Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The overall objective of this research was to develop a clearer and more realistic understanding of the complexity of the relationship between the strategy development process and organisational context. It sought to: explore differences and similarities in the processes of strategy development within and between organisations and industry sectors; relate particular configurations of strategy development process to organisational contextual variables based on industry, organisation, managerial level, level of involvement and performance. Data were collected through two large-scale postal surveys within the UK, targeting senior managers in both public and private sector organisations.

Main Topics:

The principal entity under investigation was the process of strategy development in both public and private sector organisations. In addition, contextual factors were assessed. The strategy development process was operationalised through a six-dimensional framework reflecting: the planning dimension; the incremental dimension; the cultural dimension; the political dimension; the command dimension; and the enforced choice dimension. Contextual factors related to: nature of the operating environment; nature of the organisation (e.g. size, industry sector); organisational performance; managerial variables (e.g. length of tenure, functional area, participation in strategy development process).

Volunteer sample

Postal survey

Self-completion