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Strategic pivoting, the decision to invest in shifting the attention of an organization, is no longer limited to early-stage organizations and entrepreneurs but has, without a discussion of complications, been applied to large corporations and public agencies.

This conceptual paper defines strategic pivoting, highlights the centrality of pivoting in new and entrepreneurial organizations and critically examines its application as a strategy fostering organizational agility in corporations.

Pivoting in the corporate context complicates the ease of executing an attention shift by introducing a path-dependent momentum that requires modification of the time horizon, stakeholder strategy and the frequency of pivoting.

This comparative examination of pivoting highlights the importance of organizational size, complexity, degree of specialization and path-dependent history when deciding to pivot.

The present ease with which the strategic pivot is treated as an adaptive strategy to corporate leaders seeking greater flexibility overstates the ease of execution.

AIRCRAFT of the type known under the Registered Trade Mark “Autogiio,” have means for controllably tilting the rotor axis in relation to the body in one or more substantially vertical planes about real or virtual pivot axes, any such pivot axis being located above the centre of gravity of the aircraft, below the point of intersection of the rotor axis with the projection of the line of resultant aerodynamic action of the rotor on a plane containing both the rotor axis and the shortest distance between the rotor axis and the pivot axis, and offset from the rotor axis in the direction of the aerodynamic reaction line. Figs. 2 and 5 show diagrammatically an aircraft having a body b, a rotor comprising blades r, r, connected by horizontal hinges a, a, to a rotor hub having an axis of rotation 0, 0. Lines 0–0, 1–1, 2–2, etc., represent the projections on the plane of the paper of the aerodynamic reaction lines corresponding to successively reduced angles of incidence of the rotor, line 0–0 representing the reaction line for an angle of incidence of 90 deg. corresponding to vertical descent, line 5–5 representing that corresponding to a small angle of incidence corresponding to maximum flight speed. These projection lines intersect at a focal point f1, the height of which above the hinges a, a depends upon the degree of separation thereof, this height being zero when the hinges a, a are coaxial and intersect the axis of rotation. The transverse axis about which the rotor may be tilted is shown at p2 and is disposed below the point f1 and forward of the axis of rotation 0, 0. In the limiting case where the hinges a, a are coaxial p2 may pass through the point of intersection of the hinges with the axis 0–0. Fig. 5 shows how the longitudinal pivot axis p5 for lateral tilting of the rotor is displaced from the axis of rotation 0–0 in the direction of the aerodynamic reaction line, i.e., in the direction of the re‐treating blade. The transverse pivot p2 for longitudinal rotor tilting is located rearwardly of the centre of gravity, the perpendicular from the centre of gravity on the pivot making an angle of the order of 6 deg. with the perpendicular to the longitudinal body axis. Means may also be provided for bodily displacing the rotor longitudinally of the aircraft whereby the attitude of the body to the line of flight may be controlled in the plane of symmetry, independently of the flying speed and of the position of the centre of gravity. In one embodiment, Fig. 6, a pyramid of struts 36 supports a rotor comprising blades 38 secured to a hub 37 by horizontal pivots 39, links 40, and vertical pivots 41. Hub 37 is mounted on an axis member 78, Figs. 9 and 10, pivotally mounted on pyramid 36 by means of a transverse pivot 42 and a longitudinal pivot 43, Fig. 8. Pyramid struts 36 are bolted to an apex member 71 incorporating a fork 72, Fig. 10, carrying transverse pivot 42 on which is rotatably mounted an intermediate member incorporating an offset backward projection constituting the longitudinal pivot 43 and a downward projection 76 which serves to limit rocking of member 74 about the pivot 42 by co‐operation with the sides of a shot 71x formed in apex member 71. Rocking movement of axis member 78 in pivot 43 is limited by integral lugs 80 which embrace the projection 76. Movements of part 74 about pivot 42 and of axis member 78 about pivot 43 are damped by spring‐loaded friction discs 148, 153 respectively, the pressure on which may be varied by adjusting their respective nuts 151, 156. As shown in Fig. 9, an internal expanding rotor brake and rotor starting gear are associated with the axis member 78, the latter gear including a dog clutch permitting over‐running of the rotor with respect to the drive shaft. Means for controlling the rotor tilting movements comprise levers 48, 52 respectively associated with the intermediate member 74 and the axis member 78. Lever 48 is coupled to a bell crank 46, Fig. 6, by a rod 47, and lever 52 is coupled to a lever 50, Fig. 8, on a longitudinal rock shaft 49 by rod 51, bell crank 46 and rock shaft 49 being operated by a conveniently arranged control column 44. Rods 47, 51 are tubular and are connected to their respective levers 48, 52 by resilient connections comprising columns of rubber rings 106, Fig. 9, which bear against abutments 107 fixed in the bore of the rod and against a collar 108 formed on a slidable rod 109 which is connected to the operating lever by a forked shackle 110, in the case of rod 47, and by a shackle 111 and an eyed swivel 112, Fig. 10, in the case of rod 51. Means are provided for imposing an elastic bias on either control: these comprise in the case of the fore‐and‐aft control two lengths 116 of shock absorber elastic, Fig. 11, coupled at one end to a lever 115 on shaft 113 of bell crank 46, and at the other by cables 117 to an adjustable lever 119 working in a quadrant 120. Similarly, shock absorbers 123 are coupled to a lever 122 on rock shaft 49 and are connected by cables 124, Fig. 12, passed round pulleys 126 to a lever 127 mounted on a subsidiary rock shaft 128, the angular position of which is controlled by a ratchet lever 129, Fig. 11. Shackles 118 are adjustable for varying the initial stress in elastics 116 and turnbuckles 125 are placed in the run of cables 124. In addition to control column 44, a rudder bar 55 is provided operating a rudder 54, Fig. 6, and a steerable tail wheel 64, and a lever 62 for adjusting a tail plane 57. All these controls may be locked in any adjusted position, lever 62 by a ratchet 63 and the remainder by means of friction clamps 141, 142, 143 respectively, Figs. 11 and 12. Clamp 141 locks a slotted lever 140 fast on rock shaft 49 to a fixed fuselage member. Similarly clamp 135 co‐operates with a slotted plate 134, linked by rod 133 to a lever, 132, on rock shaft 113. Clamp 143 co‐operates with a slotted plate 142, inserted in the run of a rudder cable 56x.

