Sullivan-Taylor, Bridgette and Branicki, Layla (2010) The Resilience Gap: Strategic Thinking and Acting under Conditions of Extreme Uncertainty. In: Strategic Management Society (SMS) 30th Annual International Conference, Rome, Italy, 12-15th Sept 2010. Published in: Proceedings of the SMS 30th Annual International Conference

Abstract

This paper reports on a study which investigates organizational resilience in response to conditions of extreme strategic uncertainty. Extreme events such as pandemic flu can expose organizations to high levels of risk and uncertainty which may stretch them to (and beyond) their limits. The threat or actuality of an extreme event presents managers with an acute and urgent picture of uncertainty which individuals find difficult to interpret and which renders strategic decision making problematic. Initial findings indicate that there is an implementation gap between strategic thinking and acting. Internal and external political dynamics influenced the priority given to resilience practices at the micro-level and this raises questions about the role of business continuity managers and their ability to execute espoused resilience strategies into practice.

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