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Based on the dynamic capabilities view, the current study aims to empirically investigate the effects of organizational learning culture (OLC), strategic reconfiguration (SREC) and digital transformation (DT), altogether, on Egyptian private hospitals' strategic renewal in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect the data used to carry out mediation analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample consisted of 264 Egyptian private hospitals. The smart partial least square structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM) was adopted to test the hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that OLC directly and positively affects SR. Besides, SREC and DT partially and serially mediate the OLC-SR relationship.

The sample size was small, covering only Egyptian private hospitals. The results may be different in the manufacturing sector and in other countries. The study was cross-sectional which is limited to trace long-term effects of OLC, SREC and DT on SR. Accordingly, a longitudinal study may be undertaken.

Private hospitals' managers must actively explore and dig out valuable resources in order to discover potential information and trends endeavor to redesign internal structures, and reconfigure their current resources, structures and strategies to achieve strategic renewal. The findings also provide new insights to mangers of private sectors' institutions and direct their attention toward adopting the strategic renewal option to survive amidst crises instead of retrenchment, persevering, or quitting business.

The study's results imply that health care providers have sought to improve the capacities of their health care systems to address the patient-level social needs through continuous learning, internal reconfigurations and the transformation toward digitalization to renew their services.

This study therefore contributes to SR literature by being the first empirical study to introduce an integrative model for the antecedents of SR amidst the pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a quantitative measure for organizational renewal capability which would enable inter‐firm comparison and external communication. To make the tool more concrete for the reader, a case organization with the measurement results and conclusions is described.

A method of how renewal capability can be shown on an organizational level and measurement is demonstrated. The approach is based on systems thinking, but it also has boundary surfaces with the knowledge‐based theory of the firm, dynamic capability approach, and intellectual capital (IC) research. A tool for analyzing and measuring organizational renewal, called KM‐factor^®, and the theoretical model behind it, is presented.

The preliminary analysis indicates that the indexes of KM‐factor^® correlate strongly with the future financial success of the company. Thus, the results refer to the fact that companies with (system based and strategy connected) renewal capability have more competitive advantage than others. It is crucial for the organization to understand the required change direction in renewal capability to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

The topic of renewal has been increasingly dealt with by the research traditions of IC, knowledge management and strategic management. However, even if several relatively consolidated theories about the composition of IC or competitiveness have been presented – renewal being one of the components – the operational and measurement perspectives of continuous renewal have mainly been neglected. This paper demonstrates a quantitative and practical implementation of organizational renewal capability measurement.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how an increasingly intertwined international geography of ownership affects renewal activities and processes, including innovation, in established local companies that have shifted into foreign ownership. The authors develop a framework for the relations between (foreign) ownership and local renewal activities and processes (including innovation). The authors focus on access to resources for renewal, the development of capabilities for innovation and change, and local mandates to pursue renewal. Based on case studies of eight formerly Swedish-owned mid-size manufacturing companies that have shifted into and remained under foreign ownership during most of the 2010s, the authors develop a framework concerned with the relations between (foreign) ownership and renewal activities and processes in local firms.

Multiple intensive case studies of eight previously Swedish-owned mid-sized manufacturing companies to gain qualitative insights into the resource, capabilities and mandates for renewal under new ownership conditions. Empirical data collected primarily through semi-structured interviews and complemented with secondary material, including annual reports (2010–2018), databases, press releases and information on company websites. Empirical data were analyzed thematically to isolate key findings pertaining to renewal. At the core of the analysis process was the gradual creation of a framework that stipulates the relations between (foreign) ownership and firm renewal activities and processes.

The companies are endowed with liberal but conditional mandates to pursue strategic innovation in their original sites and draw on a stronger resource repertoire within their ownership spheres. In comparison to the established international business (IB) literature, the authors add considerations about how local aspects interact with international ones to form global distribution of renewal activities in our time. To economic geographers and innovation scholars, consideration of the local and its importance in renewal activities and processes is certainly not new, but we show how ownership is an important aspect that conditions some of the strategic interactions that companies have with their “outsides”.