This paper aims to draw on the Dynamic Capabilities View to discuss how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) use digital technologies to develop digital capabilities that will enable them to change their current business model and trajectory, that is, to pivot-within turbulent environments, and subsequently to survive and grow.

The authors collected and analysed qualitative data from 26 SMEs in South-East England that have used digital technologies to pivot during the pandemic. The data was collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews. The authors analysed the data by creating first-order concepts, second-order themes, and aggregating dimensions.

The findings suggest that (1) digital technologies enable pivoting by facilitating the creation of the following digital capability types: “digital sensing”, “digital seizing” and “digital transforming”; (2) Each of these digital capability types is underpinned by micro-foundations (sub-capabilities) and shaped by the digital culture of the organisation. (3) these capabilities are triggered by the turbulent environment and the existing digital technologies, and are shaped by the digital culture.

The authors contribute to the literature of digital entrepreneurship as the authors illustrate (1) how the micro-foundations of digital capabilities, as facilitated by digital technologies, assist pivoting; and (2) the process from key activities during pivoting to second-order themes that represent micro-foundations to digital (dynamic) capabilities for pivoting in turbulent environments. The study highlights the importance of digital pivoting for businesses in the UK Southeast that have many aspirations for growth and innovation, whilst striving to address multiple challenges including digital divide and literacy, inflation and cost of living crisis, as well as supply chain issues.

The purpose of this study is to develop a history-based framework of servitization and deservitization.

