Editorial: Strategy development for uncertain times

Abstract

Corporate strategy is considered a central driver of a firm’s long-term orientation, a key influencer in corporate performance, and nowadays being impacted by an increasing business endeavour where complexity is the new normal. Corporate governance suggests that boards of directors have the duty to govern the firms they are responsible for, and doing so in a sustainable way. Hence, boards are supposed to make relevant decisions on corporate strategy. How is, however, strategy translated into the board agenda? Corporate governance faces a new set of challenges as a great deal of countries are progressively getting out of the pandemic constraints that have slowed economic performance for most businesses. The way strategies will be developed will dictate their fit for purpose. Such strategies will have to cope with increasing sustainability goals; provide a competitive edge against competitors’ technological edges and innovation in general. Such strategies will have to deal with innovative usages of IT and potential business disruptions that may be triggered by digital transformation. All such paradigm changes will demand more effort from boards, and force them to dive into unusual fields, such as learning about complexity and systems thinking. As important as strategy formulation is ethical leadership for strategy deployment and sustainability. Overall, such topics are placed high on boards agendas and are addressed in the current issue of Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition.