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The purpose of this study is to revisit the conventional wisdom about a key contribution [i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis] in the field of strategic management. The societal context and the role of academics, consultants and executives is taken into account in the emergence of SWOT analysis during the 1960–1980 period as a pivotal development within the broader context of the satisfactory, opportunities, faults, threats (SOFT) approach. The authors report on both the content and the approach, so that other scholars seeking to invigorate indigenous theories and/or underreported strategy practices will thrive.

Applying a historiographic approach, the authors introduce an evidence-based methodology for interpreting historical sources. This methodology incorporates source criticism, triangulation and hermeneutical interpretation, drawing upon insights from robust evidence through three iterative stages.

The underreporting of the SOFT approach/SWOT analysis can be attributed to several factors, including strategy tools being integrated into planning frameworks rather than being published as standalone materials; restricted circulation of crucial long-range planning service/theory and practice of planning reports due to copyright limitations; restricted access to the Stanford Research Institute Planning Library in California; and the enduring popularity of SOFT and SWOT variations, driven in part by their memorable acronyms.

In the spirit of a renaissance in strategic planning research, the authors unveil novel theoretical and social connections in the emergence of SWOT analysis by combining evidence from both theory and practice and delving into previously unexplored areas.

Caution is advised for scholars who examine the discrete time frame of 1960–1980 through mere bibliometric techniques. This study underscores the risks associated with gathering incomplete and/or inaccurate data, emphasizing the importance of triangulating evidence beyond scholarly databases. The paradigm shift of strategic management research due to the advent of large language models poses new challenges and the risk of conserving and perpetuating academic urban legends, myths and lies if training data is not adequately curated.

This paper presents a reflection in memory and tribute to the work and life of Professor Barbara Czarniawska (1948–2024).

We invited those colleagues whom we knew to be close to Barbara to submit reflections about her contributions to academia alongside their memories of her as a person. We present these reflections in the order we received them, and they have only been edited for minor grammatical and punctuation issues to preserve the voice of the contributing authors.

The reflections in this paper represent different translations of Barbara’s academic and theoretical contributions. However, she also contributed to people. While we can count the number of papers, books and book chapters she published, we must also count the number of co-authors, Ph.D. supervisions, visiting professorships and conference plenaries she touched. This (ac)counting tells the story of Barbara reaching out to work and interact with people, especially students and early career researchers. She touched their lives, and the publications are an artefact of a human being, not an academic stuck in an ivory tower.

A paper in Barbara Czarniawska’s honour where some of her closest colleagues can leave translations of her work through a narrative reflection, seems to be a fitting tribute.

In developing countries, informal construction artisans are vital to economic growth. Governments encourage enrolment into micro health insurance schemes to sustain artisans’ well-being and achieve universal health coverage. The peculiarity associated with the informal construction artisans may hinder the scheme enrolment, particularly in Nigeria. It may threaten to improve achieving sustainable development goal 3 (good health and well-being). This study investigated the level of awareness and causes and suggested measures to improve micro health insurance policy enrolment for construction artisans in the informal sector and, by extension, improve the achievement of Goal 3.

This study adopted face-to-face interviews to collect data in Lagos and Benin City, Nigeria. The researchers engaged 40 participants and achieved saturation at the 35th participant. The researchers manually analysed the collected data and reported the findings using the thematic approach.

Results showed low enrolment of informal sector construction artisans into micro health insurance schemes and identified the contributory factors. This includes poor awareness and poor funding of micro health insurance schemes, lax expertise and understanding of the micro insurance market space, extreme poverty, poor medical services, uneducated clients/customers/consumers, etc.

As part of the study’s implications, it recommends that the government invest more in social health for the informal sector’s low-income earners to enhance accomplishing universal health coverage and, by extension, improve achieving Goal 3. This study may stir policymakers to call for a review of the National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022 with implementable and enforceable clauses to reduce uninsured informal sector construction artisans.