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The Effects of Context on Strategic Decision Making Processes and Outcomes

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Strategic Decisions

Abstract

This chapter summarizes a 5-year, longitudinal field study of strategic decision making (SDM) which examined the effects of context on the processes of SDM and how these processes then affect the outcome of the strategic initiatives. We posited that SDM occurs within “contexts”: the business environment, the characteristics of the organization, the SDM team, and the content of the strategic decision (SD). We identified three separate processes by which managers make SDs: procedurally rational, political, and flexible methods. We tested antecedent models for each approach and examined how the approaches affect SD outcomes. Controlling for implementation quality and environmental favorability, we found that the use of procedurally rational methods improves the outcomes of SDs, the use of political methods inhibits these same outcomes, and flexible methods were not related to decision outcome.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Oklahoma, USA

    Mark P. Sharfman

  2. University of Cincinnati, USA

    James W. Dean Jr.

Authors
  1. Mark P. Sharfman
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  2. James W. Dean Jr.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. London Business School, UK

    Vassilis Papadakis  & Patrick Barwise  & 

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Sharfman, M.P., Dean, J.W. (1997). The Effects of Context on Strategic Decision Making Processes and Outcomes. In: Papadakis, V., Barwise, P. (eds) Strategic Decisions. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6195-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6195-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7840-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-6195-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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