How innovations in strategy have picked up with COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore how corporate strategies have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A wide array of literature has been surveyed. Also, several senior executives have been interviewed. And two senior management counterparts have provided inputs. The approach taken is thus exploratory and pre-paradigmatic. This sets the stage for potential empirical investigations. Findings: There seems to be a clear shift towards more web-based inputs regarding the way corporations are executing their strategies. Surprisingly shorter-term strategy implementation seems to be rather effective. More fundamental shifts in strategies, however, seem to depend a lot on executives' abilities to travel, and this have been severely curtailed. Research limitations/implications: The propositions that are stated in the paper have not been tested empirically. This sets clear limitations regarding generalizability. Practical implications: It seems important to strengthen firms' capabilities regarding distance-driven strategic execution, as well as strengthened cash flow management. Social implications: There seems to be a clear shift towards more nationalization, and a slowing-down of globalization. Originality/value: While many of the findings might be seen as rather self-evident, there is nevertheless originality in the way that COVID-19's impact on firms' strategies has been analysed.