The study draws on three history-based management theories, i.e. industry lifecycle, strategic pivoting and strategy restoration, to develop a conceptual framework of how servitization and deservitization pivots influence firm performance in different stages of the industry lifecycle. A series of examples involving configurations and reconfigurations in production illustrate the theoretical propositions.

The proposed framework predicts that servitization pivots positively influence firm performance in the ferment phase, but this effect gradually diminishes as industries advance into transition and mature phases. In contrast, the framework predicts that deservitization pivots negatively influence firm performance in the ferment phase; this effect, too, becomes negligible in the transition phase but positive in the mature phase. Moreover, the proposed framework predicts that deservitization pivoting outperforms servitization pivoting in mature servitized industries to the extent that such pivots are restorative in nature, thereby suggesting that deservitization may represent a strategic opportunity for firms in mature industries.

This study highlights the role of history-based management theories in enhancing our understanding of servitization and deservitization.

As part of the entrepreneurial journey, high-tech entrepreneurs are faced with the need to develop a competitive value proposition and leverage emerging technology to strengthen the value proposition. Entrepreneurial pivoting can be adopted to address this requirement since it enables the startup to validate and refine the company’s strategy and business model. Therefore, this research study provides an empirical investigation of the pivoting concept explained in the context of the lean startup approach (LSA) and technology entrepreneurship to improve the understanding of the entrepreneurial journey for high-tech entrepreneurs.

A qualitative research method was conducted by interviewing 30 high-tech entrepreneurs across the United Kingdom to validate the theories behind the LSA and identify new insights on entrepreneurial pivoting.

The research study has validated the existing types of pivots and identified two new pivots (giving 16 in total). The study has validated the existing 11 factors that trigger a tech startup to change its direction and identified three new factors (giving 14 in total). The research study also determined that there can be a domino effect in pivoting and the value proposition can be created and sustained through pivoting.

This study provides empirical evidence on pivots and the factors associated with pivots. Furthermore, it helps in understanding the influence of the phases of technology entrepreneurship on pivoting. The study also discusses the challenges faced by tech startups while pursuing pivots, the domino effects in pivoting and has found evidence that pivoting eventually leads to achieving the desired results.

This paper aims to explore controls within an inter-organisational relationship involving outsourced management accounting services from the contractor’s perspective.

Qualitative data from within the relationship are analysed in a legitimacy-theory framework, illustrating how controls within the relationship are intended to build the contractor’s legitimacy and what kinds of implications the controls have in relation to conflicts between interests inherent in the relationship.

The legitimacy perspective clarifies that while controls are aimed at ensuring efficiency for the client, they may also provide symbolic displays of the appropriateness of the contractor’s actions both at an inter-organisational level for the client and at an individual level for the contractor’s employees. While the contractor intends to build legitimacy with the client by demonstrating utility in the form of efficiency, the process also gives the client influence and allows the disposition in terms of shared values to be demonstrated. However, this process has some negative consequences for the contractor’s employees as it is insufficient for serving the boundary-spanning employees’ interests connected with the nature of their work. Hence, the same controls need to yield benefits and fair outcomes for employees. The controls simultaneously foster interconnections that contribute to permanence and formalise the outsourcing of complex services, thereby rendering such processes comprehensible and transferable to other settings, which can be seen to serve the contractor’s continuity interests.

The paper contributes to academic research by illustrating how controls within inter-organisational relationships not only steer boundary-spanners’ work to conform to a client’s needs but may also help to build legitimacy via symbolic properties in the presence of conflicting interests at both an inter-organisational and individual level. It specifically highlights the important role of boundary-spanners lower in the organisational structure, who both affect and are influenced by the intentions to build legitimacy with the client.

The purpose of this paper is to argue for theoretical integration as a major step in consolidation of the vast leadership literature. It is an attempt to lay out a basic canvas that could be further used for building an integrated theory of leadership.

The concept matrix framework (Webster and Watson, 2002) has been used for analytical abstraction to organize the published research on leadership and distill certain commonalities. The paper finally proposes certain pivots for theoretical integration of the leadership literature.

