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A Review on Strategic Management Theories and their Implications for Sustaining Competitive Advantage and Superior Performance in Organization

This article provides a synthesis of strategic management theories and offers an explanation of how these theories affects organization sustainable competitive advantage and superior performance. In addition to explaining why it is important to sustain organization competitive advantage and superior performance, the author described the relevant strategic management theories and explained the implications of sustaining organization competitive advantage and superior performance on developing and implementing effective organization practices. The final section of the paper provides an illustration with explanation on how effective organization practices can be explained through strategic management theories and how these efforts serve as a strategy to sustain organization competitive advantage and superior performance. Apart from that, this paper also provide an analysis on the critical factors among the respective strategic management theories and its effect on sustaining competitive advantage and superior performance and suggesting effective organization practices. The current global pandemic has derailed company strategy and focus and cause a range of unpredictable challenges. The current state of fear and uncertainty also makes it more difficult for managers to keep employees focused and motivated. In this uncertain condition, strategic management theory and research has offer little guidance to managers and no theories explaining the causes and processes of these uncertain changes enveloping entire industries during these difficult conditions. As most strategic planning relies on a high degree of certainty and predictability, however, the current global pandemic does not allow for either of these. It is important to understand that Strategic Management theories are meaningless if organization do not infuse them into the organization practices both internally and externally.

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Emiliana Lozano

Bruce H Geddes, PhD.

Pınar Başar

The main study purpose is to determine the effect of strategic management on competitive advantage. In this study, the research strategy was the descriptive and quantitative approach. Research data were collected via a questionnaire, and the sampling includes 200 employees and managers in Somalia. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences-19 software. The factor analysis will determine the original dimensions of variables, and the correlation analysis will find the relations among variables and measurements. The regression analysis will evaluate the effects between the obtained dimensions. The results show that there is a positive relationship between strategic management and competitive advantage. The results revealed that strategic management practices allow the organization to be proactive in change and initiate positive changes. It is recommended that organizations continually manage, maintain, and improve strategic management practices as this is an indispensable tool for business performance.

Fareeha Zafar

This paper examines the success in corporate sector through strategic management. In recent times world economy has witnessed a lot of dynamism and challenges. The success in corporate sector will depend on management’s recognition of the following functions: analyzing the environmental changes, selecting the strategists, helping them to think creatively, setting objectives, establishing strategies to achieve objectives, assign responsibilities and implementing the strategies, measuring success and evaluating results. The comparison between the Eastern and Western corporate sector also helped in understanding the role of culture and environment in devising the strategy for the business organization. The paper also examines how proper implementation of the strategic management in a business organization can provide a solution to ailing corporate firm. The case study of PTCL revealed that a genuine application of strategic management by implementation of Corporate, Business and Functi...

Julius Tapera

This paper presents strategic management as an important business management concept. It defines strategy and explains the key concepts in strategic management; strategic vision, objectives, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation and initiating corrective action. The research also focuses on the corporate governance aspect of strategic management; role of the board of directors in crafting and executing strategy. The different levels of pitching strategy are also discussed in this paper; corporate, business, functional and operational. All these concepts are examined with a view to highlight their importance in the effective and efficient management of business organizations. In an operating environment that is dynamic and highly competitive, business organizations need to appreciate the importance of crafting and effectively executing strategies that can help them create sustainable competitive advantage.

james rugami

Journal of Management

Daphne W. Yiu

The development of the field of strategic management within the last two decades has been dramatic. While its roots have been in a more applied area, often referred to as business policy, the current field of strategic management is strongly theory based, with substantial empirical research, and is eclectic in nature. This review of the development of the field and

STRATEGY AND COMPETITIVENESS: AN INTEGRATED PERSPECTIVE ON ECONOMIC BASED THEORIES IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Pouya Seifzadeh

This paper reexamines the fundamental assumptions of the three most prominent Economics based theoretical perspectives in strategic management: the Structure-Conduct-Performance paradigm of the Industrial Organization Economics, the Resource Based View of the firm, and the Dynamic Capabilities. We suggest and integrative approach to bring together these various theoretical perspective into an overarching theory. Also, we reexamine the notion of value in the literature of strategic management. Our arguments suggest that strategy theory has ignorance of the market side of the equation may result in misconceptions in the total value produced as the result of actions by firms. We then call for inclusion of the market side into strategic management theory.

Canadian Institute for Knowledge Development (CIKD)

International Journal of Organizational Leadership (IJOL)

The aim of this study is to contribute to the existing research in the field of strategic management. The main responsibility of managers in the modern industrial world is to achieve the objectives of the organizations and make the organizations successful. Accomplishing objectives needs regular planning and continuous improvement of the plans. It also requires knowledge about the internal and external environment of organizations. Strategic management provides the managers with efficient solutions to solve the problems of the organizations through dynamic, provident, holistic, and contingent principles. Strategic management also makes the managers able to develop better strategies for the survival of the organizations through taking advantage of more regular and logical methods. Therefore, this article is an attempt to study different aspects of strategic management through reviewing the related literature and the researchers’ point of view. In addition, this paper tries to consider the importance of implementing strategic management in organizations to accomplish future objectives.

Dennis Laxton

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A comprehensive guide to strategic management and its future

Strategy & Leadership

ISSN : 1087-8572

Article publication date: 16 March 2022

Issue publication date: 16 March 2022

Fahey, L. (2022), "A comprehensive guide to strategic management and its future", Strategy & Leadership , Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 40-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-01-2022-0006

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

Strategic Management: State of the Field and Its Future , edited by Irene Duhaime, Michael Hitt and Marjorie Lyles (Oxford University Press, 2021), 784 pages.

In Strategic Management: State of the Field and its Future, editors Irene Duhaime, Michael Hitt and Marjorie Lyles have taken on a herculean task. This monumental tome is written by serious academics for serious academics. The editors are blunt and specific about the book’s scope and intent: “We address the major streams of research and major research approaches that have helped to develop the field to its current state.” But the editors also believe, “The highest potential value is the extensive and insightful discussion of promising future opportunities and research agendas.”

Without question, this ambitious book fills a glaring void in the strategic management literature. No other source comes close to achieving a comprehensive documentation of the state of academic research in the strategic management field. It also offers detailed guidance for what the research agenda should be going forward. Although they are not the target audience, both strategy consultants and practitioners will find several productive uses for the book.

The book’s structure reflects the scope of the strategic management field, at least as viewed within the halls of the academy. The book has eleven Parts and thirty-seven chapters. Each Part details the state of a major topic area: “Evolution of Strategic Management Research,” “Corporate Strategy,” “Strategic Entrepreneurship and Technology,” “Competitive and Cooperative Strategy,” “Global Strategy,” “Strategic Leadership,” “Governance and Boards of Directors,” “Knowledge and Innovation,” “Strategy Processes and Practices,” “Microfoundations and Behavioral Strategy” and “Critical Factors Affecting Strategy.”

Each Part consists of a lead chapter that provides an overview of the topic area, followed by several chapters, all written by academics, which burrow into the details of key sub-topic areas. For example, one topic area of particular interest to practitioners, “Strategic Leadership,” provides a chapter overview of recent research developments; it is followed by chapters on “Top Management Teams” and “CEO Succession.”

Each chapter provides the key sub-topics researchers have to date addressed, the key research findings they have generated, advances that have occurred in the relevant research methodologies, and frequently key gaps in the issues and questions addressed. The second section of each chapter then lays out the research agenda the authors believe is necessary to advance the state of knowledge on the topic. The chapters’ second section delivers on the promise of the book’s subtitle—the state of the field and its future.

Given the editors’ intent to proceed from an academic perspective, corporate executive could justly ask, where do practitioners fit in this picture? Regrettably, implications for the practice of strategic management are not explicitly addressed in most of the chapters. Rather, the editors assume that enhancement of research findings, resulting from posing more interesting research questions and ever more sophisticated research methodologies will be translated into useful guidance by the astute practicing strategist.

Yet we must not refrain from pressing the question – what is the relevance of this book’s depiction of the state of strategic management research and its future direction to executives and others practicing strategic management within organizations? The thoughtful and inquisitive strategist on the front line of strategy making will find multiple ways to extract value from this book. I propose three ways that a top management team, and indeed, middle managers who shape the details of a strategy, can benefit from reading and reflecting on the authors’ research analysis and proposals.

First, anyone who has been involved in shaping and executing strategy in a corporate setting has observed how commonly key concepts are imbued with different meaning by well-intentioned team members. The result: managers talk past each other; shared meaning is almost impossible to attain; and analysis bottlenecks become the norm. Thus, one valuable exercise for the practicing strategist: go to the index of this book, identify a key concept, and then read the material relevant to that concept in the pages indicated in the index. Here is my suggested list of initial key concepts that are often misinterpreted: alliances, assets, competitive advantage, competitive strategy, ecosystems, entrepreneurship, innovation and resources. For example, if you choose competitive advantage—surely one of the most ill-defined, misunderstood and misused terms in the entire strategic management lexicon—you will discover alternative definitions and their implications, the consequences of different business models, reasons why advantage dissipates, the role of resources in shaping and sustaining advantage and how advantage varies across different industry states. Armed with a more refined understanding of the notion of competitive advantage, you will be able to ask more penetrating questions and to guide strategy deliberations toward addressing and achieving real advantage.

