Politicising the transition: a study of core and boundary relations of power and politics in strategic decision making at Sudatel

The aim of this paper is to present a case study that describes and analyses the use of power and politics in the process of strategic decision making within the context of a developing country organisation. The organisation is a Sudanese telecommunications company (Sudatel) that was going through a transition from public to private ownership. Using a grounded theory approach to research and a case study method, the paper revealed that the process of strategic decision-making is the outcome of two types of relations: 'Core Relations' and 'Boundary Relations'. Hence, the analysis of such relations is expected to help in understanding strategic decision making processes in organisations that are subject to similar circumstances in other transition countries.