉影响战略过程的模型，对处理复杂或敏感议题有实用启示。
Research Summary : Relying on ethnographic data from two consulting engagements, we find that strategists use three visual mechanisms (depiction, juxtaposition, and salience) to create PowerPoint slides. These visual mechanisms prompt meaning‐making through the conversations they stimulate, creating strategic visibility . As participants react to visuals, they enact revised interpretations of the strategy, reflecting strategic resonance . Based on the interactions among these three subprocesses ( visual mechanisms, strategic visibility , and strategic resonance ), we develop a process model for how visuals influence meaning making in strategy engagements. We contribute to existing strategy practice and process studies by explaining how visuals help broker divergent interpretations of a strategy and give rise to new understandings, especially when issues are politically sensitive or analytically complex. Managerial Summary : The purpose of this study is to understand how strategists use visual information (specifically in PowerPoint slides), and its effects on the strategy process. We find that strategy conversations are influenced by the techniques strategists use to create slides, which in turn shape the kinds of follow‐up actions taken. The implications are that: (a) PowerPoint slides can be designed to help tackle complex issues, for instance, when participants have divergent opinions or in politically sensitive situations, and (b) those who craft and edit PowerPoint slides strongly influence the direction of the strategy. The skillful use of PowerPoint is therefore crucial in allowing managers to shape the nature and speed of strategy engagements.