Burgelman (1980) proposes a type of ‘bottom-up’ emergent strategic process, based on the organizational learning process that occurs from the emergence and development of strategic initiatives at the lower or middle levels of the organization, which are driven by people at higher hierarchical levels (champions) in order to convince top management of their desirability. Over time, some of these initiatives may come to influence corporate strategy.
Although these internal initiatives may produce certain strategic moves, they cannot by themselves produce realized strategies that lead to consistency in action unless they are incorporated by top management into the formal planning system or, more generally, into the deliberate strategy creation process.
A fundamental aspect of this model is that it is based on a resource allocation process in which ‘bottom-up’ strategic initiatives compete for the limited resources of the organization. As a consequence of this iterative resource allocation process, there is incremental and continuous learning on the part of top management, which changes their beliefs regarding new initiatives, even influencing the refinement or change of corporate strategy.
According to Noda and Bower (1996), the strategic process promulgated by this model essentially consists of the following sub-processes: Development of strategic initiatives by line staff, who have in-depth knowledge of the technology and are very close to the market –> Socio-political process of bottom-up convincing: advocacy of these initiatives by their originators, and adoption and transmission of them by middle managers (champions) who try to convince top managers of their appropriateness –> Influence of some of these initiatives on the refinement or change of corporate strategy.
The following assumptions have been made in order to describe and represent this strategic process using the ‘Empirical Model’ (see table and figure below):
– The strategic process is deployed on the basis of the emergence and development of three internal strategic initiatives.
– The internal strategic initiatives that emerge first and third are rejected by top management, and the second initiative is accepted and implemented by top management.
Table. Description of the strategic process enacted by the ‘Internal strategic initiatives’ model
Figure. Representation of the strategic process enacted by the ‘Internal strategic initiatives’ model (See Note)
Note: Due to space limitations, no descriptive text has been included within the rectangles or boxes reflecting the actions developed in this strategic process. Only the number of each action, whose detailed description is shown in the table above, has been included.
Source: Roch (2024).
NOTE: In the book “The strategic process of the firm: Theory and cases” (Roch, 2024) there are more case studies than those included in this blog.
If you are interested in going deeper into the strategic process, allow me to recommend you: - Book: "The strategic process of the firm: Theory and cases" (Roch, 2024). - Courses and consulting program on the strategic process.
