Strategic Management Literature Research Articles

MAPPING THE TERRAIN OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION: A SCOPE REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES FROM 2014 TO 2024

Objective: This comprehensive scope review critically examines the landscape of empirical research on strategy implementation (SI) over the past decade, from 2014 to 2024. Despite its critical role in determining organizational success or failure, strategy implementation remains an underexplored area within the vast domain of strategic management literature. Method: The article is a comprehensive scope review which analyses 50 peer-reviewed articles, this review not only uncovers the depth and breadth of empirical research conducted in diverse industries and countries but also identifies prevailing obstacles, leadership roles, and the strategic levels at which implementation is discussed. Results and Discussion: The landscape of empirical research on Strategy Implementation (SI) over the decade spanning 2014 to 2024 has been marked by a remarkable diversity, with studies branching out across various facets of SI from multiple disciplinary perspectives Noteworthy within this broad array of research is the significant attention given to empirical studies conducted within the African continent, particularly in countries like Kenya, Zambia, and Nigeria. Research Implications: This paper seeks to map out the evolving nature of strategy implementation research, pinpointing areas ripe for future exploration and also offers a foundation for developing robust theoretical frameworks and practical models to guide effective strategy execution in organizations worldwide. Originality/Value: This study provides a systematic overview of empirical studies focusing on strategy implementation, highlighting key trends, methodologies, and thematic concentrations within the SI field.

Big Data's Future Potential as an Innovation in Competitive Advantage and Decision-Making Techniques

This research highlights the challenges of big data integration in organisational decision-making processes, illustrating the gap between big data capabilities and their effective utilisation. An analytical descriptive qualitative method was used to study the use of big data in supporting sustainable innovation and competitive advantage of organisations in Indonesia. The results show that big data can improve the effectiveness of decision-making strategies by understanding market trends and consumer behaviour, which contributes to improving organisational performance and competitive advantage. These results are expected to contribute to the strategic management and innovation literature and encourage business practices in designing effective big data strategies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Keywords: Big Data; Technological Innovation; Strategic Decision Making; Competitive Advantage; Sustainable Innovation

Metaverse: Value creation and performance measurement across physical and digital world

This study provides a first conceptualization of the Metaverse from a strategic management perspective and advances performance measurement approaches for the Metaverse value creation. Specifically, the study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of Metaverse and the related implications on the value creation processes of the companies. In order to achieve this goal, we performed a detailed literature review on digital transformation, Metaverse and performance measure-ment topics. Thus, we have developed a theoretical framework useful to facilitate the implementation of successful strategies in the Metaverse and subsequent mon-itoring and evaluation of achieved results. The paper provides relevant contributions in theory and practice. From a theoreti-cal perspective, the results contribute to the strategic management and perfor-mance management literature streams, extending them to the dimension of the "digital world". From a practical perspective, the results identify new performance measurement and new indicators useful for companies and practitioners to under-stand the link between Metaverse and value creation paths. Future studies should integrate the theoretical analysis with explorative empirical investigations.

The Effect of Profitability, Company Value, and Leverage on Company Size

This study aims to determine the relationship between profitability, company value and company size leverage in the Indonesian retail industry. Financial data of retail companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange were analyzed using SPSS using quantitative methods and population sampling techniques. Data was analyzed using SPSS. The results of the analysis show that there is a significant relationship between these variables and the size of the company. From the regression results, it can be seen that the constant value is 6.490, while the regression coefficients of profitability (X1), company value (X2) and leverage (X3) are 0.103, -0.001 and -0.008, respectively. This shows that changes in profitability, company value, and leverage affect the size of the company. However, only profitability has a significant positive influence on the size of the company, while the value of the company and leverage have an insignificant negative influence on the size of the company. Testing using the t-test shows that the three independent variables are linearly related to the size of the company. These findings highlight the importance of effectively managing these factors in the context of a dynamic global economy, which can affect the growth and development of retail businesses. This research contributes to the strategic management literature by providing a better understanding of the factors that influence the size of companies in the retail industry. The practical implications of these findings could help managers and stakeholders make more informed decisions when managing their companies and plan more effective strategies for long-term growth.

