Extant Strategy Research Articles

Strategy Implementation Model for Commercial Banks in a Developing Economy: A Resource-Capability Approach

Extensive research in strategic management has shown that more than half of the business strategies fail to accomplish their intended objectives due to problems with strategy implementation. However, in comparison to strategy formulation, strategy implementation has received insufficient attention both at the theoretical and empirical levels. The objective of the study was to develop a comprehensive model that augments the effectiveness of strategy implementation in the context of a developing economy. A sample of 229 top and middle-level managers of commercial banks was chosen to collect quantitative data, and around 187 (82%) questionnaires were returned. The quantitative data analysis was carried out using structural equation modelling. By operationalizing strategy implementation capability as a second-order reflective-formative construct, the study established an empirically informed strategy implementation model that entails three components, namely, critical strategy implementation-related resources, key elements of strategy implementation capability and strategy implementation performance. The study contributes to the existing knowledge on strategy implementation by expanding the extant strategy implementation frameworks/models to a broad-based and integrative model.

Decidedly Undecided Change: Producing Spielraum for Organizational Periphery

Extant strategy practice and process studies highlight the duality of change and stability, regarding strategic change as an accomplishment of both movement and recursiveness, which are also displayed by the observed difference in strategy-making between the organizational centre and its periphery. In this study, we examine the emergence of new strategic themes and related organizing in two research universities’ organizational peripheries. By adopting a systems-theoretical view and drawing on Luhmannian organizational analysis, we are able to examine the co-existence of stability and change in each communication event, aiming to reduce complexity but also giving rise to novel complexities, providing ‘spielraum’ for peripheral development activities. The study contributes to the SAPP-oriented stream of studies on strategic change in general and emergent strategy studies in particular by providing an alternative theoretical viewpoint on the centre-periphery dynamics in strategic change and showing how organizations un/decide on new strategic themes, and through what dynamics they might become introduced and organized in established organizations.

Should It Stay or Should It Go? Developing an Enhanced SWOT Framework for Teaching Strategy Formulation

Strategy educators have employed SWOT analysis for decades as a means of teaching strategy formulation to students. Despite this well-established practice, many scholars and practitioners have called for discontinuing it as a pedagogical tool for several reasons, including that traditional undergraduate students may lack the practical experience to employ SWOT correctly, the framework presents “messy” strategic problems as overly rational, or it represents as an ambiguous and/or atheoretical classification system. We suggest possible remedies for SWOT analysis problems that may help improve its usefulness and promote its continued use. After briefly reviewing its original formulation, current textbook descriptions, and frequent criticisms, we present a refined and enhanced SWOT framework, anchored in extant strategy research and learning theory. We then demonstrate the efficacy of this enhanced framework with examples and preliminary data. Our fundamental conclusion is that SWOT analysis, when properly employed, remains a useful overarching framework that, among other advantages, helps bridge the “theory versus practice” pedagogical debate on how best to teach strategy formulation.

Strategy implementation: A review and an introductory framework

Effective strategy implementation is a critical component of organizational success and a potential source of competitive advantage. However, despite many calls for increased attention, research on the subject remains a disparate constellation of recommendations, case studies, and empirical work that provides insight but lacks a cohesive framework. As a result, strategy research most often treats implementation as a black box and overlooks sources of performance heterogeneity derived from differences in strategy implementation effectiveness. To improve our understanding of the strategy implementation process, and to promote its inclusion in strategy research, the authors systematically review and synthesize findings in the extant strategy implementation literature to abductively derive an integrative framework comprised of three components: (1) actions through which managers influence the implementation process, (2) conditions necessary for strategy implementation effectiveness, and (3) the underlying dynamic managerial capabilities to create the best possible combination of conditions by enacting the most appropriate managerial actions. By explaining the relationships among these three components, we provide an introductory foundational framework on which to build future knowledge about this important field of inquiry.

