Finally, taking into account the results obtained in this empirical research, both in terms of how strategies are actually formed in the companies analyzed in this study, and in terms of the empirical testing of the new model of the strategic process (see: Entry 40 and Entry 41) proposed in this doctoral dissertation (Roch, 2020), the concepts and assumptions underlying this new model can be considered valid, among which the following are worth mentioning:
– There is no optimal form of strategic process or optimal combination of strategic processes for all organizations. For each organization, at any given moment, there will be a type or a combination of types of strategic processes that best fit the internal characteristics of the company and the environment in which it is immersed.
– Strategies need not be formed solely as a consequence of the development of homogeneous or pure types of strategic processes (purely deliberate processes or purely emergent processes). In fact, in most cases strategies are generated from processes that change their typology over time. For example, a strategy may initially arise in an emergent form and continue to develop later in a deliberate form, or vice versa, or in any other form.
– Strategies do not always have to be generated from actions carried out by a central authority, the company’s management. Sometimes strategies arise and/or are developed as a consequence of actions carried out by people in other functions and at other hierarchical levels (middle managers, employees, etc.).
– Strategies, in short, can arise anywhere in the organization and develop in many different ways, through any sequence of deliberate and/or emergent actions.
– Emergent strategic actions can be of three types, depending on who the protagonists are:
- ‘Top-down’ emergent actions, when the protagonists are the company’s top management.
- ‘Bottom-up’ emergent actions, when the protagonists are people at lower hierarchical levels than the company’s top management (employees, line managers, etc.).
- ‘Democratic’ type or ‘Joint’ emergent actions (top + bottom), when the protagonists are the top managers together with people at lower hierarchical levels.
It is important to note that ‘democratic’ type emergent actions had not been contemplated to date in this field of study. This unique type of actions, which does not adhere to the traditional classification that differentiates between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ emergent actions, has been considered and defined for the first time in the new model of the strategic process (see: Entry 40 and Entry 41) proposed in this doctoral dissertation (Roch, 2020), and its existence has been confirmed for the first time in the empirical research carried out in this thesis.
– Although the emergent strategic processes or the sequences of strategic actions of a markedly emergent character (initially or totally emergent) arise and develop without having been encouraged by the company’s management, there is no doubt that the conscious encouragement of this type of processes or sequences (through a great openness to interact with the environment, a good receptivity to changes and unexpected events, a participative management style, an open and tolerant organizational culture, etc.) will increase the probability of their occurrence, increasing as a consequence the generation of new strategic ideas, new strategies and new strategic learning.
– It is important not to confuse the obligation of the company’s management to define, establish, encourage or promote those strategic processes it considers most appropriate for its organization at any given time, with the fact that some or many of the strategies finally realized in the company have been developed outside those processes and even in totally unexpected and unusual ways. Management must be concerned with the strategic processes of the company, being aware of the great diversity of forms that these may take, and therefore being open to those actions, sequences or processes that arise and develop outside what is established, encouraged or expected.
NOTE: A preliminary and reduced version of the results of this empirical research can be found by clicking on the following document (in Spanish language):
Roch, C. J. (2016). El proceso estratégico en empresas de base tecnológica de internacionalización acelerada (The strategic process in technology-based firms with accelerated internationalization). Madri+d Collection. Madri+d foundation for knowledge, Madrid. NEBTS 4, pp. 95-134. Link to access the complete publication through the website of Fundación madri+d: http://www.madrimasd.org/uploads/informacionidi/biblioteca/publicacion/doc/nebts4.pdf.
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.
