Does Uncertainty Moderate the Relationship between Strategic Flexibility and Companies’ Performance? Evidence from Small and Medium Pharmaceutical Companies in Iran

Allam Yousuf, Vahid Zeynvand Lorestani, Judit Oláh and János Felföldi
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Allam Yousuf: Institute of Applied Informatics and Logistics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Vahid Zeynvand Lorestani: Ihrig Károly Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Judit Oláh: Institute of Applied Informatics and Logistics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
János Felföldi: Institute of Applied Informatics and Logistics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: The business environment has become complicated—full of risk and uncertainty over and above companies’ control— therefore companies must find mechanisms to enhance their performance in the light of this instability. The Iranian market is one of the best examples of unstable markets because of its political and economic circumstances; despite this, the pharmaceutical industry in Iran is considered one of the best industries, which is still working efficiently. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of strategic flexibility on the performance of Iranian SME pharmaceutical companies, by considering the effect of environmental uncertainty as a moderator. The study is a cross-sectional one. Primary data was collected from 113 companies by using an adopted questionnaire. The questionnaires were forwarded to managers at these companies, a purposive (selective) sampling technique was used to collect the data, and the total number of responses that were valid for statistical analysis was 228. The response rate was 67.25%. The results showed that strategic flexibility positively affects companies’ performance. Supply and demand uncertainty moderate the relationship between strategic flexibility and companies’ performance.

Keywords: resource flexibility; coordination flexibility; supply uncertainty; demand uncertainty; financial performance; customer satisfaction; operational performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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