Navigating the Complexity of HR Analytics: A Conceptual Framework for Effective Implementation and Ethical Practice

This paper synthesizes an extensive body of literature to elucidate the challenges and prospects of Human Resources (HR) analytics within modern organizational contexts. Despite HR analytics' potential to revolutionize human capital management through data-driven insights, its adoption is hindered by many complexities, including skill gaps, ethical concerns, and implementation barriers. Our study reveals a significant proficiency in basic analytics competencies within HR yet a stark deficiency in advanced statistical capabilities and strategic integration. The discourse extends to the criticality of context-specific, ethical, and balanced analytics practices, considering the globalizing business environment and the nuanced demands of workforce management. We propose a comprehensive conceptual framework addressing these multifaceted challenges, underlining the importance of accurate, integrated, accessible employee data, managerial support, and robust HR information technology. The framework emphasizes developing analytical competencies, fostering organizational culture conducive to data-driven decision-making, and meeting ethical standards. The implications of our findings are twofold: enhancing organizational effectiveness through informed HR strategies and advocating for a paradigm shift towards ethical, strategic, and competent HR analytics practices. This study contributes to the strategic HR management literature by providing a structured approach to overcoming the prevalent challenges in HR analytics and setting a foundation for future empirical research.

Unravelling the Impact of Executive Confidence on Firm Profitability

The focus of this research is on the Upper Echelon Theory, asserting that CEO&’s cognitive attributes exert a major effect on organizational outcomes. The present study adds to the behavioural finance and strategic management literature by investigating the association between Chief Executive Officer&’s (CEO) confidence and firm profitability in the Indian context. A sample of S&P BSE 100 Indian firms for five financial years has been used to examine the aforementioned relationship, using panel regression analysis. The findings reveal that CEO overconfidence favourably impacts the company&’s profitability as overconfident CEOs enjoy the early mover advantage in the market through quick and innovative decisions and gain competitive strength by overinvesting in good but risky projects. These findings contribute novel insights to the existing literature by exploring the most prevalent managerial behavioural bias and its impact on corporate profitability in the Indian context. The analysis may assist the policymakers responsible for framing recruitment and compensation policies and developing an optimum monitoring system to capitalize on the cognitive traits of top executives in India.

More or complex actions? Effects of supply networks on firms' competitive aggressiveness

PurposeThis study investigates the extent to which a firm’s centrality and autonomy in its supply network are associated with the intensity and complexity of its competitive actions.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing social network analysis and dynamic panel data models, this study analyzes a comprehensive panel dataset with 10,802 firm-year observations across various industries between 2011 and 2018 to test the hypotheses.FindingsOur findings show that a firm’s level of centrality in its supply network has an inverted U-shaped relationship with both competitive intensity and competitive complexity. In addition, the turning points of these two inverted U-shaped relationships differ in that firms with a lower level of centrality tend to compete aggressively by launching more actions within fewer categories, while firms with a higher level of centrality tend to compete aggressively by launching fewer actions that cover a larger range of categories. Finally, we find that a firm’s structural autonomy has a positive relationship with competitive complexity.Originality/valueThis study bridges the gap between the supply chain management literature and strategic management literature and investigates how supply networks shape competitive aggressiveness. In particular, this research investigates how a firm’s structural position in its supply network affects its competitive actions, an important intermediate mechanism for competitive advantage that has been overlooked in the supply chain management literature.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW PAPER

