The strategy/structure debate: An examination of the performance implications

The relative importance of strategy and structure lies at the heart of the strategic management field, yet little is known about the associated perfor mance implications of such changes. The purpose of this study was to invest igate the financial performance impact of strategy and structure changes. W e conducted an examination of 259 firms over a 36-year period using a quasi -experimental design. No significant change-performance relationships were found for tandem changes (i.e. when both strategy and structure were change d). But, we found that singular structure changes were associated with the highest performance. This finding was consistent with the theory: though st rategy is important, proper deployment of firm uniqueness is paramount to p erformance enhancement.