This second of two articles describes how a professional organisation responded to external developments and tried to co-ordinate its nursing professions’ response to research and development activity. For the first time an attempt was made to develop a strategy by eliciting the views of stakeholders. The R&D agenda was examined from the perspective of research, management, education and practice and led to the development of an agreed strategy for the RCN. The suitability of this approach as a mechanism for strategy development and as a lever for change is examined and its potential pertinence to other organisations is discussed.