Purpose: This paper aims to shed light on the evolution of strategic management over time, including definitions, supporting theories, tools, importance, and application in various business settings, and highlight the challenges and future trends of strategic management. Theoretical Framework: In the available studies, various researchers examine SM utilization. Others have established tools and techniques, while others have contributed to their definition and classification, or investigated which SMs are in use. However, academics and practitioners seldom debate strategic management literature in depth. Gunn and Williams (2007) noted that there is a dearth of papers concerning strategic management. More must be realized about Strategic management. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper employs a systematic review design, also known as an overview, which is a comprehensive synthesis of primary research studies. These approaches are utilized to identify, compile, critically, and synthesize all pertinent issues about the subject (Cipriani & Geddes, 2003). Findings: Companies that aim to achieve success and remain competitive over the long term must utilize strategic management, which provides organizations with a framework for making decisions, maintaining consistency and cohesion, boosting productivity and flexibility, and promoting teamwork. Therefore, strategists should have a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of strategic management, including the concepts, theories, and tools that could help achieve strategic goals. Research, Practical & Social Implications: This paper contributes to additional evidence for those interested in strategic management scholars or managers to pay more attention to the tools and theories, that could be improving their organizations. In addition, this study complements the systematic literature review documents related to the content of SM. Moreover, Future research could be extended or discriminate between various types of tools and theories that could apply to strategic management. It could also investigate additional on the changing that facing strategic management. Originality/Value: This study contributes to filling the gap in the dearth of studies in the strategic management field. The study also provides insights into the definitions, supporting theories, tools, importance, and application in various business settings, and highlights the challenges and future trends of strategic management.

Make digitalized places for experimentation work: unravelling and governing transformative dynamics of FabLabs and Makerspaces

ABSTRACT While maker platforms, such as FabLabs and Makerspaces, are commonly perceived as drivers for transformative trajectories, little is known about how the dynamics of experimental collective agency are mobilizing transformative capacities that foster change on the local level. This paper contributes to the understanding of collective innovation dynamics of maker platforms that aim to support collective experimentation and translate novel practices to incumbent institutions on the local level. By drawing on the strategic niche management literature, a comparative case study of six maker platforms in Germany is conducted. Findings indicate three relevant modes of translation that could be identified: Firstly, translation by active shielding and institutionalized adaption emphasizes the role of harbouring universities in fencing off market pressures and offering events as well as workshops to regime actors. Secondly, translation by enabling learning mechanisms highlights the effect of implementing proper formats for assessment and learning on mutual translation. Thirdly, translation by sustained cooperation and coordination between maker platforms and local institutions stresses capacities for cooperation and a demand-oriented coordination between maker platforms and incumbent institutions.

All for One and One for All: Dissecting PREMIERE’s Inclusive AKIS Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

Innovation is increasingly being considered a social process, more bottom-up and interactive, than top-down science to implementation. Projects funded at a European level under Cluster 6 of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, and EIP-AGRI Operational Groups at a national and regional level in each of the 27 EU Member States, reflect this by placing a greater focus on making the best use of different types of knowledge and complimentary expertise (practical, scientific, technical, organisational, etc.) through the Multi-actor Approach (MAA). A wealth of strategic management literature exists on good practice stakeholder engagement strategies which mobilise the necessary bidirectional and cross-sectoral knowledge exchange and idea generation required for successful co-innovation ecosystems. Its counterpart however, from an Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) perspective, is largely absent. This method article addresses this disparity and gap in literature by describing a 5-step AKIS Stakeholder Engagement Strategy developed by the PREMIERE Horizon Europe Project to help co-create an ‘enabling environment’ to foster and ‘speed up’ innovation, knowledge sharing and digitisation in agriculture, forestry and related sectors through mutually beneficial interactions between an extensive and diverse network of AKIS actors (e.g. researchers, advisors, agri-businesses, farmers) at EU, National and regional level. The inclusive nature of the multi-staged stakeholder engagement strategy outlined in this paper, inspired by strategic management literature, helps close the innovation gap between policy, research and practice through genuine multi-actor dialogue, holistic insights and feedback from project inception to completion, thereby helping to build trusting, meaningful and lasting relationships of mutual respect amongst relevant AKIS stakeholders, ranging from policy makers to harder to reach groups ‘on-the ground’, in place of mere, one-off consultations. The resultant knowledge exchange will significantly contribute to meeting objectives and targets set out in the European Green Deal, EU Climate Policy, Common Agricultural Policy and Farm to Fork Strategy.

