IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rbs/ijbrss/v9y2020i5p307-317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Establishing a strategic thinking approach at the University of Zambia: Implications on pre-strategic and evolutionary strategic thinking phases

Author

Listed:
  • Kennedy Msusa

    (Graduate School of Business, University of Zambia. Box 32379, Lusaka.)

  • Taonaziso Chowa

    (Department of Mathematics, School of Natural Sciences, University of Zambia. Box 32379, Lusaka)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the use of strategic thinking variables in a public university, the University of Zambia. Nine constructs of strategic thinking variables in this study are framed as strategic thinking general, thinking in time, intently focused, systems perspective, intelligent opportunism, hypothesis-driven, reframing, reflecting, and environmental analysis. A qualitative research design encompassing a review of documents and archival records, direct observation, and sense-making informed the evidence gathered in this study. The pre-strategic thinking phase covers the period 1966 to 1993, while the nascent strategic thinking phase covers the period 1994 to 2012 and the evolutionary strategic thinking phase covers the period 2013 to 2022. The findings of this study have revealed that in the pre-strategic thinking phase, the University was guided by the national development agenda for human capital development. The absence of an Institutional strategic plan and associated strategy documents points to a disconnection between optimal strategy and the strategic intentions of the University managers. In both the nascent strategic thinking phase and the evolutionary phase, significant gaps exist in the utilization of strategic thinking variables thinking in time, reframing, reflecting, environmental analysis, focused intent, and intelligent opportunism. This study suggests the University of Zambia should engage employees in the use of strategic thinking variables, with a view to increasing the chances of organizational success. Further, it seems possible that the hitherto limited use of strategic thinking as a practice in the University of Zambia may be hindering the achievement of organizational set goals. Through this conceptualization, this paper has attempted to fill a gap in strategic thinking literature as it pertains to public universities Key Words: Strategic thinking, strategic planning, decision making, University of Zambia, University Performance

Suggested Citation

  • Kennedy Msusa & Taonaziso Chowa, 2020. "Establishing a strategic thinking approach at the University of Zambia: Implications on pre-strategic and evolutionary strategic thinking phases," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 9(5), pages 307-317, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:9:y:2020:i:5:p:307-317
    DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v9i5.828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/828/665
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i5.828
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i5.828?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laurence Capron & Will Mitchell, 2009. "Selection Capability: How Capability Gaps and Internal Social Frictions Affect Internal and External Strategic Renewal," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 294-312, April.
    2. James Guthrie & Ruth Neumann, 2007. "Economic and non-financial performance indicators in universities," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 231-252, June.
    3. Erwin Danneels, 2008. "Organizational antecedents of second‐order competences," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 519-543, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eriksson, Taina, 2014. "Processes, antecedents and outcomes of dynamic capabilities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 65-82.
    2. Vanessa Weimann & Maike Gerken & Marcel Hülsbeck, 2020. "Business model innovation in family firms: dynamic capabilities and the moderating role of socioemotional wealth," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 369-399, April.
    3. Waleczek, Peter & von den Driesch, Till & Flatten, Tessa C. & Brettel, Malte, 2019. "On the dynamic bundles behind operations management and research and development," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 175-187.
    4. Bruneel, Johan & Clarysse, Bart & Bobelyn, Annelies & Wright, Mike, 2020. "Liquidity events and VC-backed academic spin-offs: The role of search alliances," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    5. Gan, Dennis & Erikson, Truls, 2022. "Venture governance as a syndicate," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    6. Avimanyu Datta, 2016. "Antecedents To Radical Innovations: A Longitudinal Look At Firms In The Information Technology Industry By Aggregation Of Patents," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-31, October.
    7. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    8. Mikalef, Patrick & Pateli, Adamantia, 2017. "Information technology-enabled dynamic capabilities and their indirect effect on competitive performance: Findings from PLS-SEM and fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-16.
    9. Josip Kotlar & Philipp Sieger, 2019. "Bounded Rationality and Bounded Reliability: A Study of Nonfamily Managers’ Entrepreneurial Behavior in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(2), pages 251-273, March.
    10. Lin, Han & Zeng, Saixing & Liu, Haijian & Li, Chao, 2020. "Bridging the gaps or fecklessness? A moderated mediating examination of intermediaries’ effects on corporate innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 94.
    11. Marlenne G. Velazquez-Cazares & Anna M. Gil-Lafuente & Ernesto Leon-Castro & Fabio Blanco-Mesa, 2021. "Innovation capabilities measurement using fuzzy methodologies: a Colombian SMEs case," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 384-413, December.
    12. Maree Storer & Paul Hyland, 2011. "Utilizing Industry-led Innovation Capacity to Enhance Supply Chain Performance : An Empirical Study," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 5(6), pages 1-55, December.
    13. Vyacheslav V. Volchik & Maksim A. Koryttsev & Elena V. Maslyukova, 2020. "Alternatives to managerialism in higher education and science," Upravlenets, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 11(6), pages 44-56, December.
    14. van Uden, Annelies & Knoben, Joris & Vermeulen, P.A.M., 2015. "Making Sense of Industry Characteristics as Drivers of Dynamic Capabilites," Other publications TiSEM fbb2a35d-c957-489b-b170-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Laurence Capron, 2016. "Strategies for M&As: when is acquisition the right mode to grow?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 453-462, August.
    16. Tor Guimaraes & Ketan Paranjape & Mike Walton, 2019. "An Expanded Model of Success Factors for NPD Performance," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(07), pages 1-29, November.
    17. von den Driesch, Till & Eva Susanne da Costa, Maika & Christina Flatten, Tessa & Brettel, Malte, 2015. "How CEO experience, personality, and network affect firms' dynamic capabilities," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 245-256.
    18. Julia Bodner & Laurence Capron, 2018. "Post-merger integration," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, December.
    19. Abd Rahman Ahmad & Kek Siok Yee & Alan Farley, 2020. "Exploring the Rationale of Performance Based Funding for Malaysian Public Universities," Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(1), pages 15-21.
    20. Ye Jin Lee & Kwangsoo Shin & Eungdo Kim, 2019. "The Influence of a Firm’s Capability and Dyadic Relationship of the Knowledge Base on Ambidextrous Innovation in Biopharmaceutical M&As," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:9:y:2020:i:5:p:307-317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Umit Hacioglu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbffea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.