Strategizing Purpose: Between Consequential Renewal and Symbolic Parody

Organizations across industries are increasingly adopting corporate purpose alongside strategic renewal initiatives. Purpose is typically understood as a firm’s reason for existence that extends beyond profit maximization toward broader societal aspirations. While it is often highlighted as a catalyst for orientation, alignment, and transformation, critics argue that purpose remains vague and risks becoming a purely symbolic gesture. This tension between purpose as a consequential force or as a parodic spectacle mirrors the broader debate on the effectiveness of strategy work. This study asks: How do strategic actors enact strategic renewal by strategizing purpose, given its simultaneous promise of consequentiality and risk of parody? We examine this question through a longitudinal case study of a publicly traded chemical firm that introduced a new purpose statement explicitly coupled with its strategy. Contested industries provide a compelling setting, as prosocial commitments frequently conflict with established business models. Data were collected through 21 interviews with top management, exclusive access to archival materials, and field observations. Abductive analysis was used to trace strategizing practices and their recursive interplay with organizational processes. The study identifies three bundles of strategizing practices: Institutionalizing Purpose Strategically, Cultivating a Purposeful Context, and Sustaining Purpose in Practice. Managers navigated the tension between parody and consequentiality by intertwining symbolic practices with tangible strategic changes (e.g., drastic product portfolio change). Purpose functioned as a structuring mechanism that aligned strategizing and organizing with societal expectations, particularly regarding sustainability and employee well-being. Symbolic actions and consequential outcomes reinforced one another, lending credibility and legitimacy to the renewal process. The findings conceptualize consequentiality as a recursive interplay of symbolic, consequential, and parodic practices. They also demonstrate how normative pressures can trigger renewal in contested industries and show that sustained transformation depends on recursive strategizing and organizing. Purpose emerges as a normative mechanism that links micro-level practices with broader societal discourses.