The Role of Strategic Financial Management in Enhancing Corporate Value and Competitiveness in the Digital Economy

This study examines how strategic financial management boosts SMEs' corporate value and competitiveness in the fast-changing digital economy. As digital technologies change market landscapes, SMEs face unique challenges and opportunities in aligning their financial strategies with digital transformation. This mixed-methods study combines quantitative regression analysis with qualitative interviews with senior management from technology, finance, retail, and manufacturing. Quantitative findings from 129 SMEs show a positive correlation between strategic alignment, innovation culture, and corporate value and financial performance, highlighting the complex but crucial role of digital technology investments and risk management. Qualitative insights emphasise the need to align these investments with strategic goals and foster innovation. This study contributes twice. First, it empirically shows how strategic financial management practises help navigate the digital economy, enriching strategic management and finance literature. Second, it advises SMEs to take a holistic approach to strategic financial management that prioritises digital technology investments and ensures they are strategically aligned, culturally ingrained, and risk-averse. This research shows how financial strategy and digital innovation interact to drive SME competitiveness and value creation in the digital age.

Literature Reviews of RBV and KBV Theories Reimagined - A Technological Approach Using Text Analysis and Power BI Visualization

Over the years, the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Knowledge-Based View (KBV) have solidified their roles as pivotal paradigms in strategic management literature. With an emphasis on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), this study uses text analysis and Microsoft Power BI to explore these concepts innovatively. The study implements a systematic literature review, extracting data from Scopus, Web of Science, and DOAJ databases to assemble a comprehensive literature corpus. The methodology incorporates text analysis to draw out key themes, relationships, and trends, and these are subsequently visualized using Power BI to create an engaging, interactive representation of data. Components like word clouds, co-occurrence networks, and trend lines are generated, while Power BI's dynamic filtering and drill-down functionalities facilitate thorough data investigation. The results display significant overlap between RBV and KBV, denoting possible integration junctures for these theories within the domain of strategic management. Additionally, the study underscores the relevance of these insights for SMEs, emphasizing the part played by unique resources, encompassing knowledge assets, in catalyzing innovation and fostering a competitive edge. The study concludes by recognizing the significant theoretical and practical implications of integrating text analysis and Power BI in conducting literature reviews. This methodology bolsters our understanding of RBV and KBV, offering small and medium-sized enterprises a beneficial instrument to traverse these intricate theories. The study suggests that future research could broaden the application of this methodological approach to encompass other strategic management theories.

Approaching The Firm’s Innovation Capability through Knowledge Management Lens

Firm innovation capability has attracted attention of researchers and the term innovation has been largely explained in the strategic management literature in a variety of dimensions. In this attempt, organizational knowledge strategy, a knowledge-oriented culture and knowledge management sharing have been proposed to play a key role in determining firm’s innovation capability. This paper aims to draw together knowledge from two different scientific disciplines i.e. strategic management and knowledge management. A conceptual model emerges as we specifically recognize the core KM concepts as a prospective basis for explaining the phenomenon of firm innovation capability by drawing literature based definitions on knowledge strategy, knowledge centered culture and knowledge sharing. This study advances towards conceptualizing the domain of firm innovation capability by applying the ‘Knowledge Management Lens’ composed of knowledge strategy, knowledge oriented culture and knowledge sharing.

