An Interpretive Perspective On The Role of Strategic Control In Triggering Strategic Change

Abstract

Rapidly changing environments press organizations to respond in an appropriate
and timely fashion. Strategic control plays an important role in this
adaptation process through its identification and interpretation of "change
triggers" - critical events in the external environment that mandate an
organization's response. We argue that giving more prominent place to data
interpretation in the strategic control process facilitates the identification of
factors that trigger change. We build a conceptual model around a three-step
process of scanning/monitoring, data interpretation, and response combined
with three different levels of strategic control (strategic surveillance, premise
monitoring, and implementation control). The model assists managers by highlighting
the factors that can cause Type II errors (not changing when change is
required) and provides researchers with directions for future inquiry.