Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract

This research attempts to conceptually integrate and empirically test certain constructs and relationships that emanate from the literature in Environment, Strategy and Performance. The literature in these three areas suggests that certain configurations of Environment and Strategy ought to lead to high performance, while other configurations of these constructs ought to be associated with low performance. The hypotheses in the study build inductively and are based on a key tenet in cybernetics: that external environmental dynamism and diversity should be matched by internal firm dynamism and diversity. The sample for this research was selected Banks and Savings and Loans in Louisana in 1981. This sample proved to be a rich sample for delving into Environment and Strategy because the two industries were partially deregulated in 1980. The diversity-matches-diversity hypotheses were confirmed for the Savings and Loans but not confirmed for the Banks. Subsequent analysis suggested that it was the dominant market power position that the Banks in the sample enjoyed that made for this occurrence. In addition, the research advanced a notion of dual alignment of Environment and Strategy. The objective measures of Environment, Strategy and Performance aligned and separately, the perceptual measures of these constructs aligned. Little alignment between the objective and perceptual measures of each construct was found.

Pages

288

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3790

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