Fostering Strategic Responsiveness: The Role of Middle Manager Involvement and Strategic Planning*
Adapting to Environmental Challenges: New Research in Strategy and International Business
ISBN: 978-1-83982-477-7, eISBN: 978-1-83982-476-0
Publication date: 21 July 2020
Abstract
Today, long-term success requires firms to sense changes in their environments early and react efficiently to them. Increasing middle managers’ participation in decision-making about market-related and product-related questions has been suggested as one way of enhancing this strategic responsiveness; abandoning formal planning, such as annual budgets, has been another. Yet, empirical evidence on the matter is scarce and conflicting. Drawing on data from Denmark’s 500 largest firms, we show that participation of middle managers in decision-making about new products and markets to serve, in-deed, increases firms’ strategic responsiveness as assessed by a reduction in firms’ downside risk. However, this effect is not a direct one. Nor does it interact positively or negatively with the emphasis put on formal planning as submitted in literature. Our evidence suggests that emphasis on planning mediates the relation between stronger participation of middle managers in decision-making and the increase in firms’ strategic responsiveness. This has implications for ongoing theory building and practice.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
Earlier versions of this chapter were presented at the 2019 European Academy of Management conference in Lisbon, the 2018 European Accounting Association in Milano, and the 2012 Strategic Management Society annual meeting. The survey data underlying the present chapter were part of a larger joint project of the first author with Simon S. Torp. Financial support from Copenhagen Business School and Århus University for data collection is gratefully acknowledged.
Citation
Linder, S. and Sax, J. (2020), "Fostering Strategic Responsiveness: The Role of Middle Manager Involvement and Strategic Planning
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited