In addition to the mainstream content research, there is a small and eclectic group of empirical studies that have taken a dynamic view o f the content o f strategy while pursuing wider research issues. Notably, these studies have used methodological approaches that attempt to maintain a dynamic perspective. We will review four studies that take a multi-level view
The prime thrust of Miller and Friesen’s (1984) quantum view is on organisational
and strategic configurations However, this study is augmented by their ‘transition survey’. This survey aims to identify common evolutionary patterns or sequences that characterise periods of change (which they refer to as transition periods). While this view is similar to the punctuated equilibrium model o f change, Miller and Friesen (1984) concentrate on the transition periods during which continuous and major change is apparent.
Given the study’s goal o f identifying generalisable types of organisational adaptation (ibid) a longitudinal methodology that incorporated a broad sample of firms was required. Miller and Friesen (1984) suggest that the ‘only manageable way to do this’ was through the use o f ‘detailed published organisational histories in the form of books’. Histories were compiled for 36 firms covering a 20-year period and, from these, transition periods were identified The reliability o f the histories obtained was checked using questionnaires sent to the chief executives of 12 of the firms
Twenty-four variables were coded at the beginning and end o f each transition period and a ‘transition score’ for each variable obtained by taking the difference in each case Six significant transition archetypes were then identified using a cluster analysis of the scores.
Miller and Friesen’s (1984) study is mainly concerned with organisational variables, e g centralisation and delegation, and strategy making However a few of the variables relate to strategy content, e g differentiation and product-market innovation, and it is implied that during transition periods strategy content is in a state o f flux
The transition survey has several strengths In particular it utilises an effective and, at the time novel way o f investigating large samples of firms over long time periods. However, it also has a number of weaknesses The reliance on books to create organisational histories restricts the number o f firms that can be studied and it limits the accuracy of the timing o f change events to, at best, the year in which they occurred. A further weakness is the use of difference scores to characterise transition periods. In effect having carefully collected data over a continuous time period, the temporal component o f this data is removed by the coding and scoring process
Smith, Grimm and colleagues (Grimm and Smith 1997, Smith et al 1989,1991 and 1992) conducted a series of six investigations that take a dynamic view of strategy content. These studies are based on an action-reaction model developed by action theorists (Parson 1937/Grimm and Smith 1997)
Chapter 2 - Toward a Dynamic View o f the Content o f Strategy
This model holds that strategic actions taken by a firm to improve or defend its competitive position are countered by reactions by competitors Any competitive advantage gained is temporary and dependent on the time taken for competitors to respond (Smith et al 1992). Speed of response is linked to an organisation’s ability to learn and a set of organisational variables: external orientation, structural complexity, organisational slack and management experience (ibid). Later work (Smith et al 1997) adopts a resource-based view, linking speed of response to tangible and intangible firm resources.
O f the six studies, five targeted individual industries while the sixth investigated pairs of industry leaders and challengers in 41 industries Methodologies varied between the studies Two were based on field interviews and questionnaires In the other four investigations archival studies of industry publications and/or national newspapers were utilised. Key word searches were used to identify responses, which were then linked to an initial action (Smith et al 1992).
Regression and correlation analyses related firm performance to average response time and firm order of response, and linked speed o f response to organisational variables.
The approach taken by Smith and Grimm suggests a highly dynamic view of strategy content. In addition, it links industry level patterns of strategy content to firm level factors that explain the phenomena observed. While this must be applauded, there are a number of concerns.
Firstly, the data is analysed by calculating average response times for a firm across the study period (7 to 15 years) Hence, any variation occurring in firm responsiveness or organisational change over this period will be hidden Secondly, it was not possible to check for agreement between the two approaches as different industries were targeted by different methodologies The nature of the secondary data used in the archival study suggests that such a check would have been valuable
Meyer, Goes and Brooks (1993) adopt a similar methodology to that used by Miller
and Friesen and Smith and Grimm to investigate strategic change in US hospitals. The central thrust o f their argument is that hyper-turbulence at the environment level will result in continuous change at the organisational level However, survival during hyper-turbulence is possible if firms are able ‘to adopt radically new strategies’ (ibid).
