The Interface and Convergence of the Strategic Management and Organizational Environment Domains

Abstract

Extending Bluedorn's (1993) review of environmental contingency theory, we examine the strategic management research conducted from 1980-1993 that explicitly deals with the environmental domain. Framing our approach as a constrained strategic choice perspective, our focus on this intersection of the strategic management and organizational environment literature leads us to examine six specific subsets of this literature: (1) strategic leadership and upper echelons; (2) scanning; (3) interorganizational relationships; (4) institutional theory; (5) organizational alignment; and (6) strategic control and evaluation. In our discussions of these topics, we identify research trends and generalizations as well as identify promising research possibilities and questions for future research. In this vein, we conclude the article with our identification of several possibilities for theoretical syntheses and theory development.