Emerging trends around strategic flexibility: a systematic review supported by bibliometric techniques
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Dr.. Riikka M. Sarala, Professor of International Business (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: Purpose Strategic flexibility (SF) has become increasingly important for firms because of the fastchanges in the external environment. In line with the practical importance of SF, an emergingresearch field has developed around it that has attempted to understand the nature of SF and thekey relationships. The aim of this study is to unveil the semantic structure of the recent literatureon SF and to suggest new promising areas for future research.Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a systematic literature review with abibliographic analysis technique, which allows authors to identify the main recent streams in theliterature, as well as offer reflections and suggestions for future research.Findings The authors uncover three main emerging areas in the research on SF, namely SF as adynamic capability, the role of knowledge management for SF and the relationship between a firmSF and the external environment. The authors put forward three avenues for future research on SF:Avenue 1. SF, business model innovation (BMI) and other dynamic capabilities (DC), Avenue 2.Digital technologies and SF/organizational agility and Avenue 3. SF and sustainability. Articlesincluded in the special issue entitled “A strategic perspective on flexibility, agility and adaptabilityin the digital era” contribute to Avenue 2, thus paving the way for filling some of the identifiedgaps regarding the relationship between SF and digitalization.Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review on SF thatuses a bibliometric approach to draw conclusions on the findings in the literature. The reviewcontributes to the theoretical understanding of SF by illustrating and explicating core topics thathave persisted over time, as well as by presenting three main avenues for further developingauthors’ knowledge around SF.
Emerging trends around strategic flexibility: a systematic review supported by bibliometric techniques
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Created on 1/24/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Management Decision
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- flexibility, strategy, literature review