The Implementation of Strategic Process Clusters and Strategic Processes

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A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE IMPORTANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROCESS CLUSTERS

The results indicate that in small businesses operating in a turbulent environment, there is a significant difference between the level of importance and extent of implementation of the strategic process clusters staff knowledge, empowerment and motivation, leadership-general, leadership–turbulence, measurement, customers and networks. Thus, for these process clusters specifically, the extent of the implementation of strategic processes in small businesses operating in a turbulent environment is not linked to their level of importance, and by extension, management capability, in these small businesses. Their resource allocation, and by extension their extent of implementation, with respect to these identified process clusters are a function of their general resource availability and they are influenced by resource factors as a whole.
Since small businesses are generally resource impoverished, this prevents small businesses operating in a turbulent environment from initiating and sustaining dynamic capabilities that revolve around these process clusters, hence dynamic capabilities in these small firms are weakened and these small firms to not perform at an optimal level in a turbulent environment.
While the implementation of these process clusters suffers from a lack of resources, the results indicate that when small businesses operating in a turbulent environment do implement strategic processes, they allocate most of their scarce resources to the strategic process clusters of networks and support systems and to staff knowledge, empowerment and motivation. Since the former is perceived to be of lower importance than the latter [networks and support systems falls in the low importance quadrant compared to staff knowledge, empowerment and motivation, which is in the high importance quadrant in Graph 5], this finding also reinforces the view that for these process clusters their extent of implementation and by extension, their resource allocation is not linked to their level of importance.
From the above it can be seen that in small businesses operating in a turbulent environment, innovative resource reconfigurations revolve around networks and support systems and staff knowledge, empowerment and motivation and these small firms allocate most of their scarce resources to these process clusters.
The allocation of its scarce resources these two process clusters occurs at the expense of the process clusters, leadership-general, leadership-turbulence, measurement and customers. This results in limited or no innovative resource reconfigurations revolving around these process clusters. In Graph 5, in the quadrant high importance/low implementation, the process clusters – customers, measurement, leadership-general and leadershipturbulence – compete for whatever scarce resources that are left after these small businesses have implemented the staff-knowledge, empowerment and motivation and networks and support systems process clusters. Although these small businesses consider these process clusters to be important, their extent of implementation is low and scarce resources are spread out over these process clusters. In particular, these businesses face difficult choices about whether to allocate their resources to leadership-general or leadership turbulence [these process clusters are concentrated together in Graph 5].
These research findings provide clarity about how small businesses operating in a turbulent environment allocate their scarce resources to strategic processes.

NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE IMPORTANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROCESS CLUSTERS

The results presented in Section 4.5.2, also indicate that in small businesses operating in a turbulent environment, there is no significant difference between the level of importance and extent of implementation of the process cluster staff reward. Thus, for these process clusters specifically, the extent of the implementation of strategic processes in small businesses operating in a turbulent
environment is linked to their level of importance, and by extension, management capability, in these small businesses. Their resource allocation, and by extension their extent of implementation, with respect to these identified process clusters are a function of their level of importance, and by extension management capability in small businesses operating in a turbulent environment.
This process cluster – Staff reward – can benefit from the shorter term intervention strategy of the enhancing and upgrading of management capabilities. Thus management education and training about staff reward and reward systems will benefit resource allocation to this process cluster and facilitate innovative resource reconfigurations that revolve around this process cluster. This will lead to a strengthening of the dynamic capabilities of these small firms and hence the performance of these small firms in turbulent environments will be optimised.
Other studies also reinforce this finding. In smaller firms compensation in terms of salary and benefits do not usually compare with those in larger firms (Lichtenstein, 1998:55). In addition, small business managers do not see incentives as essential to the improvement of productivity (Amba-Rao and Pendse, 1985:19). In addition Beaver and Jennings (2005:9), have also stated that in small firms, promotions are often made on the basis of birth or personal friendship, rather than on the basis of educational and technical qualifications.

