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This study analyzes strategic flexibility with a two-dimensional approach (structural and decisional flexibility). It also investigates the relationships among competitive strategy, structural flexibility, decisional flexibility, and financial and nonfinancial performance.

The authors collected data from members of 16 chambers of commerce in the United States and used PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modeling) to test the hypotheses.

The findings suggest that strategic flexibility impacts financial and nonfinancial performance in different ways. While financial performance is influenced by both the structural and decisional dimensions of strategic flexibility, nonfinancial performance is impacted only by structural flexibility. In addition, the research indicates a negative relationship between cost leadership and structural flexibility and positions structural flexibility as a mediator between cost-leadership and nonfinancial performance.

The authors contribute to strategic flexibility research in the following ways: (1) analyzed the impact on nonfinancial performance; (2) examined structural and decisional elements and (3) identified cost leadership as a potential barrier.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of strategic flexibility on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance, and how such effects are mediated by business model innovation (BMI).

Data was collected in the form of surveys from 200 SMEs located in Saudi Arabia. The collected data were analyzed with structural equation modeling using Amos 23.

The results highlighted that strategic flexibility has a direct and significant influence on SME performance. Moreover, BMI partially mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility and SME performance.

The findings of this study suggest that managers should be made aware that strategic flexibility can be an important driver for BMI which in turn would enhance SME performance. This study argues that the perks of strategic flexibility are irrespective of firm size. Furthermore, BMI can help improve the performance of SMEs by unlocking new opportunities for value creation and value capture

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is one of the first to test the relationship between strategic flexibility and SME performance through BMI.

Drawing upon a dynamic managerial capabilities perspective, this study aims to unpack how and when chief experience officer (CEO) transformational leadership influences firm innovation. Specifically, a moderated mediation model linking CEO transformational leadership to firm innovation, which includes strategic flexibility as a mediator and top management team (TMT) knowledge diversity as a moderator, is theorized and empirically tested.

The authors conducted a survey of 354 TMT members and 62 CEOs from 62 firms in China’s construction industry to explore these relationships. Path analysis using Mplus 7.4 was undertaken to test our proposed moderated mediation model.

The results revealed that strategic flexibility mediates the positive relationship between CEO transformational leadership and firm innovation. Additionally, TMT knowledge diversity positively moderates the relationship between CEO transformational leadership and strategic flexibility.

Taken together, these findings help advance and deepen our understanding of the mechanisms through which CEO transformational leadership influences firm innovation and boundary conditions under which CEO transformational leadership influences strategic flexibility. At the same time, this study also contributes to the literature on strategic flexibility and the CEO-TMT interface by revealing the interactive effect of CEO transformational leadership and TMT knowledge diversity on strategic flexibility.

Although the positive influence of CEO transformational leadership on firm innovation has been widely recognized, the specific mechanisms underlying this effect have yet to be fully theorized. This study proposes and tests a nuanced theoretical framework linking CEO transformational leadership to firm innovation via a firm’s strategic flexibility. It also argues that TMT knowledge diversity enhances the indirect effect of CEO transformational leadership on firm innovation through strategic flexibility; that is, this indirect effect is significant when TMT diversity is high, but not when TMT diversity is low.

This study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (ESMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. It also examines whether these ESMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISAs on international marketing capability.

Based on the international alliance and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility, the authors develop a conceptual model and empirically examine the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISAs, international marketing capability, export performance and adoption of digital technology. The authors collected survey data from 129 ESMEs located in Pakistan between May 2021 and August 2021 and tested the conceptual model with hierarchical-moderated regression analysis.

The findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISAs positively impacts on export performance of ESMEs in crises. Moreover, the authors found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs and export performance of ESMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs positively and international marketing capability.

The authors take strategic flexibility of ISAs in the context of the emerging market and how ESMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior ESMEs’ international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. In particular, the authors show that strategic flexibility of ISAs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of ESMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.

Strategic flexibility is a widely discussed concept. Yet discussions remained of qualitative nature or addressed only specific aspects quantitatively underlying the concept. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model identifying key factors determining strategic flexibility. Once quantified, the model provides firms a profile of each strategic option towards the company vision.

The paper reviews existing and synthesises prior contributions into a conceptual model of strategic flexibility. Based on semi-structured interviews and value mapping, the model is applied using three case studies from the automotive industry.

A total of three main findings were made. First, the concept of strategic flexibility has a simple logic that aligns itself to a variety of automotive companies and visions. However, underlying this remit is an interplay of variables. Previous studies remain fragmented and have only addressed a subset of variables. Second, these variables can be grouped into three dimensions of strategic flexibility – product, process and customer – to convey a holistic understanding of strategic flexibility and its key determinants. Third, due to the uncertainty and complexity involved, depending on the firm and industry characteristics, there cannot be a one-fits-all configuration of the strategic flexibility conceptualisation.

A variety of variables requires consideration to offer a balanced view of all three dimensions of strategic flexibility. Hence, the case studies remain at a necessarily high level.

The paper offers guidance for management on how to align their firm strategy to product and process contingency factors to satisfy customer needs in line with their company vision.

