Lilla Hortoványi

Strategy Without Templates

Adaptation in Digital Environments

11.4.5 Agency, Structure, and the Limits of Control

The constructionist framework developed here reconceptualizes the relationship between agency and structure. Classical strategy theory tends to privilege agency – the capacity of managers to analyze environments, formulate strategies, and shape organizational outcomes through deliberate action (Child, 1972). Even theories that acknowledge structural constraints often treat them as obstacles that capable managers can overcome through superior insight or execution.

The template-free perspective shows that agency and structure are mutually constitutive rather than opposed. Platform architectures, algorithmic governance, and ecosystem dependencies create structural constraints that bound what firms can do. These constraints are not external obstacles but constitutive conditions – they shape the very possibility space within which strategic action occurs. Firms cannot overcome these constraints through better management or smarter strategy because the constraints define the context in which management and strategy operate.

Yet agency does not disappear under these conditions. It becomes situated, iterative, and relational (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). Situated agency means that action is always shaped by specific configurations of constraints and opportunities that cannot be abstracted away. Firms do not choose in the abstract; they navigate within bounded possibility spaces whose contours shift continuously. Iterative agency means that strategic action unfolds through sequences of adjustments rather than through discrete, decisive choices. Each action changes the conditions under which subsequent action becomes possible, creating path-dependent trajectories that are influenced but not determined by prior choices. Relational agency means that firms act through relationships with platforms, partners, customers, and competitors. Their capacity to move depends partly on what these others do and partly on how relationships are structured.

This reconceptualization has important implications. It suggests that strategic capability in template-free environments depends less on analytical prowess or decisive leadership and more on the capacity to navigate constraint productively. It implies that effectiveness comes not from controlling outcomes but from influencing the mechanisms through which outcomes emerge. It means that firms can act strategically even when they lack the foresight and control that traditional theories assume, as long as they can maintain adaptive movement through continuous calibration and recursive adjustment.

The limits of control become especially visible in the context of algorithmic mediation. Firms receive feedback about their performance, but they do not control the systems generating that feedback. They can adjust their behavior in response to signals, but they cannot fully determine what signals they will receive or how those signals will change when platforms update their algorithms. Strategic action, therefore, becomes a matter of calibration rather than control – adjusting behavior iteratively in response to observed patterns without full understanding of the causal mechanisms producing those patterns.

This does not mean that firms are passive or helpless. It means that strategic agency operates differently than traditional theory assumes. Firms can shape their trajectories through experimentation, influence what stabilizes through selective reinforcement, manage how elements integrate through interface design, and calibrate their responses to feedback through interpretive practices. But they cannot design their strategies comprehensively, implement them as planned, or control their outcomes with confidence. Strategy becomes a continuous process of construction under constraint rather than a discrete act of choice and implementation.

To synthesize the theoretical architecture developed across the book, Table 6 summarizes the core mechanisms, the gaps they address in existing theory, the conceptual extensions they introduce, and the research directions they open. The table is intended not as a static classification, but as a cumulative structure in which each mechanism builds on and conditions the others.

What becomes visible through this synthesis is that the framework is not organized around isolated concepts, but around a mechanism chain. Each element contributes to the construction of strategic action under structural uncertainty: experimentation generates variation, stabilization retains viable responses, partial integration structures organizational form, and mediated feedback shapes ongoing adaptation. The analytical value of the framework lies in understanding how these mechanisms interact, rather than in interpreting any single element in isolation.

Table 6 makes it explicit that strategic action does not unfold as a sequence of planned decisions, but as a mechanism-driven process of experimentation, stabilization, and configurational formation under structural uncertainty.

Table 6 Mechanism chain and theoretical contributions in template-free environments

Mechanism	Core theoretical contribution	Gap in existing theory	Novel conceptual extension	Future research directions
Experimentation (Chapter 6)	Experimentation becomes a structural necessity rather than an optional strategic tool in template-free environments	Strategy assumes foresight and ex ante evaluation; does not account for epistemically opaque contexts	Epistemic displacement; generative enactment; path-dependent experimentation	Comparative studies of experimentation regimes across industries; operationalization of epistemic opacity
Stabilization (Chapter 7)	Temporary solutions stabilize into durable structures through recursive reinforcement mechanisms without deliberate design	Path dependence emphasizes lock-in but does not explain how heterogeneous temporary solutions become stabilized	Satisficing as structural selection; sedimentation vs. path dependence; patchwork as outcome rather than failure	Longitudinal analyses of stabilization processes; measurement of recursive reinforcement dynamics
Partial integration (Chapter 8)	Partial integration constitutes a stable organizational form rather than a transitional stage or coordination failure	Integration theory assumes coherence as an optimal end-state and under-theorizes structurally incomplete integration	Assemblage logic vs. integration logic; asymmetric coupling; controlled fragmentation as organizational capability	Comparative studies of patchwork architectures; metrics for degrees of partial integration
Mediated feedback (Chapter 9)	Feedback operates without direct control; learning occurs through inferential adaptation under conditions of opacity	Feedback theory assumes transparent cause–effect relations and underestimates algorithmic mediation and causal opacity	Epistemic mediation; inferential adaptation; feedback paradox (data does not imply interpretability)	Studies of inferential adaptation strategies; analysis of knowledge brokerage and interpretive practices
Strategic orientation (Chapter 10)	Strategic effectiveness shifts from optimization toward viability and from control toward continuous calibration	Strategy frameworks assume controllable environments and underplay constrained agency within platform architectures	OCO theory (orientation–cooperation–orchestration); proportional ambidexterity; dialectical tuning under constraint	Cross-industry studies of strategic orientations; SME adaptation pathways in platform-mediated environments

Source: Author’s own elaboration.

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 204 4

Gazdaság

What happens when understanding comes only after action has already begun?

Traditional strategy rests on the assumption that organizations can understand their environment before deciding how to act. Yet the conditions that once allowed organizations to rely on benchmarking, best practices, and proven strategic templates can no longer be taken for granted. Today, organizations increasingly face situations for which no clear roadmap exists. Established assumptions become less reliable, familiar reference points lose their clarity, and strategic decisions must be made before their consequences can be fully understood.

Strategy Without Templates explores how organizations learn, adapt, and navigate environments in which uncertainty is pervasive and established templates are absent or no longer sufficient. Instead of treating strategy as a process of prediction and planning, the book explores how strategic paths take shape through action, experimentation, adjustment, and learning.

A central insight in the book is that temporary solutions are often necessary. What begins as a practical response to an immediate challenge may gradually shape future possibilities in unexpected ways. Some solutions create new opportunities and sources of advantage. Others become constraints that are difficult to overcome.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/hortovanyi-strategy-without-templates//

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