Dynamic Strategy in High Growth Firms : The importance and implication of dynamic strategy development in phases of high growth

Purpose – The presented research aims to explain, describe and analyze the process of dynamic strategy development in high growth firms. Accordingly the research seeks to investigate how dynamic strategies are used within high growth firms and how strategic learning affects the process. Design/methodology/approach – The authors presents a review of theoretically relevant studies of high growth related to strategy, and two original studies examining the impact of dynamic strategy on high growth. A theoretical framework for the study of dynamic strategy processes is developed. The study comprehends eight interviews divided over five high growth firms, where high growth is defined by the OECD (2008) standard. Findings – In the study, the researchers finds significant evidence for the active and deliberate use of dynamic strategy in the high growth firms of the study. The implication of strategic learning on the dynamic strategies is found to be substantial. The findings shows that dynamic strategy development are used to a large extent and considered vital for achieving growth within in the high growth firms of the study. Research/theoretical implications/limitations – The findings demonstrate that dynamic strategy development is actively used in high growth phases of the firms studied. This has implications on the extension of previous research, as it shows the actual use of dynamic strategy and further emphasizes the importance of strategic learning within this process. With the important limitation that the study is considered too small to generalize over a larger population, which implies that further research on the subject is needed. Managerial implications – The findings provide guidelines for managers of how to handle strategy development in high growth, however due to the previous limitation this is presented as the way the high growth firms within this study handles this development. The guidelines could be used by anyone in managerial positions, thus increasing the understanding of how high growth firms handle strategy