Genetic optimization toward operation of water intake-supply pump stations system

The water intake and water supply pump stations consume a large amount of energy every year, and their energy efficiency improvement has a significant impact on the operations of the water industry. In this study, a general model for simplifying a simulated two-stage system (i.e., water intake and water supply pumping stations) was established. Optimization strategies were developed based on a dynamic-level-feedback-control approach. Non-dominated sorted genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) was used to solve the multi-objective optimization problem. Both cost-driven and energy-driven optimizations were proposed from the perspective of reliability, economy, and durability of pumping station operation. Results show that, compared to the extant strategy currently used, the cost- and energy-driven optimization strategies developed in this study can reduce operating energy costs of the system by 7.0% and 6.2%, and have satisfactory stability under the condition of uncertain water demand. Cost-driven optimization improves the power demand response of the two-stage system by increasing the load transfer in peak periods. Energy-driven optimization reduces carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the total operational energy consumption of the system.

Business value appropriation roadmap for artificial intelligence

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) is deemed to have a significant impact as a value driver for the firms and help them get an operational and competitive advantage. However, there exists a lack of understanding of how to appropriate value from this nascent technology. This paper aims to discuss the approaches toward knowledge and innovation strategies to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach The discussion presents a review of the extant strategy and information systems literature to develop a strategy for organizational learning and value appropriation strategy for AI. A roadmap is drawn from ambidexterity and organizational learning theories. Findings This study builds the link between learning and ambidexterity to propose paths for exploration and exploitation of AI. The study presents an ambidextrous approach toward innovation concerning AI and highlights the importance of developing as well as reusing the resources. Research limitations/implications This study integrates over three decades of strategy and information systems literature to answer questions about value creation from AI. The study extends the ambidexterity literature with contemporary. Practical implications This study could help practitioners in making sense of AI and making use of AI. The roadmap could be used as a guide for the strategy development process. Originality/value This study analyzes a time-tested theoretical framework and integrates it with futuristic technology in a way that could reduce the gap between intent and action. It aims to simplify the organizational learning and competency development for an uncertain, confusing and new technology.

Exploring how firms’ strategic political actions are organised to capture and share external information – The case of Alpha Plc

Through a case study of the government affairs (GA) activities of a large UK-based manufacturing firm, we explore how the differentiation and integration of boundary-spanning GA units may affect their ability to capture external political information and share it with the rest of the business. Mobilising insights from organisational design theory, we demonstrate that changes in the autonomy, specialisation and formal coordination of the firm's UK-based GA unit have over time positively affected its information processing activities. The unit has been able to source political information more proactively as its specialisation and autonomy have increased. Its ability to share this information inside the firm has improved as it has become more integrated in the business through formal coordination mechanisms. Our study contributes to CPA research by deepening our understandings of the internal management and organisation of firms' political actions, which are overlooked in extant strategy management literature. It provides senior executives with practical guidance on how to configure their political units in ways that add value to firms.

The Dark Shadow of Corruption on New Product Development

Extending extant nonmarket strategy and innovation literature, the paper theoretically integrates two research streams and explains the effect of an unethical nonmarket strategy on an innovative ou...

What Kinds of Opportunities are We Providing Students?A SWOT Analysis Review with Recommendations

Strategy educators have employed SWOT analysis for decades as way to teach strategy formulation. Despite this well-established practice, many scholars have called for removing it as a pedagogical tool. We suggest possible remedies for SWOT analysis problems that may help increase its usefulness. After briefly reviewing its original formulation, current textbook descriptions, and frequent criticisms of employing this analysis, we present a refined and augmented SWOT framework, anchored in extant strategy research and learning theories. Our fundamental conclusion is that SWOT analysis, when properly employed, remains a useful overarching framework to help bridge the “practice versus theory versus strategy- as-practice” pedagogical debates on how best to teach strategy formulation.

Multi-establishment Production and Local Economies of Scope

This study proposes that the business portfolio perspective on scope economies implicitly dominant in the extant strategy literature fails to recognize heterogeneity arising from multi-establishmen...