Contributes to the burgeoning conversation between IB and economic geography disciplines. Emphasizes a deeper local aspect to the IB literature, partly how companies access resources and capabilities from the ownership sphere at points that suit their renewal efforts and partly the persistence of path-dependent aspects of local companies even as they get acquired by multinationals. Emphasizes ownership and mandate aspects to the literature in Economic geography, which tends to focus on regional/non-regional assets for renewal and innovation. Findings show that the non-regional assets are, in fact, two distinct categories as ownership becomes internationalized: assets within and outside the ownership sphere.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to demonstrate the phenomenon of strategic inertia in organizations and the impact this has on the type of renewal process that is undertaken; to differentiate between environmental and organizational adaptation strategies and synergies; to apply practical steps of renewal by outlining the influential forces and distinct stages of the process; and to create a practical framework that organizations can use as a guideline for sensing and reacting to changes in the business environment.

The case study examines the strategic renewal processes of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) for the period 2012–2019. Amplats is the world’s largest producer of platinum group metals (PGMs). Despite the adversarial business environment of the South African PGM mining industry, six years into its new strategy, the organization had emerged debt-free and was poised to be sustainable. This posed a unique dilemma in strategic decision-making, namely, how to maintain a strategic renewal process. Chris Griffith, CEO of Amplats, was about to retire, but realized that the organization had yet to fulfil its potential. The ambition of the organization was to redefine the industry benchmark for performance across multiple pillars of value for different stakeholders, and to become the most valued mining company by 2023. Set in 2019, the case invites students to look back at the symptoms of strategic inertia at the time of Griffith’s appointment as CEO, and to define the nature and stages of the renewal that the organization underwent. This will provide insights that will enable an examination of the application of a framework for continual strategic renewal.

Postgraduate business students

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

This study investigates the role of functional area-specific managerial schemas on the attempt of strategic renewal at a large medical devices developer and manufacturer during a period of high environmental dynamism. Using data from a 16-month field study on managerial work related to the strategy process, I examine how functional area managers attempted to (re)configure organizational capabilities in response to various environmental challenges. While I did not find any disagreement between functional area managers related to what those challenges were, I did find fundamental disagreements related to what capabilities the organization can muster as a response. More specifically, disagreements surfaced in relation to how these capabilities should be assembled, and ultimately acted as triggers for the contestation of existing shared frames between functional area managers. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that there exist large differences between how managers within an organization interpret what the organization is capable of, and more specifically link these differences to the organization’s ability to adapt to environmental changes by showing how they impact the assembly of new capabilities deemed necessary for a successful response.

This research was carried out with the purpose to empirically test the model to explain the procedures concerned with the translation of social capital (SC) into strategic renewal (SR) of SMEs in developing economy like Pakistan. This procedure involves the mediating role of firms' strategic agility (SA) as well as the contingent effects of firms' absorptive capacity (AC).

This study employed a cross-sectional design to evaluate the hypothesized model. To validate the moderated mediation model, data was collected from 519 CEOs, owners, finance managers and managing directors of 123 manufacturing units dealing in agricultural machinery (32 units), automobile accessories (16 units), pharmaceutical instrument (11 units), electrical equipment (25 units), IT related accessories (21 units) and garments (18 units).

The findings of the study confirm a positive association between SC on SR. Moreover, results also validate the mediating role of SA in the relationship between SC and SR. In addition, the moderating role of AC is also confirmed and presented this construct as a catalyst in the relationship between SC and SR.

This research provides new endeavors for strategic management and strategic entrepreneurship literature by focusing on distinctive resources such as SC with its different facets. Therefore, it provides a new dimension and a roadmap that will be beneficial to the achievement of the objectives of SR.

The findings of this research have contributed to the streams of strategic management perspective by emphasizing upon the mediating mechanism how SC can be transformed into SR of SMEs through SA. Findings of the research also contribute to understand the moderating role of AC, and how its association with SC and SA augments the effects on SR of firms.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the effects of existing capabilities, by exploration and exploitation, on the choice between internal corporate venturing and external corporate venturing.

Data from 259 Taiwanese firms in the information technology (IT) sector are collected. The study period is four years: 2003 to 2006. Information on corporate financial data and new ventures from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) database are collected, as well as patent information from the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). Poisson regression is used to test the hypotheses.

There exists a positive relationship between a firm's existing capabilities and corporate venturing activities. The findings indicate that exploration is a better predictor of internal corporate venturing, while exploitation is better at predicting external corporate venturing.

Empirical results are derived from a sampling of information technology firms in Taiwan thus raising issues about their generalizability to other empirical contexts.

