Strategic performance blueprint: Optimizing business performance through tailoring strategic postures to environmental and institutional contexts

Abstract

ABSTRACT In a world where one-size-fits-all strategies are increasingly inadequate, this study examines the strategic triad of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO), and entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and their context-varied effects on organizational performance. Using structural equation modeling and data representing diverse sets of U.S. organizations and industries, we demonstrate that when market growth is slow, supplier power is strong, and competitive intensity is low, EO outperforms MO and EM. Smaller organizations and those with less diverse and smaller networks are better suited for EO. MO functions best in stable markets with significant growth and limited supplier power, as well as for large organizations and those with strong and diversified networks. EM works best for mid-sized organizations and those with weak networks and in environments of high supplier power, intense competition, and high market turbulence. Offered vignettes demonstrate which strategic posture should be chosen by executives in different contexts.