Strategic agility and related constructs
| Construct | Definitional emphasis | Temporal orientation | Unit of analysis | Distinctive contribution vs. Strategic agility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organizational Flexibility | Adaptability of structures, processes, and resource configurations to shifting conditions (Volberda, 1996) | Short- to medium-term; adjustments are often incremental or structural | Functional units, structural arrangements, organizational subsystems | Explains looseness of arrangements but lacks integration of sensing, leadership, and resource redeployment across multiple phases of an error process |
| Resilience | Capacity to withstand shocks, absorb disruption, and return to functioning (Williams et al., 2017) | Event-triggered; focuses on recovery trajectory after disruption | Whole-organization outcomes and endurance | Focuses on post-event recovery outcomes; does not specify how coordinated capabilities support unfolding responses in real time |
| Crisis Management | Planned interventions and protocols to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to crises (Bundy et al., 2017) | Episodic; centered on crisis onset, escalation, and termination | Organizational practices, procedures, and specialized teams | Provides ex-ante planning and ex-post mitigation but not continuous orchestration of interdependent capabilities under reputational pressure |
| Organizational Learning | Knowledge acquisition, interpretation, and retention for long-term improvement (Argote, 2013) | Retrospective and cumulative; moving from past experience, through present interpretation, toward future application | Individual, group, and organizational levels | Oriented to lessons and prevention; less concerned with immediate orchestration of capabilities during the error itself |
| Strategic Agility | Ability to integrate strategic sensitivity, leadership unity, and resource fluidity as interdependent meta-capabilities enabling rapid adaptation (Doz and Kosonen, 2010) | Phase-sensitive to evolving external changes; typically short-cycle responsiveness and forward-looking adaptation | Firm-level, enacted through orchestration of meta-capabilities across leadership and organizational layers | This study extends the concept to endogenous errors: unlike other constructs, agility operates as a coordination mechanism, where all three capabilities may be activated across phases of error management, with their relative salience varying with situational demands. Their relative prominence shifts with situational demands, enabling timely detection, communication, and damage control under reputational and time pressure |
| Construct | Definitional emphasis | Temporal orientation | Unit of analysis | Distinctive contribution vs. Strategic agility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organizational Flexibility | Adaptability of structures, processes, and resource configurations to shifting conditions ( | Short- to medium-term; adjustments are often incremental or structural | Functional units, structural arrangements, organizational subsystems | Explains looseness of arrangements but lacks integration of sensing, leadership, and resource redeployment across multiple phases of an error process |
| Resilience | Capacity to withstand shocks, absorb disruption, and return to functioning ( | Event-triggered; focuses on recovery trajectory after disruption | Whole-organization outcomes and endurance | Focuses on post-event recovery outcomes; does not specify how coordinated capabilities support unfolding responses in real time |
| Crisis Management | Planned interventions and protocols to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to crises ( | Episodic; centered on crisis onset, escalation, and termination | Organizational practices, procedures, and specialized teams | Provides ex-ante planning and ex-post mitigation but not continuous orchestration of interdependent capabilities under reputational pressure |
| Organizational Learning | Knowledge acquisition, interpretation, and retention for long-term improvement ( | Retrospective and cumulative; moving from past experience, through present interpretation, toward future application | Individual, group, and organizational levels | Oriented to lessons and prevention; less concerned with immediate orchestration of capabilities during the error itself |
| Strategic Agility | Ability to integrate strategic sensitivity, leadership unity, and resource fluidity as interdependent meta-capabilities enabling rapid adaptation ( | Phase-sensitive to evolving external changes; typically short-cycle responsiveness and forward-looking adaptation | Firm-level, enacted through orchestration of meta-capabilities across leadership and organizational layers | This study extends the concept to endogenous errors: unlike other constructs, agility operates as a coordination mechanism, where all three capabilities may be activated across phases of error management, with their relative salience varying with situational demands. Their relative prominence shifts with situational demands, enabling timely detection, communication, and damage control under reputational and time pressure |
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