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Chapter 1: Overview
1.1 The Chapter Summary
1.2 Introduction
1.3 The Research Problem
1.4 The Importance/Implementation Approach
1.5 The Purpose of the Study
1.6 The Research Objectives
1.7 The Research Propositions
1.8 The Demarcation and Scope of the Study
1.9 The Research Design
1.9.1 The Type of Study
1.9.2 Primary data collection methodology
1.9.3 The Research Plan
1.10 The Limitations of the Study
1.11 The Outline of the Thesis Chapters
1.12 The Chapter Conclusions
Chapter 2: The Literature Review
2.1 The Chapter Summary
2.2 The Introduction
2.3 Small Businesses
2.3.1 The Definition of a Small Business
2.3.2 The Characteristics of a Small Business
2.4 A Turbulent Environment
2.5 Strategic Processes in a Turbulent Environment
2.5.1 Traditional Strategic Processes
2.5.2 New Strategic Processes
2.5.2.1 Dynamic Capabilities
2.5.2.1.1 The Reconfiguration Process
2.5.2.1.2 Reconfiguration Enabling Processes
2.5.3 “Best Practices”
2.5.3.1 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Criteria [“Best Practices”] and their Links with Reconfiguration Process Drivers and Reconfiguration Enabling Processes
2.6 The Strategic Processes or Dynamic Capabilities of Small Businesses Operating in a Turbulent Environment
2.7 The Importance of the Study for the Practice Environment: Small Business
2.8 The Importance of the Study for Small Business Theory and General Management Theory
2.9 The Choice of Sector to Model the Strategic Processes of Small Businesses Operating in a
Turbulent Environment
2.10 The Importance of the Study for the Practice Environment: Retail Community Pharmacy
2.11 The Chapter Conclusions
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 The Chapter Summary
3.2 Introduction
3.3 The Stages of the Research Process
3.4 The Elements of the Research Process
3.5 Theory Building and Proposition Development
3.6 The Qualitative Approach: Personal Interviews
3.7 The Quantitative Approach:
The Self-Administered Mail Survey
3.7.1 The Design of the Instrumen
3.7.1.1 Themes that Emerged from the Personal Interviews
3.7.1.2 Development of Question
3.7.1.3 Processes of Questions in the Questionnaire
3.7.2 The Nature of the Measurement
3.7.3 The Soundness of the Measurement
3.7.3.1 Validity
3.7.3.2 Reliability
3.8 The Pilot Study
3.8.1 The Participants
3.8.2 The Instrument
3.8.3 The Instrument Administration Procedure
3.8.4 Analytical Procedures
3.8.4.1 Cronbach Alpha
3.8.4.2 Factor Analysis
3.8.5 The Results of the Pilot Study
3.8.5.1 Alpha Coefficients
3.8.5.2 Factor Analysis I
3.8.5.3 Factor Analysis II
3.8.6 Discussion of the Results of the Pilot Study
3.8.7 Limitations of the Pilot Study
3.8.8 Conclusions of the Pilot Study
3.9 The Final Questionnaire
3.9.1 Population and Sampling
3.9.1.1 The Relevant Population
3.9.1.2 Parameters of Interest
3.9.1.3 The Type of Sample
3.9.1.4 The Size of the Sample
3.9.2 The Distribution of the Questionnaire
3.9.3 The Preparation of the Data
3.9.4 The Analysis of the Data
3.9.4.1 Descriptive Statistics
3.9.4.2 Inferential Statistics
3.9.5 The Strategic Processes for the Final Questionnaire
3.10 The Chapter Conclusions
Chapter 4: Quantitative Data Analysis and Results
4.1 The Chapter Summary
4.2 Introduction
4.3 The Reliability and Validity of t Final Questionnaire
4.4 Importance and Implementation
4.4.1 The Importance of Strategic Process Clusters and Strategic Processes
4.4.2 The Implementation of Strategic Process Clusters and Strategic Processes
4.4.3 A Trend Analysis
4.4.3.1 The Importance of Process Clusters
4.4.3.2 The Implementation of Process Clusters
4.4.3.3 The Importance of Individual Processes
4.4.3.4 The Implementation of Individual Processes
4.5 The Importance / Implementation Gap
4.5.1 Gap Analysis of Importance and Implementation in General
4.5.2 Gap Analysis of Process Clusters
4.5.3 Gap Analysis of Individual Processes
4.6 The Chapter Conclusions
Chapter 5: Discussion of Results
5.1 Chapter Summary
5.2 Introduction
5.2.1 The Purpose of the Study
5.2.2 The Research Objectives
5.2.3 The Research Propositions
5.3 Discussion: Importance and Implementation
5.4 Discussion: Importance and Implementation Gap
5.5 Chapter Conclusions
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations