Assessment of strategy formulation: how to ensure quality in process and outcome

In pursuit of information: evaluating strategic plans

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose a measuring system based on the information flow to carry out a more precise assessment of strategic plans.

Design/methodology/approach

An action research method is used with system dynamics. The indicators obtained from the strategic plans were assessed through information records.

Findings

The output of this study is a dynamic model which is produced by the workflows and processes in which decision-makers can apply experiments. By this means, it can be used as a measuring system based on information flows produced within the organization.

Practical implications

The first practical implication is that it can be possible to measure how much of the current workflows matched the strategic goals. Second, it can be possible to measure how much the budget allocated to the strategic plans corresponds to the amount of the total works. Third, it gets ability to managers to provide the opportunity to carry out experiments through the designed model.

Originality/value

As it uses information flows as measuring variable, this study is one of the novel approaches in strategy measurement systems. It also promises high efficiency and effectiveness because the assessment of goals and actions in strategic plans are sources of information which shed a light on the future strategic options to the decision-makers of the organizations.

High performance work practices, organizational performance and strategic thinking

Purpose

Drawing on a number of strategic management theories, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between strategic thinking (in other words, systems perspective, focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and hypothesis-driven analysis) and organizational performance. It also investigates whether the notion and content of high performance work practices, as identified in developed countries, can be used to amplify the effects of strategic thinking within the banking industry in a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing cross-sectional data obtained from commercial banks in Jordan, this paper applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the banking sector in a developing country. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires.

Findings

According to the results, focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and hypothesis-driven analysis have positive impacts on organizational performance, except when considered from the systems perspective. Consequently, high performance work practices were found to only moderate the relationship between focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and organizational performance.

Originality/value

The authors examined the impact of strategic thinking on the organizational performance through the moderation role of high performance work practices. The results of this paper extend the existing literature by providing evidence from Jordan, a developing country outside of the western world.

Investigating the Impact of Using Knowledge Management on Organisational Agility through Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Thinking

Agility is a necessary condition, which is known as the main factor for the success of corporations to compete. In this sense, organisations have to determine their strategic priorities and accordingly develop and implement appropriate strategies in order to preserve their growth and survival. Meanwhile, managers play an important role in the process of strategic planning and making decisions related to their way of thinking. In addition, the existence of competitive intelligence plan for organisations has a striking role to optimally use the existing opportunities and using knowledge management (KM) in the organisation provides a platform to do so. This work aims to study the impact of using knowledge management on organisational agility as a case study in the ceramic and tile industry of the provinces of Yazd and Kerman. The data was collected using questionnaires. The structural equation modelling was used to analyse the research hypotheses using LISREL software. The results of the study showed that knowledge management application has a positive and significant effect on agility through using competitive intelligence and strategic thinking.

The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations

Purpose

– The adoption of lean operational practices and independently the uptake of business practices related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility continues to grow. Past research has hinted at relationships between these two areas – suggesting that “lean is green” (e.g. Florida, 1996). The lean mantra of waste reduction and “doing more with less” is immediately apparent as delivering environmental benefits and has formed the basis of past research (e.g. Hughes, 2012). Almost all research linking lean operations or lean supply chains to sustainability issues have focused exclusively on environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to explore the broader sustainability benefits of lean operations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper uses a longitudinal multi-year (up to four years observation), multi-case analysis (n=5).

Findings

– The paper reports that lean operations meet a wide range of sustainability outcomes beyond environmental benefits (including supply monitoring, transparency, workforce treatment, and community engagement). The paper specifies the internal and external policies, procedures, tools, and strategies for implementation of lean and sustainable operations management (OM). This is encapsulated in the development of a stage-based theoretical model of lean-sustainability. Further, it is proposed that lean implementation and sustainability performance are in fact interlinked.

Originality/value

– Past research on the role of lean operations in improving sustainably has focused almost exclusively on environmental benefits accruing from toolkit/workplace level waste reduction. This paper demonstrates that lean provides more than a toolkit (a philosophy and strategic direction) and that this meets a wide range of sustainable outcomes. This finding makes major contributions to conceptualising how lean operations influence sustainability outcomes. The paper develops the first integrative stage-based model of lean and sustainable OM.

Analysis of BSC perspectives as related to the alignment of environmental uncertainty and supply chain strategy

Purpose

– Selecting the right supply chain (SC) strategy which is aligned with environmental uncertainty will definitely improve SC performance. Lee (2002) proposed a framework to consider the impact of alignment between SC strategy and environmental uncertainty and its impact on SC performance. The purpose of this paper is to apply this framework in Iran and extend it using balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

– A research survey was completed to consider the aim of this research. A total of 124 questionnaires were returned.

Findings

– The alignment between SC strategy and environmental uncertainty and its positive impact on SC performance has been proven (except for risk-hedging strategy). Efficient strategy enhances all the four BSC perspectives, while agile strategy only improves learning and growth perspective.

Originality/value

– This research extends the work of Lee (2002) and Sun et al. (2009) by emphasizing the impact of SC strategy on each of the four perspectives of BSC.