Strategic Flexibility: The Evolving Paradigm of Strategic Management

Abstract

As the dynamics and turbulence in the environment kept on rising, the traditional strategic management paradigms were not found sufficient to cope with the growing uncertainty. And then the paradigm of ‘strategic flexibility’ came to the forefront of industrial practice, which synthesized the strengths of most of the previous theories of strategic management in a novel way to fill the gaps. It connotes the type of flexibility that caters to both the high variety and high speed. The strategic flexibility can be defined as the proactive as well as reactive strategic moves for change, both internally and externally, by leveraging the vital and desirable aspects of the continuity of the organization in terms of core values, culture, core competence, brand, and its strategic positioning. Strategic flexibility also acts as a predictor of vitality and sustainability of the enterprise. It not only acts as a driver of financial performance, but also contributes to long-term survival (continuity) and growth (change) of any enterprise. Strategic flexibility is placed at a higher level of flexibility maturity, both for the organization and the ecosystem. To sum up, it can be contemplated that the rigid frameworks of strategy formulation (rooted into a generic competitive advantage) are giving place to dynamic and flexible frameworks of strategy formulation and execution.