The process of strategic change:a management perspective

This thesis is concerned with the management processes concerned with complex strategic decision in organisations. The research has sought to explore these processes by taking as its focus the reconstruction of decision processes a) on the basis of an historical study of an industry and in particular a major company in that industry; and b) the perception and understanding of strategic decision processes and change by managers involved in companies in that industry. The main body of analysis and theoretical contributions arise from the detailed analysis of extended depth interviews with managers carried out in 1980 and 1983 which trace thirteen years of the strategic development of a firm. In so doing, extensive use is made of verbatim accounts by managers of events and their interpretation of events. This is then compared with data gathered from.similar interviews with managers of two other companies and examined in the light of existing research and theory in the field. The thesis both provides a detailed insight into the processes associated with the identification and resolution of complex strategic issues and also generates a body of theory concerning the mechanisms by which strategic decisions and the processes of strategic change are interwoven with the cultural and political fabric of organisations. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part deals with the background to the research, provid1ng a fuller summary of the purpose, structure and content of the thesis and a discussion of relevant previous research and the methodology employed herein. The second part mainly provides case studies of the industry and the main company studied. The third part is a detailed presentation and analysis of data. The fourth part is a synthesis of the findings and consolidation of the theoretical interpretation advanced in the thesis.

Implementing dynamic capabilities for corporate strategic change towards sustainability

Dynamic scanning, identification, and reconfiguration capabilities can facilitate firms' strategic change toward sustainability and higher competitive advantage in an evolving market environment.

A conceptual framework for enterprise management

This paper reports on the theoretical foundations and the practical reasons for the increasing popularity of the enterprise management perspective. Theoretical foundations are given that discuss vertically integrated, virtual and extended enterprises in terms of endogenous and exogenous factors, and the tensions that these create. An exploratory study in the German automotive industry using inductive grounded theory was conducted, involving data collection via 28 semi-structured interviews with 16 companies and data validation via a questionnaire survey receiving 110 responses from 52 companies. The research delivers a conceptual framework to show how enterprise structures emerge, depending on the prevailing type of core competencies that they use. Furthermore, it proposes contingency-planning recommendations to facilitate managing the change from one structure to another as the demands placed upon the enterprise change.

"Marketing is all about T-shirts and posters - right?"

Five questions for conducting marketing as a profession that ushers in strategic change

Responding to crisis through strategic knowledge management

Purpose - Many managers would like to take a strategic approach to preparing the organisation to avoid impending crisis but instead find themselves fire-fighting to mitigate its impact. This paper seeks to examine an organisation which made major strategic changes in order to respond to the full effect of a crisis which would be realised over a two to three year period. At the root of these changes was a strategic approach to managing knowledge. The paper's purpose is to reflect on managers' views of the impact this strategy had on preparing for the crisis and explore what happened in the organisation during and after the crisis. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines a case-study of a financial services organisation which faced the crisis of its impending dissolution. The paper draws upon observations of change management workshops, as well as interviews with organisational members of a change management task force. Findings - The response to the crisis was to recognise the importance of the people and their knowledge to the organisation, and to build a strategy which improved business processes and communication flow across the divisions, as well as managing the departure of knowledge workers from an organisation in the process of being dissolved. Practical implications - The paper demonstrates the importance of building a knowledge management strategy during times of crisis, and draws out important lessons for organisations facing organisational change. Originality/value - The paper represents a unique opportunity to learn from an organisation adopting a strategic approach to managing its knowledge during a time of crisis. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Twelve steps to heaven:successfully managing change through developing innovative teams

In this article we propose that work teams implement many of the innovative changes required to enable organizations to respond appropriately to the external environment. We describe how, using an input?–?process?–?output model, we can identify the key elements necessary for developing team innovation. We propose that it is the implementation of ideas rather than their development that is crucial for enabling organizational change. Drawing on theory and relevant research, 12 steps to developing innovative teams are described covering key aspects of the team task, team composition, organizational context, and team processes.

Strategic groups, cognitive groups and environmental change in the UK pharmaceutical industry

This chapter explores the relationship between changes in strategy and environmental pressures within the UK Pharmaceutical Industry during a ten- year period. Two stable strategic time periods (SSTPs) were identified each of five years duration. Within each time period seven strategic groups were found but 11 out of 29 firms (37.9%) changed strategic groups membership during the period studied. The break between these two SSTPs was found to coincide with a sharp increase in the substitution of branded pharmaceuticals by cheaper parallel imports. A significant relationship was found between firms that changed groups and both their continent of origin and nationality. Firms whose home markets are more vulnerable to substitution were more likely to switch strategic groups. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategic practices:an activity theory perspective on continuity and change

This paper draws upon activity theory- to analyse an empirical investigation of the micro practices of strategy in three UK universities. Activity theory provides a framework of four interactive components from which strategy emerges; the collective structures of the organization, the primary actors, in this research conceptualized as the top management team (TMT), the practical activities in which they interact and the strategic practices through which interaction is conducted. Using this framework, the paper focuses specifically on the formal strategic practices involved in direction setting, resource allocation, and monitoring and control. These strategic practices arc associated with continuity of strategic activity in one case study but are involved in the reinterpretation and change of strategic activity in the other two cases. We model this finding into activity theory-based typologies of the cases that illustrate the way that practices either distribute shared interpretations or mediate between contested interpretations of strategic activity. The typologies explain the relationships between strategic practices and continuity and change of strategy as practice. The paper concludes by linking activity theory to wider change literatures to illustrate its potential as an integrative methodological framework for examining the subjective and emergent processes through which strategic activity is constructed. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.

Conceptualising global strategic sustainability and corporate transformational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of global “strategic sustainability”, represented by a conceptual framework, the “spheres of strategic sustainability”. The paper examines routes, solutions and a vision for corporate strategic sustainability in the macro context of the global physical environment and the planet. This builds on previous research identifying key drivers and strategies for corporate sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual in nature and underpinned by Gaia theory, ecosystems theory and the laws of thermodynamics. These three offer specific foci for sustainability research including holism, integration and synthesis: without which, sustainability research would be difficult to achieve. Findings – The paper identifies two major domains – “corporate” and “consumer” strategic sustainability. It examines the corporate domain in which routes are identified through responses to existing globalisation, corporate strategy and corporate culture. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides insight and preliminary conceptual development towards a full theoretical model of corporate and consumer strategic sustainability. The framework will guide future conceptual and empirical investigations and broaden and deepen our understanding of how firm's can construct strategic business models that incorporate sustainability. Originality/value – The paper offers a conceptual framework that develops the concept of “corporate strategic sustainability” and provides positive, practical solutions to incorporating sustainability into business models. It also challenges the current dominant socio-economic paradigm and sets the scene for a more positive eco-paradigm that serves the present and future needs of the planet, environment, businesses and human society.