Learning More from Failure: Practice and Process

article ‘Completing the practice turn in strategy research ’ (Whittington 2006) contains misconceptions and unwarranted inferences with regard to one of its illustrations, drawn from their earlier paper ‘Confronting strategic inertia in a top management team: learning from failure ’ (Hodgkinson and Wright 2002). They vigorously defend their professional competence as consultants in this unsuccessful episode. They also suggest that my article, in fact, neither com-pletes the practice turn nor enriches the process tradition. My own response must begin here with an apology to Hodgkinson and Wright for any perceived slight on their professional competence as consul-tants: my focus was on academic issues and inattentive to other concerns. But I’d also like to do two more things: first, clarify what I mean by com-pleting the practice turn and thereby adding to the process tradition; second, consider once more, Hodgkinson and Wright’s (2002) case in the light of their further gloss, concluding that my original interpretation was, in fact, pretty much warranted.