How Commitment to Craftsmanship Leads to Unique Value: Steinway & Sons’ Differentiation Strategy

The positioning perspective in strategic management suggests that successful differentiation results from a firm’s deliberate efforts to create something that is perceived as being unique. This usually involves looking beyond the proximate to pursue distant opportunities. However, a firm that pursues local opportunities eventually may be perceived as being unique especially when competitors decide to follow other strategic paths within the same industry. In the language of the NK modeling approach, a firm can attain successful differentiation by choosing to move to a different peak (i.e., pursue distant opportunities), or to stay on the same peak in which it is currently located (i.e., pursue local opportunities). While extant strategy research has expounded the first path to differentiation, the second path has remained underexplored. Relying on a data set that combines primary and secondary sources, we use an historical case study research design to explore how and why, over time, Steinway & Sons adhered to traditional craft manufacturing methods to develop pianos that most virtuoso concert pianists still prefer today. While this commitment to craft methods enhanced the perceived uniqueness of Steinway & Sons’ pianos, it also constrained ability to adopt mass-production technologies even as other firms introduced them to reduce production costs and target piano mass markets. The case offers a counterpoint to the view that a successful differentiation strategy requires a firm to pursue distant opportunities by moving away from its current position on the competitive landscape.

Strategic Planning Systems and Firm Performance in the Export Processing Zones

This study focused on strategic planning systems as predictors of performance in a developing country context. These concepts have not been adequately investigated in extant strategy literature. We contended that strategic planning systems should be emphasized as a configuration and not by its domains. The influence of resources, management participation and planning techniques on performance showed positive and significant results. In support of our conceptualization, the results were that strategic planning systems as an aggregate factor has a stronger influence on performance than its domains. We conclude that the configuration of planning systems with its theoretical underpinning in the dynamic capabilities and resource based view, explains performance variations among firms.

An Efficiency/Power View and Co-Creating Strategy Practices

We revisit the dialogue on efficiency and power in organizational economics and social and political sciences and explore its role in five strategy perspectives and their privileged four strategy practice mottos; satisficing, strategizing, economizing, and innovating. We draw critically on intersections between extant approaches to power and efficiency, and develop an efficiency/power view (EPV) that bridges social science, behavioral and evolutionary economics and organization studies. We propose ‘co-creating’ as a privileged strategy practice motto of the EPV that extends yet encompasses extant strategy practice mottos, and helps undergird recent strategy advances including dynamic capabilities and the strategy as practice views.

Measuring latent listening strategies: Development and validation of the EFL listening strategy inventory

Abstract The present research identified the structure of latent trait listening strategy use by developing and validating an inventory of EFL listening strategic knowledge. Results of factor analysis and multi-dimensional item response theory (MIRT) analysis utilizing responses from 315 subjects identified and confirmed a two-dimensional structure composed of top–down and bottom–up processing strategy types. These constructs are shown to have robust correlations with listening comprehension and also exhibit robust inter-correlation, providing empirical support for the formal model of interactive processing. It was revealed that bottom–up strategies do not exert direct effects on listening comprehension, but must be mediated by top–down strategies. Results are discussed in light of extant strategy effect studies. Future research to test the generalizability of the inventory across cultural contexts and to gauge its feasibility in pedagogical applications is suggested.

Three decades of strategic management research on M&As: Citations, co-citations, and topics

Merger and acquisitions (M&As) strategies have been growingly deployed by firms for their domestic and international expansion, in order to redefine their business scope or take advantage of emerging opportunities. In this paper we conduct a bibliometric study of the extant strategy research on M&As, assessed by the articles published in the main journal for strategic management studies over the period 1984–2010. Results reveal the highest impact works (articles and books), the intellectual ties among authors and theories that form five main clusters of research, and the topics delved into. Performance effects, M&As as diversification strategies, and resource- and capabilities-based topics have dominated the extant research. The study contributes to the existing knowledge on M&As by taking stock of the accumulated knowledge and research direction, complementing other literature reviews with a strategic management perspective. Thus, we provide a rear view of the field, which facilitates detecting untapped gaps that may provide generous avenues for future research.

