Strategy-as-Practice, Identity, and Capability to Perform in a Pluralist Context: A Case Study

Start-ups face triple challenges of constructing a salient identity, developing a saleable product, and forming a fully-functioned firm. The challenges become more complicated when those start-ups are situated in a pluralist context where they are subject to different, sometimes competing norms, values, and practices from more than one category, sector, and industry. Guided by a strategy-as-practice lens, we set to understand such an intricate process of how start- ups in a pluralist context form their identities while building capability to perform over the course of emergence. Based on a case study of a start-up at the intersection of technology and insurance, we found that start-ups engage in a series of practice to form an identity, sketch a product, and leverage upon their strategic decisions at pre-launching, launching, and post-launching phase. These practices constitute an interconnected process as start-ups manoeuvre different identity claims to build up their competitive advantage prior to scale up. We seek to contribute to the literature of strategy-as-practice, identity formation, and organizations in a pluralist context.