Connecting theory and practice : strategic agility development across diverse economic contexts

Abstract

Strategic agility has become a vital construct in strategic management, an organisation's ability to combine strategic sensitivity, resource fluidity, and leadership unity, leveraging senior management's consistent and coherent behaviours and skills to make swift strategic moves to respond to environmental uncertainty. Utilising a structured literature review methodology, this study sourced and analysed peer-reviewed articles from AJG high-rated journals, covering 2002 to 2024. The objective is to chart strategic agility's evolution of definitions, theories, and applications across various economic contexts. The analysis reveals significant disparities in research on strategic agility, with a notable emphasis on developed markets and limited representation of emerging African markets, especially resource-constrained environments like those in townships situated on the outskirts of South Africa. The findings also highlight variations in definitions and thematic applications. However, insights into industries and theories showed no disparities emphasising the adaptive nature of strategic agility across various sectors. As global markets become increasingly interconnected, the need for strategic agility extends beyond developed markets to emerging markets, specifically South African townships. Townships present unique challenges in their operational landscape. Therefore, examining the construct’s application in these environments will enhance the construct’s relevance and global representativeness.