How does strategic flexibility make a difference for companies? An example of the Hungarian food industry

Abstract

Nowadays, strategic flexibility and its effect on organizational performance are crucial to discuss. Moreover, organizations, especially industrial companies, should estimate how flexibility as a mechanism can improve organizational performance. The Hungarian food industry is highly significant in the industrial sector of the Hungarian economy. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to evaluate how the performance of the Hungarian food industry is affected by strategic flexibility, using supply and demand uncertainty as moderators. It is a quantitative and causal study. A survey was conducted to collect the primary data from a proposed sample of managers at the target companies. As a result, 301 valid responses have been analyzed in SPSS. Regression analysis, correlation, and moderation analysis are used as well. The results indicated that strategic flexibility generally enhances the performance of the target companies, and 20.3% of changes in companies’ performance are related to strategic flexibility. The flexibility of resources affects only the operational performance, while the flexibility of coordination positively affects company performance; it has a 44.2% influence. The findings also showed that uncertainty does not moderate the relationship between strategic flexibility and target firms’ performance. Thus, strategic flexibility is considered as one-effect mechanism in a stable business environment. In all cases, strategic flexibility should be applied in addition to other managerial techniques to enhance company performance.

Impact of Environmental Uncertainties and Strategic Flexibility in Innovation Activities on NEV Battery Recycling Firms in China

“…Network capability and business model also enhance the positive effect of SF on firm performance [ 51 ]. In the Hungarian food industry, the performance affected by SF was evaluated, and it was found that in total, 66.5% of changes in companies’ performance are related to SF [ 52 ]. In the textile industry, fashion industry, hotel industry and Chinese sea food industry, SF allow firms to overcome competitive disadvantages and compete effectively against larger firms in the market and has a significant effect on business performance as well [ 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ].…”

A magyar, szlovák és lengyel szántóföldi növénytermesztéssel foglalkozó társas vállalkozások üzemmérete és koncentrációja

“…A termelés hatékonyságának javítása a rendelkezésre álló modern technológia, automatizálás, digitalizálás és a szükséges szakértelem komplex alkalmazásával biztosítható (Takácsné és Takács, 2016;Rajczi et al, 2017, Szőllősi et al, 2021. A hatékony gazdálkodás mellett a vállalati teljesítmény fokozása érdekében napjainkban a hagyományos vezetési technikákon túl a stratégiai (Yousuf at al., 2022) és a működési (Yousuf et al, 2019) rugalmasság alkalmazása is kiemelt figyelmet kap. Az Európai Unió szántóterülete mintegy 99 millió hektár, melynek közel 17 százalékát Magyarország, Szlovákia és Lengyelország adta 2018-2020 között (FAOSTAT, 2022).…”

Income and Asset Situation of Companies Producing Arable Crops in the Visegrad Countries

“…Enhancing production efficiency can be ensured through the application of available modern technology, automation, digitalization, and the necessary expertise [16,[24][25][26]. In addition to efficient management, enhancing corporate performance nowadays also emphasizes the use of strategic [27] and operational [28] flexibility, going beyond traditional management techniques.…”