Title: How does strategic flexibility pay off in terms of financial performance?

Authors: Mohamed Laid Ouakouak; Oussama Ammar

Addresses: College of Business Administration, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Block 5, Building 1, Mubarak Al-Abdullah Area/West Mishref, Office N1-216, 32093, Kuwait ' Univ Lille Nord de France, F-59000 Lille, France; Skema Business School – US Campus, 920 Main Campus Drive, Venture II, Suite 101 Raleigh, NC 27606, USA

Abstract: Strategic flexibility refers to a firm's proactive capability to respond quickly to changing competitive conditions. In strategic management literature, few issues achieve as much apparent consensus as the importance of strategic flexibility for competitive advantages, and substantial research considers how strategic flexibility contributes to firm performance. Yet empirical findings often are incongruent, without coherent explanations that can advance common understanding of the related phenomena, likely due to the vast variety of theoretical approaches adopted and broad array of explanatory variables employed. Although many authors argue that strategic planning processes are excessively rigid, the current study seeks to examine flexibility within this process, to determine its effect on firm performance and the potential moderating role of environment dynamism. The results of a quantitative study reveal that strategic flexibility enhances financial performance, regardless of the degree of environmental dynamism or company size.

Keywords: strategic flexibility; environmental dynamism; firm size; financial performance; firm performance; strategic planning; strategic management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2015.072241

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2015 Vol.16 No.4, pp.442 - 456

Received: 30 Jun 2014
Accepted: 16 Jan 2015
Published online: 06 Oct 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article