The Academic Debate on Strategic Agility: A Literature Review

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the recent evolution of the academic debate on strategic agility. Adopting a two-step approach, we identify and select highly influential contributions to the strategic agility literature from the 1990s onward. This temporal demarcation has been selected to spotlight the modern advancements and the escalating relevance of strategic agility in today’s volatile and complex business environment. The analysis revealed that the concept of strategic agility constantly evolved. In the 1990s, scholars focused on the importance of implementing agility to cope with change and ultimately survive. In the 2000s, a number of contributions were published in journals at the borders between theory and practice, exploring how strategic agility can enhance business success. In the 2010s, the proliferation of studies on strategic agility led to significant theoretical advancements on the topic. Strategic agility is conceptualized as dynamic and based on a series of organizational meta-capabilities. In more recent times, characterized by high environmental turbulence, many scholars emphasized the importance of bridging the strategic agility literature with other academic debates (especially the human resource management literature), putting at the center the role of individuals and capabilities for cultivating strategic agility inside organizations. The chapter ends with some authors’ considerations on the future of strategic agility in theory and practice.