Creating and maintaining strategic blind spots: exploring failure in the Scottish banking system

This paper explores situations in which issues critical to the success or failure of a firm remains on the edge of strategic conversations. We draw on data gathered from top management about instances of these ?strategic blindspots? to analyse their formation and impact on strategic decision making. Our data is drawn from the Scottish banking sector which features a number of firms which rose from domestic to international prominence before experiencing significant difficulties during the credit crunch. We use qualitative and quantitative data including interviews with board members and senior management from the firms, documents, presentations and public reports. The paper characterises strategy making routines which permitted denial of actual risks during an extended period of economic prosperity but which subsequently threatened the survival of the firm.