Strategic Choice in the Analysis of Action, Structure, Organizations and Environment: Retrospect and Prospect

Child, John

doi:10.1177/017084069701800104

Cited by 890 publications

(649 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…However, the presented findings extend beyond this idea of path dependence to the extent that they emphasize the generative influence that path-dependent organizations may have on their environment. While the extant literature on path dependence and related research predominantly focuses on the reception and enactment of positive feedback from market outcomes, the findings in the present study indicate that pathdependent processes may not only be affected by the environment in which they are embedded (Dobusch and Schüßler 2013;Koch et al 2009); rather, path-dependent organizations may also conversely shape their environment to a certain extent (see also Burgelman 1991;Child 1997). With that, the study indicates that the strategic premises of path-dependent organizations may not only ''self-perpetuate'', as the literature on incumbents' rigidities and path dependence suggests (e.g., Gilbert 2006;Miller 1994;Koch 2011).…”

Section: Producing Market Outcomes: the Generative Influence Of Pathdmentioning

confidence: 57%

Path dependence and the stabilization of strategic premises: how the funeral industry buries itself

Wenzel

2015

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Several studies have shown that path-dependent organizations may pathologically reproduce their paths even in times of crisis. The unchallenged retention of underlying strategic premises seems to play a key role in this self-destructive process. Whereas the previous literature largely assumes that organizational crises provide sufficient impetus for updating strategic premises, recent empirical studies have highlighted that path-dependent organizations may find this highly difficult. In the present study, I explore how path-dependent organizations stabilize strategic premises even in times of crisis. Drawing on a case study of the funeral industry, I theoretically distill four mechanisms that stabilize strategic premises in path-dependent organizations despite the fierce pressures of organizational crises. While these mechanisms constitute either reflexive modes of processing feedback or generative modes of producing market outcomes, they all inhibit a disconfirmation and, thus, an update of strategic premises. Furthermore, the study presents indicative evidence of how this unchallenged retention of strategic premises leads to the pathological reproduction of the path.

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Section: Producing Market Outcomes: the Generative Influence Of Pathdmentioning

confidence: 57%

Path dependence and the stabilization of strategic premises: how the funeral industry buries itself

Wenzel

2015

Bus Res

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“…Consequently, strategic choices about HPWPs are directly affected by an entrepreneur's knowledge and attitudes. Strategic choice refers to the process whereby the entrepreneur decides upon a specific course of action that is to be taken by the firm in response to the (competitive) environment, the available resources and the design of the structure, rules and routines of the organisation (Child 1997;Edwards et al 2006). Indeed, when asked, small firm entrepreneurs commonly indicate that they critically evaluate the introduction and use of HR practices against the situation and needs of their firm (Drummond and Stone 2007).…”

Section: Strategic Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we turn to the notion of strategic choice and the effect of the human capital of the owner on strategic decision-making in small firms (Child 1997). Given that most small firms do not employ a specialist HR professional, decision-making concerning HRM normally rests in the hands of the entrepreneur (Matlay 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High performance work practices in small firms: a resource-poverty and strategic decision-making perspective

2012

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High performance work practices (HPWPs) are human resource management practices aimed at stimulating employee and organisational performance. The application of HPWPs is not widespread in small organisations. We examine whether the implementation of coherent bundles of HPWPs (aimed at employee ability, employee motivation or at the opportunity to perform) depends on the scarcity of resources, as reflected in the size of the company, and on strategic decision-making in small firms related to the owner's expertise and attitudes. In our research, a total of 211 employees from 45 small organisations were asked to rate the presence of HPWPs in their organisation. These averaged perceptions were linked to information provided by the owner-managers on the size of their firm and their own expertise and attitudes. The findings support that smaller but coherent bundles of HPWPs can be found in small organisations and that the implementation of these bundles depends on available resources, strategic decision-making and the combination of the two. These findings highlight the need to integrate the notions of resource poverty and strategic decision-making to understand the uptake of bundles of HPWPs within small firms.Keywords High performance work system Á Entrepreneurial orientation Á Small firms Á Human resource management Á Resource poverty Á Strategic decision making Á Best-practice awareness Á Innovative HR vision

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“…The relatively large influence of firmlevel factors suggests that, given particular corporate attributes, firms are able to choose particular CSP initiatives proactively and strategically. Instead of higher-level environmental forces structuring corporate decisions, there seems to be considerable leeway for economic agency independent of these higher level factors (Child, 1997;Oliver, 1991); otherwise, the firm level would explain only a much smaller proportion of the CSP variance. These results are also consistent with arguments in favor of the alignment of strategy with CSP (Orlitzky et al, 2011;Porter & Kramer, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the Drivers of Corporate Social Performance: A Multilevel, Multistakeholder, and Multimethod Analysis

et al. 2015

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The question of what drives corporate social performance (CSP) has become a vital concern for many managers and researchers of large corporations. This study addresses this question by adopting a multilevel, multistakeholder, and multimethod approach to theorize and estimate the relative influence of macro (national business system and country), meso (industry), and micro (firm-level) factors on CSP. Applying three different methods of variance decomposition analysis to an international sample of 2,060 large public companies over a time span of 5 years, our results show that firm-level factors explain the largest proportion of variance in aggregate CSP as well as CSP oriented toward communities, the natural environment, and employees. These results support our hypotheses according to which CSP is not primarily driven by macrolevel or mesolevel factors, except for shareholderoriented CSP, which is relatively more influenced by country-level factors. As a whole, our findings also point to the value of subdividing CSP into its stakeholder-specific components as this disaggregation allows for a more careful examination of distinct drivers of distinct aspects of CSP.Keywords: Corporate social performance; corporate social responsibility; decomposition of variance; hierarchical linear modeling; stakeholders; variance components analysis.Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance; CSP = corporate social performance; HLM = hierarchical linear modeling; MLE = maximum likelihood estimation; NBS = national business system; REMLE = restricted maximum likelihood estimation; VCA = variance components analysis.Unpacking 2

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Strategic Choice in the Analysis of Action, Structure, Organizations and Environment: Retrospect and Prospect

Cited by 890 publications

References 32 publications

Path dependence and the stabilization of strategic premises: how the funeral industry buries itself

Path dependence and the stabilization of strategic premises: how the funeral industry buries itself

High performance work practices in small firms: a resource-poverty and strategic decision-making perspective

Unpacking the Drivers of Corporate Social Performance: A Multilevel, Multistakeholder, and Multimethod Analysis

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