Second, those of us familiar with the strategy research literature, and who also spend considerable time in strategy conversations inside real organizations, never cease to be amazed at the disconnect between the focus and output of academic researchers and the concerns and challenges faced by strategy practitioners. This need not be; this should not be. And culpability needs to be owned by both sides.

My suggestion for the intrepid practitioner: Given that strategic management continues to evolve, review the introductory chapter in each of the book’s Parts to learn what academic strategy scholars are or will be investigating that might inform their practice. As an example: The lead chapter, “Strategy in Nascent Markets and Entrepreneurial Firms,” in Part 3, “Strategic Entrepreneurship and Technology,” focuses on nascent markets, a critical context for executive strategists envisioning new business models. Nascent markets “are often new markets but can also be existing markets that are experiencing significant technical, regulatory or institutional shifts that fundamentally disrupt market order.” The chapter expands the scope of research in nascent markets to include extreme ambiguity, high velocity change, unpredictably of change in product evolution, rivals’ actions and customer responses. Strategists coping with the challenges inherent in strategizing in a market with these characteristics should find especially useful the chapter’s distinction between adapting strategies – learn about uncertainties and form strategies in response to generated insights – and shaping strategies – seek to exploit uncertainties and form strategy to organize uncertain and ambiguous markets. Again, the discerning strategist can reflect on whether they typically adopt an adapting or shaping orientation, the questions they should ask within each approach, when it is appropriate to adopt one approach or the other and how each approach affects the strategy choices they create and select.

Third, going beyond my first two suggestions, the strategist committed to keeping up with the latest academic thinking might be well advised to treat this book as an opportunity to undertake a self-designed MBA-like course in strategic management. At a minimum, this will familiarize the thoughtful reader with the dominant concepts and language of the advancing field. You will be better prepared when you need to assess whether the next highly touted shiny new concept is a fad or a truly transformational idea. You will be prepared to ask pertinent, penetrating and revealing questions that may stimulate a productive dialogue.

In sum, this is that rare volume that offers a formidable education for adventurous academics and practitioners willing to put in some extra effort.

Irene M. Duhaime is Professor Emerita of the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, where she held the Robinson Distinguished Leadership Professorship. Michael A. Hitt is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University. Marjorie A. Lyles is International Business Distinguished Research Fellow at Florida International University's Department of International Business and Chancellor's Emeritus Professor at Indiana University.

Full disclosure: I was a Ph.D. candidate colleague of Irene and Marjorie at the University of Pittsburgh in the previous century.

About the author

Liam Fahey is a partner and a cofounder of Leadership Forum LLC, an executive leadership education company ( [email protected] ). He is the co-editor, with Robert M. Randall, of The Portable MBA in Strategy , 1st and 2nd editions (Wiley).

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Mastering change: The new CFO mandate

One trend about CFOs that we’ve confirmed after years of research : the finance leader’s role  is ever evolving. That has never been more true than it is today, during an era of dramatic change—with, for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic, increased attention being paid to social and environmental issues, and the accelerated adoption of technology to address myriad business and social problems. All these trends are triggering fundamental shifts in how people and businesses get work done. According to the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on the role of the CFO, 1 The online survey was in the field from March 16 to April 5, 2021, and garnered responses from 351 participants in the C-suite, the finance function, or both. Of the participants, 151 are company CFOs and another 36 are CFOs of a business function or individual business unit. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP. finance leaders are deeply involved in determining how businesses adapt to these trends—particularly in those places where digital and finance intersect.

The newest survey results show that in the throes of the pandemic, the CFO’s focus has shifted toward crisis management and away from longer-term responsibilities such as strategic leadership, organizational change, and finance capabilities. But the results also point to a way forward for CFOs and their companies, as more industries and economies move toward recovery—suggesting the degree to which finance leaders can have more impact in key areas of the business, and how companies can take advantage of missed opportunities to leverage the CFO’s insights and leadership.

Finance leaders are deeply involved in determining how businesses adapt to significant changes in how work gets done—particularly in places where digital and finance intersect.

