انعطاف پذیری استراتژیک: بررسی مطالعات Strategic Flexibility: A Review of the Literature

Introduction As modern society is characterized by irregularity, increased levels of complexity and uncertainty, and reduced levels of predictability (Nowotny et al. 2001), it is necessary for the actors in the marketplace to develop the ability to navigate complex business environments. Therefore, strategic flexibility, defined as the ability to handle change (Wright and Snell 1998; Zhou and Wu 2010), has emerged as a crucial organizational requirement in order for actors to thrive in such environments (Li et al. 2008; Hamlin et al. 2012). Specifically, strategic flexibility allows for the creation and performance of strategic options that respond to or lead a change (Combe et al. 2012; Sanchez 1995). In the business world, for instance, Deloitte has been a known advocate of strategic flexibility in many industries (e.g. see Raynor n.d.). Similarly, corporations, such as Apple, define and implement strategies to exploit emerging opportunities, thereby staying ahead of the competition in a visionary and flexible manner (Chaston 2012, pp. 141–142). Academic interest in this topic has been rising continuously (Combe 2012), both theoretically and empirically, resulting in an increase in the number of publications (see Figure 1). However, the existing literature appears relatively broad, delineating defi- nitions of strategic flexibility (Roberts and Stockport 2009), suggesting its different forms (Combe and Greenley 2004; Evans 1991) and studying its interaction with niches (Hamlin et al. 2012), quality management (Escrig-Tena et al. 2011) and networks (Mason and Mouzas 2012), for instance. In an attempt to consolidate the scope of the field, several literature reviews and overviews have been published recently (Combe 2012; de Haan et al. 2011; De Toni and Tonchia 1998; Roberts and Stockport 2009; Saleh et al. 2009). However, these reviews have a number of shortcomings. For example, some are concerned primarily with definitional issues; they revisit the existing definitions and create new and more encompassing definitions (Roberts and Stockport 2009). Other reviews compare and connect strategic flexibility to other types of flexibilities (De Toni and Tonchia 1998; Saleh et al. 2009) or relate it to similar theoretical concepts, such as robustness, adaptability and resilience (de Haan et al. 2011).