Emergent strategy

Emergent strategy is a business approach that is evolved over time as a response to changing market conditions. It is not pre-planned and does not follow a fixed path. Instead, it is based on the responses and reactions to events, changes and opportunities as they arise.

The main elements of emergent strategy include:

• Monitoring the environment and reacting to changes: This involves actively monitoring the environment and taking advantage of opportunities or responding to risks or threats that may arise.
• Being open to new ideas: This involves being open to new ideas and taking advantage of them to create or improve products or services.
• Making decisions quickly: This involves making decisions quickly and effectively in order to capitalize on opportunities or respond to risks or threats.
• Flexibility: This involves being flexible and adapting to changes in the environment, such as customer needs or competitive pressures.

Example of Emergent strategy

One example of emergent strategy is Apple’s move to enter the mobile phone market in 2007. Apple had been monitoring the market and saw an opportunity to launch a revolutionary product that combined the functionality of a phone and computer. Apple reacted quickly to this opportunity and launched the iPhone, which quickly became a hit and revolutionized the mobile phone industry. This is an example of how emergent strategy can be used to capitalize on opportunities and take advantage of changes in the environment.

When to use Emergent strategy

Emergent strategy can be used in a variety of situations, including when a business is facing a rapidly changing environment, when there are opportunities to exploit or threats to respond to, or when a business needs to be agile and responsive.

Emergent strategy can also be used when a business needs to innovate and develop new products or services in order to stay competitive. It can also be used when a business needs to adjust its strategy in order to respond to changing customer needs or competitive pressures.

Types of Emergent strategy

There are two types of emergent strategy: reactive and proactive.

• Reactive strategy is a strategy that responds to changes in the environment as they arise. It is focused on responding quickly to external events and taking advantage of opportunities or responding to risks as they arise.
• Proactive strategy is a strategy that anticipates changes in the environment and takes action before the changes occur. It is focused on anticipating and preparing for changes in the environment and taking advantage of opportunities or responding to risks before they arise.

Steps of Emergent strategy

The steps of emergent strategy include:

• Identifying opportunities and risks: This involves identifying potential opportunities or risks in the environment, such as changes in customer needs or competitive pressures.
• Analyzing the situation: This involves analyzing the situation and assessing the impact of the opportunities or risks.
• Developing a plan of action: This involves developing a plan of action that takes into account the opportunities or risks and the potential impact.
• Implementing the plan: This involves implementing the plan, which may involve making changes to products or services, or making changes to processes or procedures.

Advantages of Emergent strategy

Emergent strategy has several advantages. These include:

• Increased agility: Emergent strategy enables businesses to be more agile and responsive to changes in the environment, such as customer needs or competitive pressures.
• Improved decision-making: Emergent strategy helps businesses to make better decisions quickly, which can help them to capitalize on opportunities or respond to risks.
• Increased creativity: Emergent strategy encourages employees to be more creative in their approach and to suggest new ideas and solutions.

Limitations of Emergent strategy

Emergent strategy has several limitations that should be considered before implementing it. These include:

• Difficult to control: Since the strategy is not pre-planned, it is difficult to control and anticipate the outcomes.
• Time consuming: Since the strategy is based on responses to events and changes, it can be time consuming to implement.
• Risky: Since the strategy is not pre-planned, it can be risky to implement and could lead to unexpected or undesirable outcomes.

Other approaches related to Emergent strategy

• Scenario planning: Scenario planning is a method of strategic planning that involves analyzing potential future scenarios and making decisions based on them.
• Agility: Agility is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes in the environment.
• Innovative thinking: Innovative thinking is the ability to develop new solutions and ideas to solve problems or address opportunities.

In summary, other related approaches to Emergent strategy include scenario planning, agility and innovative thinking. Scenario planning involves analyzing potential future scenarios and making decisions based on them. Agility is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes in the environment. Innovative thinking is the ability to develop new solutions and ideas to solve problems or address opportunities.

Emergent strategy — recommended articles

Proactive strategy — Learning from failure — Risk taking behaviors — Changes over time — Contingency approach — Strategy maintenance — Strategic agility — Theory of innovation — High uncertainty avoidance

References

• McDermott, C. M., & O'connor, G. C. (2002). Managing radical innovation: an overview of emergent strategy issues. Journal of Product Innovation Management: an international publication of the product development & management association, 19(6), 424-438.
• Mirabeau, L., & Maguire, S. (2014). From autonomous strategic behavior to emergent strategy. Strategic management journal, 35(8), 1202-1229.
• Downs, A., Durant, R., & Carr, A. N. (2003). Emergent strategy development for organizations. Emergence, 5(2), 5-28.