In recent years, the CFO’s responsibilities have grown in a few important areas—particularly in digital. Between 2016 and 2021, the share of finance leaders who say that they are responsible for their companies’ digital activities has more than tripled. Investor relations has also grown dramatically as an area of focus for CFOs. Nearly two-thirds of finance leaders say that they are responsible for these activities, up from 44 percent in 2016.

Across the entire finance function, the survey results suggest that digital adoption is on the rise. The share of finance-function respondents reporting the use of robotics and artificial-intelligence (AI) tools has more than tripled since our 2018 survey, while the share saying that they use advanced analytics for finance tasks has almost doubled. What’s more, respondents say that their companies’ IT and digital investments have paid off. Nearly six in ten report either a positive or very positive ROI from investments made in the past year.

Additionally, the survey results suggest that increasing technology adoption in finance could have lasting effects on a company’s overall resilience. Respondents who describe their companies as significantly more prepared for future crises because of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic also report greater use of digital and automation technologies within the finance function. Among the companies that are best prepared, most are using advanced analytics for business operations.

Yet for all digital technology’s promise, the outlook for further adoption remains mixed. According to respondents, the most common obstacles to adopting new technologies are familiar ones: the high up-front costs, a lack of skills or capabilities needed to build and implement the technologies, and cultural and organizational resistance to changing existing processes. Still, no single reason is cited by much more than one-quarter of respondents, for either overall finance processes or planning, budgeting, and forecasting.

For finance organizations in the early days of digital adoption, where to start? The results suggest looking at those activities where increased use of digital technologies would add the most value—namely, revenue forecasting, cash-flow forecasting, and scenario management. Yet only 24 to 36 percent of finance respondents say that their companies currently use digital in these activities.

The survey highlights clear opportunities for the CFO to reengage with the CEO. When asked about the interactions CFOs have had with their CEOs on critical activities during the pandemic, both digital and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics took a back seat to the 11 other topics we asked about. That could change, however: with the increasing prevalence of digital technologies in finance’s day-to-day work and an increasing CFO focus on relations with investors (whose interest in ESG has only grown over time), the CFO and CEO will likely need to communicate more directly on these issues.

Indeed, CFOs have a meaningful role to play in their companies’ ESG programs—especially now, as finance leaders and CEOs report that investor interest in these issues has increased dramatically during the pandemic. For all three areas related to environmental, social, and governance programs, CFO involvement also seems to support greater alignment between these programs and the company’s strategic and financial objectives.

By contrast, CFO and CEO interactions on organizational transformation have increased significantly during the COVID-19 crisis, and the data show that CFOs’ leadership in this area adds significant value. Respondents say that they are pursuing transformations for a range of reasons, particularly in support of performance improvement and digital initiatives.

A transformation initiated by the CFO is just as likely to succeed as one started by the CEO, even though it is much more common for the CEO to initiate such an effort. What’s more, finance leaders view their own role and contribution in a transformation more expansively than do their fellow executives. CFOs say that their time on transformations would be best spent on role-modeling new mindsets and behaviors, setting high-level goals, and communicating the transformation’s results—when, in practice, they are most often charged with traditional finance-oriented responsibilities.

Looking ahead

It’s no surprise, perhaps, that CFOs have been at the forefront of addressing the many challenges that the global COVID-19 pandemic has wrought across industries and geographies. Many of them have had to focus on their business’s shorter-term needs and have closely monitored performance, costs, and productivity. But the longer-term implications of many critical business trends—digital, transformation, and ESG among them—are now apparent and require the CFO’s leadership as well. Given the CFO’s focus on the kind of value creation that relies on their deep understanding of the economics of the company’s business model, their strategic perspective on sector-shaping trends, and their role as thought partner with the CEO and the board, they are best qualified to drive these changes.

CFOs are uniquely qualified to drive changes in how their companies experiment with new technologies, evaluate ESG risks and opportunities, and execute transformations.

In particular, CFOs can continue to experiment with new tools and technologies, digitize their own functions, and, with that experience, help spread digitization throughout the organization. They can lead the way in evaluating ESG risks and opportunities by factoring ESG-related criteria into the company’s investment objectives and decision making. CFOs can also take on a bigger role in executing transformations, beyond just traditional financial tasks, since they control most of the key business levers that determine a transformation’s success.

The contributors to the development and analysis of this survey include Ankur Agrawal , a partner in McKinsey’s New York office; Christian Grube, a partner in the Munich office; and Meagan Hill, a vice president in McKinsey’s Transformation Practice who is based in the Boston office, where Jacob Marcus is an associate partner.

They wish to thank Vanessa Palmer for her contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Daniella Seiler, a senior editor in the New York office.

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