Title: Strategic fitness: an exploratory conceptualisation

Authors: Ellen R. Auster, Elizabeth Sullivan, Patricia Meredith

Addresses: Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M2P 1Z3, Canada. ' BMO Bank of Montreal, 55 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M4W 3N5, Canada. ' Monitor Group, 100 Simcoe Street, Toronto, ON M5H 3G2, Canada

Abstract: Our conceptualisation of strategic fitness updates the concept of strategic fit by drawing on disparate theoretical streams to deepen our understanding of the process dynamics underlying the relationship between the external context, strategy, change agents, capabilities and performance. We suggest that strategic fitness is the continuous process of value creation for diverse stakeholders as change leaders throughout the organisation engage in the evolution of resources, routines and capabilities in the face of enacted, far-from-equilibrium contexts.

Keywords: strategic fit; strategic fitness; capabilities; routines; meta-capabilities; stakeholder views; complexity; far–from-equilibrium; RBV; resource based view; strategic change; inter-capability evolution; intra-capability evolution; external context; strategy; change agents; firm performance; value creation; organisational change; change management; strategic management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2011.041826

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2011 Vol.3 No.3, pp.188 - 210

Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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