Whether strategic change happened is an interpretive judgment, not a measurable fact.

Evidence

It is of course possible to measure change along pre-specified dimensions from the perspective of an external observer. Still, to the people involved in a strategy process, the perception of a development as stability or as change as well as of the magnitude of perceived change is the outcome of an interpretive process. It is critical for the strategy dynamics in an organization if and if so, how strategic developments are perceived as changes. — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 503

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Dissolves the very variable organization theory tries to measure: the independent variable (change) turns out to be constituted by the actors’ interpretations, which are themselves the dependent phenomenon.