That internal and external corporate venturing could be complementary is clarified; meaning that each could contribute to a particular type of strategic renewal. For firms that engaged much more in exploration, internal corporate venturing is a better for growth than external corporate venturing; it can leverage existing technologies and keep valuable breakthrough technologies in‐house. In contrast, for firms that focus much more on exploitation, learning externally is a better renewal strategy than venturing internally; it can access and integrate resources trans‐organizationally to create novelty that may serve as avenues for further growth.

This is the first study that compares the effects of exploration and exploitation with regard to the decision to engage in internal or external corporate venturing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which strategic orientation (SO) and strategic renewal (SR) could create the possibility for improving strategic performance (SP). The indirect effect of SO was also tested in this study. Furthermore, by using the moderated mediation model, the authors also investigated the moderating role of organizational ambidexterity (OA).

The results of this cross-sectional study are based on a survey conducted on 1,430 owner/managers of SMEs. To analyze the relationship among variables, this study used descriptive, correlation and hierarchical multiple regression approach.

Results revealed that SO positively affects SR and SP in SMEs. Furthermore, the mediating role of SR between the relationships of SO and SP was also confirmed. Moreover, OA strengthens the connection between SO, SR and SP.

The current study provides new insights for strategic planning and management by focusing on SO along with its different dimensions. Therefore, it provides new guidelines and a roadmap that would be helpful in achieving the objectives of SP.

The study makes significant contributions to the extant literature by adding new knowledge about the positive impact of SO on SP. Moreover, with the analysis of mediating role of SR in this relationship, the study has made significant addition to the existing literature on SP. Furthermore, moderated mediation model adds value to the existing body of knowledge.

Organizations increasingly view their internal staff as a source of innovation and change and tend to involve an increasing number of organizational members in strategy work. This inclusion is a form of decentralized strategy and usually takes place in meetings. This chapter explores how meetings can become a planned emergence strategy for unlocking endogenous innovation potential. Data have been gathered from a still ongoing field project in which employees of six public offices such as the police or fire brigade participate. The public offices’ administration is characterized by a traditional division of responsibility, meaning that strategy has so far been the business of only few people at the top of the organization. For the first time in this organization, managers and other specialists at various organizational levels have been invited to partake in the new bottom-up strategy format Think Tank. The goals of the Think Tank are to identify the needs of the employees, to find and show potential, create a subculture and encourage innovation. The Think Tank meetings are attended by highly motivated employees who want to develop further organizational goals. The investigation illustrates that exchange on an equal basis, voluntary participation and mixed teams form the foundation for planned emergence strategy meetings. The interactions within the groups are characterized by participants having a positive attitude and avoiding negatively connoted behavior. In the strategy meetings, the various organizational members are enabled to join forces and contribute to strategic renewal. Strategic renewal is essential in a volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world. This chapter illustrates how meetings can facilitate strategic renewal through planned emergence.

Strategic renewal requires both a top‐down and bottom‐up effort. Top management sets the broad vision for the firm and specifies the scope and pace of renewal. However, it is the firm's entrepreneur‐managers who shape its renewal strategies and take responsibility for their implementation. This paper aims to profile the skills, personal traits and experiences of successful entrepreneur‐managers.

The paper uses field research.

The paper finds that entrepreneur‐managers are in part corporate entrepreneurs. They are outward‐focused, cognizant of changes in their business environment and the new opportunities that these may bring. They are willing to experiment with new business models and to explore new capabilities. But they are also operating managers interested in scaling up an entrepreneurial idea and in delivering results. They have a few special personality traits. They are not risk averse and are action oriented. They are also supremely self‐confident. These traits allow entrepreneur‐managers to take risks, persist despite failures and learn from their mistakes. However, more than special traits, it is experience that grooms entrepreneur‐managers in a firm. Entrepreneur‐managers are typically not new comers to the organization. Their long tenure helps with networking inside the firm. They also have an established track record of performing well. That buys them the freedom to operate outside the usual confines of the organization and enjoy the trust that is needed to take risks on behalf of the firm.

Like in any field‐based study, the sample size is a limitation. However, for the modest goal that this paper has set for itself, i.e. profiling the entrepreneur‐manager, this is not a severe limitation.

The paper provides a profile for identifying and nurturing entrepreneur‐managers. As it argues, they are the drivers of strategic renewal within the firm.

Prior empirical and theoretical research on intrapreneurship has focused more on creating distinct new corporate ventures. This article suggests that the real power of intrapreneurship is to help connect the future of the firm with its current core businesses. Intrapreneurship is about leverage and build, more so than transform, to use the three types of renewal strategies that are offered in this article.