Vlerick Expertise in Strategy

For some sectors, it is difficult to see the COVID-19 crisis as anything other than a threat. However, some companies have also made some very bold moves. In this white paper, Vlerick strategy experts have joined forces to reflect on the implications of the pandemic for businesses, to share best practices on how to deal with the current situation in the short term, and to offer methods and advice on how to build a strategy for the new normal.

These are challenging times for strategists who are asked to devise a path to long-term success for their organisations. How to live up to the expectation? This question was at the centre of three online live sessions during which Vlerick strategy experts put the Covid-19 crisis into perspective.

New evolutions in the field of customer expectations, regulation, technology, and globalisation force organisations to rethink the way in which they set up strategic collaborations with partners. Diverse stakeholders increasingly join forces in more organic and evolving ecosystems to develop and/or offer products or services via collaboration as well as via competition. How can your organisation benefit from ecosystem thinking? And how to structure such collaboration? Read all about it in this white paper.

This research report together with PwC Belgium offers a new perspective on strategy-making in times of digitisation. By presenting concrete practices, it provides actionable insights that companies across industries can implement to devise and implement winning strategies in turbulence. Overall, we hope these insights will positively contribute to firms’ strategic transformations in these challenging times.

There is an ongoing debate in academia about whether family firms are more socially responsible than others. So far, research has not been conclusive. In order to further the discussion, professor Kerstin Fehre, together with a colleague from the Institute of Management at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, rephrased the question: “Does the management of family firms pay more attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR)?”

Senior managers expect more strategic leadership and process leadership from middle managers to be able to maintain and enhance performance amidst rapid, frequent and unpredictable change. That is the conclusion of professors Katleen De Stobbeleir, Carine Peeters and Steve Muylle, together with researcher Matthias Pfisterer based on recent research about leadership behaviours that contribute to organisations’ adaptiveness. The study was conducted within the Centre for Excellence in Leading Adaptive Organisations.

In this Vlerick Book Podcast series, Professor Kurt Verweire was invited to the Vlerick library to talk about his favourite (strategy) management books.

In the past, strategy was simple. You could identify a profitable industry, build a competitive advantage and then protect that advantage at all costs. But in today’s complex and turbulent world, traditional models don’t always apply. Rather than focus on building a sustainable advantage, today’s organisations need to be flexible and agile – ready to move rapidly from one advantage to the next. They need to experiment and innovate. And managers who want to build a sound business strategy need to think in the present, the near future and the further-away future – all at the same time.

“Change or die” is an often-heard battle cry in this age of digitisation and disruption. Ever more digital technologies are being developed and put onto the market. What strategy will you follow? Which business model will you adopt? How entrepreneurs and managers interpret this constantly changing digital environment determines their strategic choices. Caroline Baert’s doctoral thesis fills an important gap in strategic management research.

Enedis, a subsidiary of EDF, is in charge of the last mile in the delivery of electricity to most of France. This case study follows the start and development of Enedis' digital transformation, with the ambition to be at the forefront of the energy sector in the digital age.