The paper aims to elevate a discussion that previously remained fragmented and mainly descriptive.

The purpose of this study is to introduce strategic flexibility as an important dynamic capability into the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) and explore its mediating role between network-building HR practices for top management team (TMT) and firm performance. Moreover, based on the context of transition economy in China, the authors examine environmental uncertainty as a moderator in these relationships and empirically test the questions above.

The authors have conducted questionnaire surveys on 780 top managers in 390 companies mainly located in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and finally received 241 valid samples.

The results show that network-building HR practices have positive effects on firm performance and strategic flexibility plays a fully mediating role between them. In addition, environmental uncertainty moderates the relationship between network-building HR practices for TMT and strategic flexibility, while it has no moderating effect in the relationship between strategic flexibility and firm performance.

These conclusions have important implications for the development and application of SHRM in dynamic environments. Theoretically, the authors enrich the functions of network-building HR practices for TMT and provide the evidence to advocate the development of the innovative HR practices in China. In terms of the practical implications of the study, it is argued that network-building HR practices for TMT and strategic flexibility can help firms to deal with uncertainty and achieve high performance, which provides constructive guidance in the development of enterprises in the China's transition economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between unlearning and strategic flexibility from the down-up change perspective.

Drawing on the routine-updating process, this study builds a theoretical model and examines it using survey data from 233 firms in China.

Unlearning is the enabler to strategic flexibility. Specifically, individual unlearning and organizational unlearning both have positive effects on strategic flexibility. Organizational unlearning exerts a partly mediating effect on the relationship between individual unlearning and strategic flexibility.

The paper examines the different mechanisms of individual and organizational unlearning on strategic flexibility and suggests that unlearning is a useful method or approach for strategic flexibility. In addition, this study is useful to help managers or practitioners determine how to embrace strategic flexibility by unlearning.

The paper aims to study the effect of external managerial social networks on strategic flexibility for a quality management (QM) perspective. External social networks can affect strategic flexibility positively. QM also contributes to developing these networks. However, there is currently a wide variety of alternatives for managing quality in organizations, such as ISO standards or the European Foundation for Quality Management model. Thus, different alternatives will influence the external social networks differently in ways that have repercussions for strategic flexibility. Testing these differences is the main purpose of this paper.

A total of 203 valid responses were classified in three groups: non‐QM, ISO, and total quality management (TQM) firms. Then, a comparative ANOVA analysis was performed to test differences among groups. Finally, different regressions were run to test the effects of external social networks (range, size and strength) on strategic flexibility depending of the observed group.

Paper results show that, depending on which QM initiative is implemented in the organization, the effects of external managerial networks on strategic flexibility vary. Thus, in organizations without QM, the range of external social networks influences strategic flexibility negatively, whereas in organizations with ISO standards, this negative effect disappears. In organizations with TQM, the paper finds the positive effect of both size and strength of relations in the networks.

The paper facilitates how to differentiate QM alternatives depending on their observed behavior.

A new perspective (QM) is observed to test how managerial networks affect strategic flexibility.

The rising uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment exacerbate the challenges firms face in the export market. This study aims to explore which strategy is suitable for export enterprises to develop sustainably under COVID-19.

Based on the sample data of China’s A-stock listed manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2020, this study applies a survival analysis method to explore the impact of strategic flexibility on export firm survival. Furthermore, this study uses the difference-in-difference model to test the relationship between strategic flexibility and firms’ profits in the context of the pandemic.

The results show that strategic flexibility can increase firms’ survival time, improving dynamic production and innovation capabilities, which is favorable for their sustainable development. Meanwhile, after the spread of COVID-19, firms with strategic flexibility have higher profits than those without. This influence mechanism mainly involves exploring new markets that can improve the company revenue and the coordination capabilities of the supply chain; this reduces corporate costs.

This study expands relevant research on the factors affecting the survival of export enterprises and supplements research on the economic consequences of firms’ strategic flexibility; this also enriches the dynamic capability theory. Additionally, it provides important implications for firms to enhance strategic flexibility and recommends government implementation of policies that encourage the domestic sales of commodities originally produced for exports under COVID-19.

This paper aims to examine how the characteristics of CEOs' social networks, such as the size of the network and the strength of the ties, influence strategic flexibility from a strategic orientation perspective. External social networks can affect strategic flexibility positively. Different orientations could have repercussions for the relationship between external social networks and strategic flexibility.

The data came from surveys completed by the managers of 188 Spanish firms. The methodology used was regression analysis.

The authors observe that external social networks affect strategic flexibility positively, more strongly when the networks are greater in size. The sample was classified into three groups: conservative, intermediate and entrepreneurship firms. The authors find that other effects vary according to the kind of strategic orientation in the organization. Both findings support and extend social capital and network theory and flexibility literature.

The interviews were held with Spanish CEOs, and the character of the research was cross‐sectional. This could have implications for the generalizability of the findings.

The authors' results extend previous research not only by highlighting the importance of CEOs' social networks in driving strategic flexibility but also by indicating how different strategic orientations either enhance or inhibit this relationship.