Literature Reviews of RBV and KBV Theories Reimagined - A Technological Approach Using Text Analysis and Power BI Visualization

Over the years, the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Knowledge-Based View (KBV) have solidified their roles as pivotal paradigms in strategic management literature. With an emphasis on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), this study uses text analysis and Microsoft Power BI to explore these concepts innovatively. The study implements a systematic literature review, extracting data from Scopus, Web of Science, and DOAJ databases to assemble a comprehensive literature corpus. The methodology incorporates text analysis to draw out key themes, relationships, and trends, and these are subsequently visualized using Power BI to create an engaging, interactive representation of data. Components like word clouds, co-occurrence networks, and trend lines are generated, while Power BI's dynamic filtering and drill-down functionalities facilitate thorough data investigation. The results display significant overlap between RBV and KBV, denoting possible integration junctures for these theories within the domain of strategic management. Additionally, the study underscores the relevance of these insights for SMEs, emphasizing the part played by unique resources, encompassing knowledge assets, in catalyzing innovation and fostering a competitive edge. The study concludes by recognizing the significant theoretical and practical implications of integrating text analysis and Power BI in conducting literature reviews. This methodology bolsters our understanding of RBV and KBV, offering small and medium-sized enterprises a beneficial instrument to traverse these intricate theories. The study suggests that future research could broaden the application of this methodological approach to encompass other strategic management theories.

The Impact of Strategy Implementation on the Performance of Ugandan State Agencies: A Quantitative Study

This study examines how strategy implementation affects Ugandan state agencies’ performance. It conceptualizes strategy implementation as operationalization and institutionalization, and measures performance by efficiency and effectiveness. This study surveyed 160 state agencies using a cross-sectional design and a structured questionnaire. The top management team (TMT) members of each agency, including CEO/Managing Director, Deputy/Assistant CEO, Corporation Secretary, and Heads of Department, were the respondents. At least three TMT members from each agency participated in the online survey, which was chosen due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The data analysis methods were factor analysis, descriptive, and multilinear regression analysis. The study adhered to the ethical principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and anonymity. Ugandan state agencies perform better when they implement their strategies effectively. The statistical analysis reveals that institutionalization is a key driver of performance outcomes, with a positive and highly significant coefficient (p < 0.000). On the other hand, operationalization has a positive but insignificant coefficient (p = 0.140), indicating a weak link between operationalization and performance. These findings highlight the importance of aligning the strategy with the organization’s internal environment. The study provides invaluable contribution the realm of strategic management, particularly within the public sector, focusing primarily on the performance of state agencies in Uganda. It is groundbreaking research that explores this relationship in a developing country. It methodically examines the profound effect that the execution of various strategies has on these entities. This study contributes to the strategic management literature in the public domain. The insights and recommendations derived from this study are valuable for professionals and policymakers involved in creating and implementing strategic plans within the public sector. This study offers practical and theoretical contributions for strategy implementation and performance in public sector contexts. It suggests that state agency managers and policymakers should foster a supportive culture, enhance leadership skills, facilitate communication channels, allocate adequate resources, and adapt to environmental changes to improve strategy execution and outcomes. It also adds to the literature on strategic management in public sector contexts, especially in developing countries.

Environmental Strategy and Sustainable Performance: The Mediating Role of Environmental Innovation

This study investigates the interrelated connections between environmental strategy, environmental innovation, and sustainable performance in private firms located in the Erbil-Kurdistan region of Iraq. Using a quantitative research design, data was collected from 118 employees in 19 organizations to analyze the intricate factors influencing sustainable business practices. The study demonstrates a direct correlation between environmental strategy and both environmental innovation and sustainable performance. Significantly, environmental innovation plays a vital role in converting strategic environmental goals into measurable results. Path and mediation studies elucidate the sequential links among these variables, offering a thorough comprehension of the mechanisms in operation. This research focuses on the comprehensive aspect of sustainable business practices, making a valuable contribution to the strategic management literature. The results emphasize the significance of fostering a culture that promotes creativity in addition to implementing environmental strategies. The paper admits limitations and recommends avenues for further research, advocating a detailed analysis of elements that moderate and influence individuals at the individual level. Organizations are strongly encouraged to embrace a complete approach that combines strategic planning, innovation, and performance monitoring in order to promote long-lasting sustainability. Amidst the challenge of reconciling economic expansion and environmental stewardship, these ideas provide vital direction for successfully navigating the intricacies of the contemporary corporate climate and contributing to a more sustainable future.

Dependence as strategy: extending resource dependence theory and clarifying its understanding of the strategic options of dependent firms

Purpose This study aims to critically evaluate resource dependence theory’s (RDT) assumptions and explanations about dependence and the dependent firm’s strategic options. The authors argue that RDT’s perception of dependence is problematic because it evaluates dependence as a purely negative situation in which all firms, by definition, seek to develop strategies to change the power structure of such relationships. On the contrary, the authors argue that there are situations in which dependent firms are in agreement with dependence and, therefore, develop strategies that do not aim to change the balance of power in the relationship, but rather to strengthen their position within the relationship. Design/methodology/approach The research is designed as a theoretical discussion. The authors critically evaluate and discuss current understanding and assumptions about RDT’s dependence explanations. Drawing on insights from the strategic management literature, the authors offer a new perspective on the problematic areas in the dependence explanations of the RDT. Findings Drawing on insights from the strategic management literature, the authors argue that dependent firms enjoy certain advantages due to the dependence relationship to gain sustainable competitive advantages over their rivals and potential competitors. These advantages include factors such as increasing growth potential, developing capabilities and competencies, building relationships of trust with powerful firms and leveraging their reputations and references that contribute to the sustainable strategic advantages of dependent firms. The authors believe that this study has the potential to spur new research that further challenges the assumptions of the RDT and empirically tests its propositions. Originality/value The authors propose a research framework on dependence as a strategic option that has the possibility of expanding RDT’s current dependence explanation.

Faculty matter: development of faculty diversity climate and its relation to graduate student intent to stay

ABSTRACT This study sought to advance our understanding of the nexus between policy and ambient discrimination experiences of faculty and the intention to stay among graduate students. To accomplish this, we built on theory and research in higher education by leveraging models from the strategic human resource management (HRM) literature. In doing so, we advanced a novel theoretical model relating faculty perceptions of traditional HRM policies and ambient discrimination to department-level shared perceptions of diversity climate. We further theorized how that shared diversity climate relates to evaluations of graduate students’ general campus climate and their intent to stay. We tested this model using a unique multisource, multilevel dataset comprised of 266 university faculty and 569 students who were pursuing graduate degrees across 28 departments at a midsized university located in the Midwest. The results supported the hypothesized model and established the important relationship between the diversity-related work environment experienced by faculty and the experiences and highly consequential outcomes for students and higher education. By bridging the gap between faculty work experiences and student perceptions and retention this study provides both new theoretical insights and important practical suggestions.

Awakening the beauty: a journey through dormant gems in strategic management literature

Awakening the beauty: a journey through dormant gems in strategic management literature

An image of industry: exploring the effects of knowledge sources in the medical imaging industry

Abstract Scholars have long been interested in understanding how a firm’s “pre-history” shapes its behavior and performance, with recent scholarship highlighting the fact that industry entrants stem from different knowledge sources. Knowledge sources, the context in which entrants develop the knowledge they bring as they enter an industry, are argued to be important, because they may have differential effects on firm strategy and performance. We explore the effects of five different knowledge sources on firm behavior and survival using a mixed-methods approach. Survival analysis shows that user-founded new ventures outsurvive academic-founded new ventures, employee-founded new ventures, related diversifying entrants, and unrelated diversifying entrants. Qualitative analysis suggests that user-founded new ventures often enter niche markets defined by the clinical expertise of their founders and remain in these markets over time, honing their product offerings to specific clinical needs. Our analyses are based on novel, hand-collected archival data on the population of entrants in the modern medical imaging industry. We discuss the implications of these findings for the evolutionary theory, strategic management, and entrepreneurship literatures.