Adaptive strategy is often viewed is a solution for dealing with today’s turbulent and uncertain business climate. Since everything appears to be changing so rapidly and the future seems unclear, the flexibility to quickly shift strategy has been heralded as a highly effective business practice.
But, this raises important questions. Are you truly making good use of adaptive strategy? Or, are you merely flip-flopping?
Flip-flopping entails frequently recurring change and is generally not the best approach to business. With flip-flopping, constant change in what your company stands for can blur your brand image. The constant, excessive change of flip-flopping can leave the market confused about what your business does and what markets your company is best able to serve. It can adversely affect the customer experience because customers may expect what you no longer offer, and by the time they adjust their expectations, you again change what you offer. Such constant change can increase costs and keep your company from developing the expertise to do something well. And, so much change can prevent your company from becoming a well established player in your industry. Thus, there are good reasons why you don’t want your business to be flip-flopping.
Yet, during times like today’s era of uncertain, rapidly changing conditions, companies following an adaptive strategy may be making adaptations often. As numerous adaptations are made, what was intended to be adaptive strategy can easily become a case of flip-flopping. This can be a consequence of the adaptive, flexible approach to strategy that is now widely advocated and considered a good business practice. But, is it? With all the disadvantages of flip-flopping, this may not be a good business practice at all.
Still, strategic change should not be ruled out. There are situations when a course correction is necessary. And, the tried and true concept of continuous improvement certainly entails change (but not excessive flip-flopping). Furthermore, companies facing disruption will need to respond to it by doing some things differently. These are realities of the business world that must be addressed, and can entail a change in strategy. But, in an era when changing conditions seem to be viewed as a license to repeatedly and quickly adapt, companies must distinguish between changes that resemble mere flip-flopping and those that are required adaptations for business success. Appropriate change should be made, but mere flip-flopping should be avoided.
A similar topic was addressed by Roger Martin in his recent Harvard Business Review blog post titled “Adaptive Strategy Is a Cop-Out” (May 23, 2014). I agree with many of the points he makes because they parallel what I am saying here, although he doesn’t focus on the flip-flopping issue. I agree with him that strategy, for the most part, should not be adapted quickly. Yet, his viewpoint in that blog post may be far more strongly opposed to making adaptations to strategy than I am.
I find that companies do need to evaluate when to change. If a change in strategy is warranted, it should be made. Sometimes, these strategy changes will be needed due to a major shift in circumstances facing the business. In many cases, however, strategic change is required because the company’s previous strategy was not strong. And, sometimes the previous strategy may have been an outright disaster. But, making these needed strategic changes can be done in an effective manner with evolutionary steps that fit the company. This is a far cry from flip-flopping.
In conclusion, many companies today are grappling with how to respond to changing conditions. They should make the changes that are necessary or beneficial, even if it entails a change in strategy. But, they must guard against embracing an adaptive approach to strategy that turns into flip-flopping.
