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PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through the mediation of organizational learning and innovation based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) within Egyptian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect the data used to carry out mediation analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample consisting of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to test the hypotheses.FindingsEnvironmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning and innovation fully mediate the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was small, covering only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results may differ in the service sector and other countries. The study was cross-sectional which is limited to tracing the long-term effects of environmental scanning, organizational learning and innovation on organizational resilience. Accordingly, a longitudinal study may be undertaken.Practical implicationsManagers in Egyptian SMEs should use signals from environmental scanning activities as input for learning and transforming business processes through innovation to develop organizational resilience.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and innovation based on the perspective of OIPT within Egyptian SMEs during the COVID-19 crisis.
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PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through the mediation of organizational learning and innovation based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) within Egyptian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect the data used to carry out mediation analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample consisting of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to test the hypotheses. FindingsEnvironmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning and innovation fully mediate the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience. Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was small, covering only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results may differ in the service sector and other countries. The study was cross-sectional which is limited to tracing the long-term effects of environmental scanning, organizational learning and innovation on organizational resilience. Accordingly, a longitudinal study may be undertaken. Practical implicationsManagers in Egyptian SMEs should use signals from environmental scanning activities as input for learning and transforming business processes through innovation to develop organizational resilience. Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and innovation based on the perspective of OIPT within Egyptian SMEs during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Has companies' strategic orientation become more important in times of crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Do companies feel the need to work strategically, and what impact can strategic management have on a company's profitability? The objective of the paper is to find out what features differ profitable companies from less profitable or loss-making companies in the current times from the view of strategic management. Features such as (1) the importance of vision;(2) orientation of strategic goals;(3) the activities of strategic plan creation were considered. The paper hides the answers to mentioned questions and the attitudes to the established research hypotheses. The research sample consists of 365 industrial companies. The Chi-square test, which measures the relationship between two categorical variables, is applied in the study. The results provide the knowledge that strategic research issues are a distinguishing element between profitable and less profitable or loss-making companies. It follows that strategic management is one of the necessary prerequisites for the company's success, even in times of crisis.
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Due to increased global environment volatility and uncertainty, organizations are constantly faced with unexpected events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought large international disruptions for several firms. Organizational resilience is a potential notion for describing how firms might stay alive and thrive in such a volatile environment. Therefore, this study aimed to examine how SMEs can foster their resilience through investigating the roles of environmental scanning and process innovation while testing the moderating role of environmental uncertainty. To achieve this aim, we tested a structural model through an empirical investigation with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using a sample of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The results reveal that process innovation is a necessary condition for environmental scanning to affect organizational resilience. Furthermore, the results do not support the moderating role of environmental uncertainty the indirect relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience. Our findings contribute to innovation and resilience literature by proving that process innovation is a necessary mechanism to translate environmental scanning information to enhance resilience. This research is the first to highlight the role of process innovation in linking environmental scanning to organizational resilience. Our results provide insights about how Egyptian SMEs could remain resilient amidst the COVID-19 through scanning their environments to improve internal processes. We discuss related theoretical and managerial implications.
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Purpose>This paper aims to examine the impact of environmental scanning (ES) on competitive advantage (CA) through the mediation of organizational resilience dimensions within manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt.Design/methodology/approach>This study adopts a cross-sectional design to collect data. This study used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 249 Egyptian SMEs. This study employed the Smart partial least square structural equation modeling technique to test the hypotheses.Findings>ES positively affects CA both directly and indirectly through the mediation of organizational resilience dimensions, namely, robustness and agility. However, ES does not affect integrity;therefore, integrity does not mediate the ES–CA relationship. These results indicate that organizational resilience partially mediates the relationship between ES and CA.Research limitations/implications>The sample size was small, covering only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results may be different in the service sector and other countries. The study was cross-sectional which could not trace the long-term effects of ES and organizational resilience on CA. Therefore, a longitudinal study should be conducted, based on resource availability.Practical implications>Managers in Egyptian SMEs should scan their environments to build organizational resilience and, in turn, enhance their CA.Originality/value>To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first endeavors to investigate the role of ES in building CA through organizational resilience in the context of Egyptian SMEs.
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Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through organizational learning based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) in Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the moderating role of environmental uncertainty in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The data for the mediation analysis was obtained using a cross-sectional design. Using a self-administered questionnaire, the authors collected data from a sample of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The authors tested the hypotheses using the smart partial least square structural equation modeling approach. Findings: Organizational learning affects organizational resilience. Environmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning fully mediates the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty does not moderate the indirect relationship between environmental scanning and resilience. Research limitations/implications: The sample included only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results in the service sector and in other countries may differ. This study was cross-sectional, which was limited in its ability to trace the long-term effects of environmental scanning and organizational learning on organizational resilience. Practical implications: Egyptian SMEs’ managers should experience organizational learning as a pathway for environmental scanning to build organizational resilience. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and the moderating role of environmental uncertainty in this relationship. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Purpose This purpose of this study was to examine the impact of social and organisational capital on service innovation capability among service firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed research model, data were collected using a cross-sectional questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 188 private and public service sector managers in the UAE. Partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the research model's validity and reliability and to test the research hypothesis. Findings The empirical evidence indicates that during this pandemic the relationship between social capital and service innovation capability was fully mediated by strategic environmental scanning, while partially mediating the relationship between organisational capital and service innovation capability. Practical implications Managers in service organisations must be proactive during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, they should emphasise effective environmental scanning and the tracking of customer preferences to provide customised services that are valued and meet the emerging requirements of their customers. Prioritising investment in organisational capital to enhance innovation capacity is also recommended. Originality/value This study is the first to examine strategic environmental scanning as a mediator between social and organisational capital and service innovation capacity during a pandemic. There were significant differences between the findings of our study and previous studies: the authors found that, during crises, management priorities change, and businesses become more reliant on organisational capital to develop service innovation capability.
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Environmental scanning has become increasingly crucial for an organisation’s existence and a matter of interest for scholars and professionals. This research presents an outline of the situation in the field of multidimensional environmental scanning, focusing on Slovenian micro, small and medium sized organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the paper aims to examine if top managers perceive the multidimensional (external) environment as uncertain and if there have been gender differences in multidimensional (external) environmental uncertainty perception during the COVID-19 pandemic. We researched the field of ecological, social, technological, economic, and political–legal environments. The nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test and descriptive statistics were used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that top managers are not aware enough of multidimensional environmental uncertainty. They do not perceive the ecological and social environment as unpredictable at all. Among the studied environments, they perceive the political–legal environment as most unpredictable. There are no statistically significant gender differences in perceptions of ecological, social, technological, economic, and political–legal environmental uncertainty. We suggest SME top managers pay more attention to environmental uncertainty and use environmental scanning methods to achieve more sustainable development.