Strategy tools in dynamic environments – An expert-panel study

Abstract

Strategy tools and frameworks are crucial for managers to navigate their business environment and formulate strategies. Extant research has focused on the characteristics, dimensions, applications, and impact of traditional tools. However, there are questions regarding the suitability of these tools to the increasingly dynamic environments faced by strategy practitioners characterized by blurring industry boundaries, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Using an expert-panel approach, we address this research gap by investigating how strategy experts from practice and academia assess established strategy tools in dynamic environment. We identify the characteristics of strategy tools that experts value in such contexts and which can inform future development of context-specific strategy tools. Additionally, we also investigate why experts select and apply specific tools and how they combine these tools. Our findings further allow us to explore the difference in perspectives of strategy scholars and practitioners, which is necessary to reconcile the gap between strategy theory and practice. Finally, we discuss implications of the study for strategy and management research, education, and practice.