Management of Strategic and Operational Change, 1958-1988

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>This research examinines the what, why and how of managing strategic and operational changes in firms in mature industries and links between the capability to affect change and the maintenance and improvement of competitive performance. <p>Given the substantial changes in the economic, political, and business environment of large firms over the past two decades, a critical factor affecting the relative competitive position of British firms is the capability of firms to adjust and adapt to major changes in their environment - hereby improving their competitive performance. The importance of these adjustment and adaptation processes suggests that the nature of management itself is a crucial aspect of the competitiveness issue. Part of the management task is to identify and assess changing economic, business, and political conditions; then to develop and implement new strategies to improve the firm's competitive performance. Such managerial processes of assessment, choice, and change were studied in eight in-depth case studies. A longitudinal approach was used with the history of each firm over thirty years being examined. The research was carried out in two firms from a number of sectors, including finance, publishing, and automobile manufacture. <p>This project was part of the competitiveness and regeneration of British industry initiative.<br> <br><B>Main Topics</B>:<br>Management; operational change; competition; industry<br>