Organizational learning and innovation as sources of strategic fit
| Published date | 12 September 2016 |
| Date | 12 September 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-12-2015-0518 |
| Pages | 1445-1467 |
| Author | Ignacio Tamayo-Torres,Leopoldo J. Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez,Francisco Javier Llorens-Montes,Francisco J. Martínez-López |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Organizational learning
and innovation as sources
of strategic fit
Ignacio Tamayo-Torres, Leopoldo J. Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez,
Francisco Javier Llorens-Montes and
Francisco J. Martínez-López
Department of Business Administration, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to analyze the roles played by organizational learning (OL)
and innovation in organizations immersed in the processes of adaptation and strategic fit in dynamic
and turbulent environments. The authors analyze whether OL and innovation act as sources of
strategic fit, and whether strategic fit positively affects performance.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors use data from a survey of a representative sample of
204 respondents from European firms active in high-technology sectors (response rate: 10.42 percent)
and structural equation modeling (using the EQS 6.1 program) to undertake a transversal study.
Findings –The model confirms that OL and the capacity to innovate positively influence managers’
decisions to adapt their organizations to changes in dynamic environments. The achievement of
strategic fit, in turn, improves organizational performance. The authors propose considering the
innovation climate as a facilitator of new product and process development, although the innovation
climate is not a direct antecedent of fit.
Research limitations/implications –This study is limited by the fact that the analysis is cross-
sectional and by the fact that all measures used are based on managers’perceptions.
Practical implications –Managers should create and support an entrepreneurial culture that
stresses continuous learning. They should also foster programs aimed at developing abilities, and
promote the development of capabilities that facilitate acceptance of organizational change.
Investments in building certain capabilities, such as OL and the capacity to innovate, are strategically
justified, especially in turbulent environments.
Originality/value –This study is one of the first to investigate the complex interactions among OL,
innovation, strategic fit, and performance. The results improve our understanding of the links between
strategic fit and performance.
Keywords Innovativeness, Strategic change, Organizational performance, Capacity to innovate,
Strategic fit
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The concept of strategic fit is a crucial issue in the organization and management
literature (Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985; Venkatraman, 1989). The idea of strategic fit is
rooted in contingency theory (Burns and Stalker, 1966), as it focusses on performance as a
function of thealignment between an organization and its environment (contingency), its
strategy, and its characteristics (Venkatraman, 1989; Peng-Cui et al., 2014). Researchers
have long debated whether the fit between an organization’s strategy and its environment
has an influence on the organization’s end results (Ginsberg and Venkatraman, 1985;
Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990; Siggelkow, 2001, 2002). More recent studies have
analyzed the relationship between strategic fit and performance in relation to such factors
as human resources (Hsieh and Chen, 2011), knowledge management (Murray et al., 2009),
new product development (NPD; Harmancioglu et al., 2009), marketing strategy
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 116 No. 8, 2016
pp. 1445-1467
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-12-2015-0518
Received 29 December 2015
Revised 16 March 2016
Accepted 29 March 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
1445
Organizational
learning and
innovation
(Slater et al., 2010), service operations (Lillis and Sweeney, 2013), and organizational
alliances (Murray and Kotabe, 2005). These studies try to guide organizations in
their attempts to adapt, cultivate, and enable strategic fit, and thereby create value and
enhance firm performance.
Along these lines, organizational learning (OL) and innovation have often been analyzed
as capabilities that can facilitate the achievement of competitive advantage and improve
performance (Hung and Chou, 2013). In fact, nearly all firms that compete in dynamic
environments view OL and innovation as fundamental organizational capabilities.
However, the literature has not paid specific attention to the complex interactions among
OL, innovation, and the strategic fit between the firm and its environment. Therefore,
in-depth examinations of how OL and innovation can positively influence managers’
decision-making when they face a need to adapt to dynamic environments are lacking.
In particular, we are unaware of how such processes contribute to competitive advantages.
OL and innovation may be key in terms of the resources and capabilities that companies
must develop to ensure strategic fit and the mechanisms that enable such fit.
We seek to begin to fill this gap through an empirical study that analyzes the roles
of OL and innovation as antecedents of strategic fit, and the influence of fit on
organizational performance. In this study, strategic fit is defined in terms of a change
that is needed and implemented. Innovation is defined as a two-phase process
involving “openness to innovation”(Zaltman et al., 1973, p. 64), or innovativeness, and
the implementation of innovation (Hurley et al., 2005), or the “capacity to innovate.”
This study has two goals. First, we wish to extend the extant literature by exploring
the relationship between strategic fit and performance, as we lack theoretical and
empirical frameworks showing how strategic fit between the environment and the firm
contributes to competitive advantage. Second, we aim to identify the capabilities and
mechanisms that facilitate the achievement of strategic fit in organizations. To achieve
these goals, we analyze OL and innovation, which we measure using two variables –
innovativeness and capacity to innovate –as antecedents of strategic fit. We rely on
data from a sample of 204 European firms active in high-technology sectors. Our
results confirm the presence of positive relationships among OL, capacity to innovate,
strategic fit, and organizational performance. However, we do not find evidence of a
relationship between innovativeness and strategic fit.
This paper makes three key contributions to the extant literature. First, although the
relationship between strategic fit and performance has received some attention from
management researchers (Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990; Siggelkow, 2001), there ha s
been little focus on perceptions of the strategic process. In this regard, we develop and
test a perceptual measure of strategic fit in order to study the process of analyzing,
planning, and implementing strategy in response to changes in the environment.
Second, we contribute to contingency theory by analyzing OL, innovativeness, and the
capacity to innovate as key tools for cultivating and building strategic fit, which in turn
enhances organizational performance. This allows us to better understand the
mechanisms that facilitate fit between the environment and the firm’s strategy. Third,
this paper contributes valuable empirical evidence to widely accepted theoretical
frameworks, such as the dynamic capabilities view (see, e.g. Helfat and Peteraf, 2015;
Teece, 2007). Our results point to organizational contexts that lead firms to sustained
competitive advantages through a focus on strategic fit. In this regard, several key
factors, such as OL, innovativeness, and capacity to innovate, can be viewed as
antecedents of dynamic capabilities to respond to competitive environments, and as
antecedents of a desirable alignment between external and internal forces.
1446
IMDS
116,8
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