Can Strategy Help? A Capability-Based View Of Firm Survival And Strategic Response In A Recession

Extant strategy literature offers limited insights into firms’ struggles and strategic reactions during a major recession. We address this gap by drawing on the resource-based view and the firm cap...

Strategic Renewal Through Multilevel Balancing (WITHDRAWN)

Extant strategy research shows that innovative business units are often structurally separated from the parent organization in order to facilitate the development of new capabilities. This paper co...

Mergers & acquisitions research: A bibliometric study of top strategy and international business journals, 1980–2010

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are important modes through which firms carry out their domestic and international strategies and have been noted as the CEOs favorite strategy. As a significant field of study, M&A-research has accumulated substantial knowledge. This bibliometric study examines the extant strategy and international business literature on M&As. Methodologically, we examined a sample of 334 articles published in sixteen leading management/business journals, during a 31year period — from 1980 to 2010. The results provide a global perspective of the field, identifying the works that have had the greater impact, the intellectual interconnections among authors and works, the main research traditions, or themes, delved upon on M&A-related research. Structural and longitudinal analyses reveal the changes in the intellectual structure of the field over time. A discussion on the accumulated knowledge and future research avenues concludes this paper.

Micro-Foundations of Firm-Specific Human Capital: When Do Employees Perceive Their Skills to be Firm-Specific?

Drawing on human capital theory, strategy scholars have emphasized firm-specific human capital as a source of sustained competitive advantage. In this study, we begin to unpack the micro-foundations of firm-specific human capital by theoretically and empirically exploring when employees perceive their skills to be firm-specific. We first develop theoretical arguments and hypotheses based on the extant strategy literature, which implicitly assumes information efficiency and unbiased perceptions of firm-specificity. We then relax these assumptions and develop alternative hypotheses rooted in the cognitive psychology literature, which highlights biases in human judgment. We test our hypotheses using two data sources from Korea and the United States. Surprisingly, our results support the hypotheses based on cognitive bias – a stark contrast to the expectations embedded within the strategy literature. Specifically, we find organizational commitment and, to some extent, tenure are negatively related to employee perceptions of the firm-specificity. We also find that employer provided on-the-job training was unrelated to perceived firm-specificity. These findings suggest that firm-specific human capital, as perceived by employees, may drive behavior in ways not anticipated by existing theory – for example, with respect to investments in skills or turnover decisions. This, in turn, may challenge the assumed relationship between firm-specific human capital and sustained competitive advantage. More broadly, our findings may suggest a need to reconsider other theories, such as transaction cost economics, that draw heavily on the notion of firm-specificity and implicitly assume widely shared and unbiased perceptions.

Successful strategy making in Bupa not‐for‐profit provident

PurposeThe focus of extant strategy literature is on for‐profit organisations and within these group public organisations. There are other forms of organisations and following the deep recession of 2008 there is greater interest in other forms of organisation. In this case study and interview the aim is to examine strategy, strategic decisions and strategic management of a not‐for‐profit provident.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on documentary evidence and a semi‐structured interview with Ray King, chief executive of Bupa. The perspective of CEO is key in strategy and such perspectives are relatively rarer.FindingsBupa invests its surplus to provide better healthcare. Free from the pressures of quarterly reporting and shareholders it can pursue long‐term value creation for members rather than short‐term surpluses.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study and interview offers a unique insight into strategy‐making within a successful mutual provident that has grown organically and externally becoming an international leader in health insurance.Originality/valueThis case study sheds light on strategy‐making within a not‐for‐profit provident that has diversified and grown significantly over the past six decades. Furthermore, very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of a chief executive who has successfully managed a business in a turbulent environment.