How innovations in strategy have picked up with COVID-19

Peter Lorange

doi:10.1108/jsma-04-2021-0086

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore how corporate strategies have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA wide array of literature has been surveyed. Also, several senior executives have been interviewed. And two senior management counterparts have provided inputs. The approach taken is thus exploratory and pre-paradigmatic. This sets the stage for potential empirical investigations.FindingsThere seems to be a clear shift towards more web-based inputs regarding the way corporations are executing their strategies. Surprisingly shorter-term strategy implementation seems to be rather effective. More fundamental shifts in strategies, however, seem to depend a lot on executives' abilities to travel, and this have been severely curtailed.Research limitations/implicationsThe propositions that are stated in the paper have not been tested empirically. This sets clear limitations regarding generalizability.Practical implicationsIt seems important to strengthen firms' capabilities regarding distance-driven strategic execution, as well as strengthened cash flow management.Social implicationsThere seems to be a clear shift towards more nationalization, and a slowing-down of globalization.Originality/valueWhile many of the findings might be seen as rather self-evident, there is nevertheless originality in the way that COVID-19's impact on firms' strategies has been analysed.

Highlights

As we know, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it several new ways for many corporations to pursue their strategies, most of them based on making more effective use of digitalization
We have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on many companies’ strategies – large or small, national or international, networked or not
Melinda Gates for instance, claims that 25 years of progress in the malaria vaccination has been lost in 25 weeks of COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it several new ways for many corporations to pursue their strategies, most of them based on making more effective use of digitalization. Strategic shift II-A: basic shifts in strategic innovations We shall briefly discuss how the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic probably shall contribute to accelerated evolutions of strategies This has to do with so-called COVID-safe packaging, i.e. wrapping of most goods in materials that can either be cleaned by the consumer back at home, and/or disregarded – extensive shifts towards wrapping in plastics comes to mind (example: most produce in the grocery stores). Strategic shift V: strategic implications from the COVID-19 pandemic for so-called networked firms (platform firms) Here too we have already discussed a set of factors that apply to this type of firm These basically represent changes that already tended to be well on their way before the present pandemic and that shall be expected to basically come back to past normality, leading to relatively minor strategic changes. How can platform firms remain a realistic option? Again, we may see this type of firm evolving into obscurity

Conclusions