Lilla Hortoványi

Strategy Without Templates

Adaptation in Digital Environments

Table 3 From template-based to configurational ontology in strategy

Dimension	Template-based logic	Configurational logic
Nature of environment	External, analyzable structure	Endogenous, recursively produced system
Basis of strategy	Selection and implementation of proven models	Construction of context-specific configurations
Role of past success	Portable guide for future action	Historically embedded, non-transferable outcome
Function of imitation	Convergence toward best practice	Divergence through structural misalignment
Logic of comparison	Benchmarking reveals strategic quality	Comparison obscures configurational differences
Nature of strategic knowledge	Generalizable principles across contexts	Situated understanding within specific configurations
Temporal assumption	Structural continuity enables planning	Structural evolution requires continuous adaptation
Unit of analysis	Firm strategy as discrete choice	Firm-environment configuration as coupled system
Source of competitive advantage	Superior resources, positions, or capabilities	Viable configuration within singular context
Strategic learning mechanism	Accumulation through replication and refinement	Experimentation within path-dependent constraints
Role of planning	Predictive projection of future states	Provisional coordination under uncertainty
Nature of strategic agency	Designer selecting optimal models	Wayfinder navigating evolving terrain
Basis of strategic advice	“What works” across firms	“What is viable” in a specific configuration
Ontological premise	Environment as stable referential structure	Environment as singular, historically constituted context
Stability of environment	Assumed stability allowing patterns to transfer	Continuously reconfigured

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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