A thorough analysis of the leadership literature and the identification of commonalities within the various theories help the authors to identify the change and collective filter, outcomes of leadership, organizational outcomes, leadership role, sources of leadership, processes within the larger leadership process and the context as the pivots for building an integrated theory of leadership.

While the paper is not a detailed literature review and lacks predictive power, it is a synthesis of the published literature. The paper proposes a descriptive model meant to provide a sound foundation for an integrated theory of leadership.

The paper provides a framework to reduce the complexity and ambiguity of leadership research literature and could be utilized as a starting platform for an integrated theory of leadership. It is hoped that this shall also provide leaders and leadership training providers with a more holistic approach for leadership assessment and development.

Based on a survey of literature, the explanation of the leadership process, suggestions for evaluation of quality of leadership and pivots for theoretical integration are the main contributions.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of pivot stiffness on the dynamic characteristics of tilting-pad journal bearings (TPJBs) and the stability of the bearing-rotor system.

A theoretical numerical model is established, and the influences of pivot stiffness on TPJBs and a bearing-rotor system are analyzed. Then, two kinds of pivot structures with different stiffness are designed and the vibration characteristics are tested on the vertical rotor bearing test bench.

The pivot stiffness has an obvious effect on the dynamic characteristics of the TPJBs and the stability of the bearing-rotor system. As a result of appropriate pivot stiffness, the critical speed and the vibration amplification factor can be reduced, the logarithmic decay rate and the stability of the rotor system can be effectively increased. While the journal whirl orbit is smoother and the rubbing is obviously reduced when the bearings have flexible pivots.

The influence of pivot stiffness on TPJBs and a vertical rotor-bearing system is studied by theoretical and experimental methods.

Entrepreneurs' pivot decisions are poorly understood. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on pivot decisions to identify the different conceptualizations, research streams and main theoretical building blocks and to offer a baseline framework for future studies on this phenomenon.

A systematic literature review of 86 peer-reviewed papers published between January 2008 and October 2020, focusing on the pivot decision in startups, was performed through bibliometric, descriptive and content analyses.

The literature review identifies four research streams concerning the pivot concept – pivot design, cognitive, negotiation and environmental perspectives. Building on previous studies, this paper provides a refined definition of a pivot that bridges elements from the four research streams identified: a pivot comprises strategic decisions made after a failure (or in the face of potential failure) of the current business model and leads to changes in the firm's course of action, resource reconfiguration and possible modifications of one or more business model elements. This study proposes a framework that elaborates the pivot literature by identifying four stages of the pivot process addressed in the existing literature: recognition, generating options, seizing and testing and reconfiguration.

This study provides a comprehensive review, enabling researchers to establish a baseline for developing future pivot research. Furthermore, it improves the conceptualization of pivots by summarizing prior definitions and proposing a refined definition that places decision-making and judgment at its center. That introduces new contextual and behavioral elements, contributing to a better understanding of how entrepreneurs assess alternative courses of action and envision possible outcomes to redirect a venture after failure.

This paper proposes a competence that enables the pivot organization to dynamically combine (assemble/disassemble, activate/deactivate) resources as needed, and introduces the concept of “dynamic assembly” that integrates this new competence into the historic pivot’s capacities.

Two in-depth case studies performed in two different contexts support our theoretical construct and exhibit the strategic role of the pivot-assembler in the conception, combination, coordination, and control of temporary chains and networks.

The results of our research confirm that dynamic assembly is an important characteristic of both, the travel industry and humanitarian relief, in which the four dimensions (conception, combination, coordination, and control) were found.

From this research it is possible to consider that the theoretical construct of dynamic assembly is meaningful in these types of contexts where chains are temporarily assembled from a dynamic network. Complementary research should look at the characteristics of the organizational structure and the management of competences in loosely-coupled organizations (Weick, 1982) and hastily formed networks (Denning, 2006).