Strategic Optionality: Pathways Through Disruptive Uncertainty

This book offers a fresh approach to strategy by examining the idea of Optionality. Optionality is the right, but not the obligation, to take an action. Built on historic military tactics, static engineering principles, and equilibrium-seeking economics, conventional strategic-thinking suffers some weaknesses, principal of which is its inability to deal with conditions of high uncertainty. This book begins by dividing the business landscape into three distinct domains; (1) Fragile, (2) Robust, and (3) Long-shot (FRL), which alert us to the context-specificity of strategy tools, before suggesting that theoretical lenses are required to understand and implement strategy in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) domains. The authors explore the concept and methodology of Optionality in order to demonstrate how it can be used in conjunction with existing strategy tools in order to achieve competitive success. It will be of great interest to academics and students of strategy and innovation.

Surja Datta is a Senior Lecturer, and Module Leader of Global Strategy and Innovation, a core module of Brookes Global MBA Programme at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He has published extensively, including books, chapters, and journal articles. His research interests include business history, innovation, and strategy. Surja is also the Associate Editor of International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development.

Tobias Kutzewski is a chartered accountant to the ACCA and a PhD candidate at VU University, The Netherlands. He has extensive industry experience through his work as a technology consultant for Accenture and through various roles in audit, financial, and investment management at Deloitte, ING, and in venture capital. Currently, Tobias is conducting research to pursue his PhD in the field of entrepreneurship and is also engaged in lecturing courses on Organization Theory, Academic Skills, and International Strategy. He is a reserve-officer to the German Army on civil-military cooperation.