‘Highly detailed time lines’ or event histories were created for a number o f strategic dimensions and environmental factors These time series were generated from published information including ‘hundreds o f newspaper articles’ (ibid). Having generated a highly temporal data set, Meyer et al (1993) interrogate the data using a factor analysis based on counts o f change types They then show graphically how their strategic dimensions, e g service differentiation and low margin defence, vary continuously over time and in step with environmental changes The patterns observed are corroborated using primary data obtained from questionnaires and structured interviews.
This study is widely praised for the insights it provides into the nature of change in hyper-turbulent environments (e g Huber and Van de Yen 1995) The work takes a
Chapter 2 - Toward a Dynamic View o f the Content o f Strategy
highly dynamic view of strategy content and utilises a research methodology that provides temporal data In addition, the study takes a multi-level view o f strategic change integrating organisational level and industry level variation.
However, a weakness is apparent in Meyer et al’s (1993) use of factor analysis. By basing this analysis on counts o f change types, the approach removes the temporal component of the data In addition, while the study does take a multi-level approach, it does not attempt to uncover the behaviour or internal dynamics of individual firms.
Research which takes a multi-level approach and relates strategy content to the internal dynamics o f the firm is provided by Pettigrew and colleagues’ investigation
of managing change for competitive success (Pettigrew and Whipp 1991, Pettigrew et al 1989) They suggest that strategy content is never static, but the result of the constantly changing interplay between management’s intentions and contextual forces, both from inside the firm and from the external environment
Pettigrew and Whipp (1991) show that firm performance is related to management’s ability to recognise change in the environment and mobilise the appropriate resources. They demonstrate the influence of various organisational factors on successfully implementing strategic change
Unlike the other empirical work that takes a dynamic view, a purely descriptive methodology is adopted Seven comparative case studies o f high and low performing firms from four UK industries are undertaken. Over 350 semi-structured interviews were conducted with personnel from the seven firms and other industry experts. A
range of documentary data from within the firms and secondary published material supplemented the interview data.
This study clearly demonstrates the advantages of a descriptive, case study based methodology for the study of change. The approach allows the temporal element of the phenomena observed to be maintained during analysis The method also provides a rich level of information regarding the internal dynamics of each organisation, and as a result of the comparative approach taken and o f the coverage of four industries provides generalisable lessons for the management of change.
The descriptive approach, however, is also the study’s main weakness. The level of access to firms required and the amount o f researcher time entailed restricts the number of organisations that can be studied Consequently, polar types, e g a high performing firm and a low performing firm, are selected to highlight variations in significant factors This approach cannot delineate patterns of variation across an industry.
Summary
This section has described a small group o f empirical studies that addressed the issue of strategy content as part of wider studies. The four studies demonstrated that the content of a firm’s strategy is constantly changing in response to turbulence in the external environment and to the interplay between management’s intentions and the internal context o f the firm These studies also take a multi-level perspective in addressing strategy content at the firm, industry and macro-environment level.
Chapter 2 - Toward a Dynamic View o f the Content o f Strategy
Each of the studies utilises a longitudinal approach that allows the tracking o f strategic change over time. However, the analytical approaches taken by Miller and Friesen (1984), Grimm and Smith (1997) and Meyer et al (1993) aggregate the data collected across time and across the industry. Such averaging obscures variations during the study period and across the sample group. Consequently, cross industry patterns of strategy content are missed.
The comparative case study approach adopted by Pettigrew and colleagues also fails to detect cross industry patterns of variation in strategy content. The use of polar types reveals differences between extremes within an industry but is insufficient to reveal the patterns these differences form across that industry.
The homogeneity of strategy content implied by work on strategic groups suggests that changes in content will be mirrored across a number of firms. However, polar type case studies cannot explore issues such as how the adoption of common strategies might vary across an industry group.